Crews return from sun

After a busy weekend for the entire Penn crew program, in which most of the team traveled to San Diego while a few boats remained in Philadelphia, all Quakers came away tired, but better rowers. The Penn heavyweight varsity men's boat placed third in a time of six minutes, 17.41 seconds in the San Diego Classic's Copley Cup, behind Washington (6:09.40) and Harvard (6:13.02). The Huskies have won the cup more times than any other team, including last year. The Crimson have also been a perennial power at the Classic and have the second most times. "The heavyweights, both boats, raced hard and gained a lot of experience," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "The varsity rode a gutsy race? Washington was an outstanding crew." The Penn lightweight varsity boat also finished in third in California, behind two strong Ivy League foes, Harvard and Yale, respectively. While the Quakers didn't get off to a great start, they raced strongly through the middle of the race and continued to improve on their finishing sprint. "We need to work on getting stronger and more efficient," Penn assistant coach Bruce Konopka said. "[The varsity lightweight boat] had a good race." In addition, the junior varsity lightweight boat remained here at Penn to compete in the Mathews Leonard Cup on the Schuylkill River against other Ancient Eight rivals, Harvard and Cornell. "It was the best 2,000 meters this (lightweight junior varsity) crew has rowed this season," Penn junior coxswain Deborah Gortler said. The Quakers pulled away from the strong Harvard crew which had been leading most of the race with the final 20 strokes. For the first time since 1987, the JV lightweight boat defeated the Crimson and the Big Red in this regatta. "The strong race just shows our depth," Konopka said. The Quakers' women's varsity boat had a disappointing race where they finished last in the Petite final, after failing to qualify for the finals of the Whittier Cup. The JV boat placed better with a seventh overall finish and placed third in the Petite final. "We had an excellent start in the first 1,000 meters, but our size really hurt us," Penn senior Meera Bhatia said. "In the last 1,000 meters, [the bigger rowers] can push through while we were fading. [The other crews] were just bigger and stronger." After this weekend, the Penn women hope to be able to compensate for their small size, while the lightweight men plan to concentrate more on race tactics, and the heavyweight men want to continue to grow as a crew and get even faster. From the heavyweight boat's first competition of the season, Penn learned what more it needs for a successful season. An impressive win for the JV lightweight crew shows promise of a bright future. The difficult race for the varsity lightweight boat showed where the crew needs work. The disappointing loss for the varsity women adds incentive for their future races. The entire crew program, plans to use this weekend as a building block for the spring season.