Crews just average at Head of Charles

Coming off its first-place finish at the Navy Day Regatta on October 11, the Penn men's crew team faced many of the same rivals at last weekend's contest in Cambridge, Mass.: The Head of the Charles. The oldest race of its kind, it has traditionally taken place only on Sunday. This year's turnout of nearly 5,600 competitors and over 3,000 spectators, however, gave rise to two full days of racing. With each of its three-mile trials this fall, the Quakers are looking to improve for the spring season when they will compete in a series of crucial 1 1/4-mile contests. Racing in the most prestigious and competitive event of the day, the Championship Eight, Penn's heavyweight team placed fifth behind the U.S. National Team (13 minutes, 58 seconds), Harvard, Princeton and Northeastern. "We would have liked to have beaten Princeton and Northeastern, but we'll see Princeton again on Saturday," said Quakers stroke Tom Rymes, referring to this weekend's home race, the Head of the Schuylkill. Rymes rowed the course at 34 strokes per minute. Penn senior captain Joe Swift, currently out with a broken foot, called this performance a "good sign for this early in the season." Penn was pleased with its time of 14:25, which kept them in close proximity to the race leaders. "Only 10 seconds elapsed between Harvard's second-place finish and ours so we were excited about that," Quakers senior Dixon Gillis said. "It was one of our best finishes in a while." The three-mile head races -- the fall trials competitions -- are much longer than the 2,000-meter spring competition races, and thus the difference in times are much greater. In the lightweight race, the Quakers' finish in 15:12 placed them seventh in the field. "We rowed where we wanted to," senior coxswain Justin Slatkey said. "We were able to stay with the crew in front of us until the very end." Penn's most impressive performance, however, came from its freshman heavyweight team, which won the Youth Eight in 15:22. Beating Brown and Harvard by three and seven seconds, respectively, the victory marked Penn coach Larry Connell's third in this event. "It was certainly a feather in our cap to win such a big race," Penn rower Keith Sutter said. "We have to keep fighting all season, though. We'll see a lot of those crews at the Schuylkill." Penn's confidence from the Head of the Charles and its home course advantage should be a tremendous help in its 2 1/2-mile race this weekend.