Crew enthusiastic about Head of Schuylkill results

The Penn men's lightweight crew finished third, just behind the New York Athletic Club and the U.S. National team. Placing at or near the top of every race, the Penn crews defeated prestigious rowing clubs, rival Ivy League crews and other tough competitors at the Head of the Schuylkill last Saturday. Finishing the championship eight behind Rutgers (14 minutes, 51.6 seconds) and the Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association (14:34.2), the Penn women placed third among 21 boats, finishing in 14:59.3. "Going into the race, it was hard to know what to expect," Penn coach Barb Kirsh said. "Looking at last year's fourth-place finish, we knew we wanted to do equal or better than that. I was pleased that when the athletes got out of the water they were excited." Due to opponents' ever-changing lineups and the constant uncertainty as to whether they were utilizing their best athletes, Kirsh was hesitant to speculate about her team's future success. From an objective standpoint, though, things look promising for the Quakers this spring. The crew finished among Rutgers and Syracuse on Saturday; last season Rutgers placed sixth at Eastern Sprints and Syracuse was fifth. The Quakers only defeated one team in last year's Sprints. "Our program is strong right now," Kirsh said. "We're going out and racing hard. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from my athletes so far this season." In the freshman race, the Penn women's novices placed first in 15:36.48, ahead of Princeton and Georgetown. The rowers accomplished a remarkable feat in beating the Tigers. "They're traditionally pretty good, so defeating them indicates we're doing well," Quakers novice coach Susan Herman said of the win. "Most of the coaches can't remember the last time we beat them." Penn entered two boats in the novice race. The second one's finish of 16:27.34 placed them fourth in the field of 23. Grabbing two of the top five positions "illustrated the team's depth," according to Herman. "You really can't do much better than that," she said. The Penn men's freshman team was also victorious, keeping its undefeated record in tact by defeating Syracuse, Brown and Princeton with a time of 13:23.45. "We had some difficulties early in the race that resulted in our having to start again," Penn stroke Keith Sutter said. "After that, though, we got it together and rowed really well." In the men's lightweight race, Penn's finish in 13:11.59 was good for third behind the New York Athletic Club and the U.S. National Team. "We were disappointed because we lost by less than a second to the second-place team," Penn captain Joe Melchiors said. "We made a lot of progress from the Head of the Charles, though. We changed the lineup, and it was nice to see that we have a lot of guys that can step up and make the boat go fast." Finally, in the feature event, the men's championship eight, Penn finished fourth in 13:06.0. Defeating 23 crews of such teams as the Naval Academy and Boston University was a significant achievement. Penn's second boat in the race placed 10th in 13:34.9. Penn's next race, the Princeton Chase will take place on November 8. The contest will offer the men's team a chance to defeat its rival, Princeton, and the women some competition against Big Ten teams new to the sport.