Princeton crew winners in two boat race

"Team effort" was the catch phrase among freshman rowers Saturday at the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton, N.J. Unlike most regattas, in which each team enters its fastest-possible boat, this competition tested a team's depth. Each team entered two boats, designed to race at equal speeds. The combined times of the two boats were calculated to determine the winner of the Belly Bowl. Crews entered freshman boats in the men's lightweight and women's heavy and lightweights. This year's winner, with a combined time of 1:32:05.55 was Princeton. Penn was second with 1:33:41.28. In the men's heavyweight, Penn's first boat finished second, in 14:00 -- 21.88 seconds behind Princeton (14:19.49). The next Quakers boat was fourth (14:24.52), following Princeton's other boat (14:24.02). Keith Sutter, who stroked Penn's second-lace boat, called the race a good indication of "how competitive the league is." "These guys don't fool around," Sutter said. In a promising sign for the future, Penn finished with just three seconds separating them from Ivy League crews such as Yale, Columbia, Brown, and Cornell. "We did the course with no real problems, but it was unfamiliar," Penn coxswain Thatcher Milholland said. "Their home-course advantage may have been why Princeton got the best of us." Penn's loss to the Tigers give it something to think about this winter. "We're looking to avenge our loss," Sutter said. Come springtime, the Quakers will not have to wait long. Their first match will be against Princeton. The Tigers also won the men's lightweight race, placing boats in first and third place. Penn's first boat was eighth in 15:01.83, while its second placed 13th in 15:16.09. In the women's heavyweight, Penn's boats finished fifth (17:06.50) and 18th (17:30.46). "I was hoping to blow people away and have them say, 'Oh, my gosh look at Penn'!" Penn freshman coach Susan Hermann said, "but we did very well." Rachel Pringle, who rowed in the fifth-place boat, agreed with Hermann, calling it a "good race over all." Like the male rowers, though, she expressed regret at losing to Princeton. "We were only 3/10 of a second behind them so that was kind of frustrating," Pringle said. "But our goal was to balance the novices with the experienced rowers and I think the novices did a great job." Both Hermann and rower Zoe Chamin agreed that the second boat's 18th-place finish was a disappointing way to end the season. "I thought they'd do better but it was a learning experience," Hermann said. " A lot of them had never rowed outside of Philadelphia." Chamin blamed the performance on a "rough, disorganized and crowded start" as well as an error in evaluating a boat from Virginia. "The boats were supposed to be even, but it's natural that one will be slightly faster," Chamin said. "When a UVA boat passed us early we thought it was their weaker one, so we got discouraged. It turned out to be the stronger one, though." The race concluded the fall season for the Quakers, who will now move on to winter training. While such indoor activities as erg tests and weight lifting are challenging, a trip to Tampa, Fla., after New Year will highlight the season and provide a chance for some water training and team bonding.

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