Frosh men's crew makes it to Henley semifinals

Three weeks ago, the Penn men's freshman crew team finished up a very successful season with an unforgettable experience at the Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River in England. The team advanced to the semifinals of the Temple Cup before losing to Goldie Boat Club, an English crew. "It's a great experience for them," coach Larry Connell said. "The rewards of going to Henleys are infinitely worth the extra month of training." Following a disappointing loss in the IRA Championships at the beginning of the summer break, the freshman eight took a few days off to recover and then rededicated themselves to proving that they belonged at the Henleys -- the largest competition between international crews of the year. At the IRA Championships, the Penn freshman boat had been defeated for the first time this year. Nicholas Tripician, the bowman of the boat, said: "We peaked at Easterns (which Penn won for the right to go to Henleys)... We lost our focus between Easterns and IRAs." After the loss, they had to regain the speed and strength that a year of training had sapped. The biggest change they made in their training program was adding weightlifting. "They have a great work ethic that carried them throughout the year," Connell said. With daily lifting, the crew members found their strength which in turn restored their speed. There was one other advantage to losing at Easterns according to Matthew Lee, the stroke on the freshman boat. "When you don't know what it feels like to lose, it's kind of hard to appreciate winning. When we lost there, it gave us a little kick in the butt," he said. They continued lifting until they left for Henleys a week before the regatta began. The time with just lifting then allowed their muscles to heal so that they were fully prepared for the toughest competition of the season. In the first race, against the University of Bristol, Penn charged out to an early boat length lead, as would be their signature all weekend, and increased this advantage during the race before easing past the finish just over a length in front of the English boat. In their second race, on July 4th, Penn took full control of the race early and opened up a large lead before reducing their stroke rate to conserve energy. They still managed to defeat Durham University by three and a half boat lengths in a very patriotic showing. "Our coxswain, Mark Redding, just starting chanting 'USA!' to us as we went past the grandstand. You could feel the whole boat react to that. It might not have been the closest race, but it was probably the most memorable race, the most fun, we've had in the boat," Tripician said. The third race, a quarterfinal matching, was much closer. By then, all the slow boats had been weeded out of the competition. Penn faced I.N.S.A. of Lyon, France. After again surging to an opening lead and maintaining it, the French boat began closing on the Quakers in the final 500 meters. Here Penn showed the results of weeks of weight training to prepare as it held off the other boat by a canvas, a length of about seven feet at the front of the boat. "I'll never forget coming in the last 500 meters of that race. I remember not even being able to hear my coxswain. The entire crowd felt like a blur in your ears. You couldn't hear anything. It came down to the last 20 strokes," Lee said. In the semifinal race, Penn -- the only American boat left -- finally faced an older, stronger, more experienced team. Though they rowed just as hard as they had in the first rounds, the Quakers were unable to catch the crew from Goldies Boat Club, the eventual Temple Cup victors. The freshman, who next year will be competing for a spot in the varsity's first boat as sophomores, were hopeful that their experience at Henleys will provide them with the boost to vault to that next level. "Any one of us could be in that boat. We all have that determination and we're capable," Tripician said. Even with an extra month's experience, they were willing to admit that strength is a deciding factor for the varsity boat in which they would land. For some, getting back to Henleys where they had such a great time will motivate them. "For a person who loves rowing, it's the ultimate experience," Connell said.