M. Crew shifts gears to prepare for the spring season

As spring quickly approaches, so too does the start of the Penn men's crew season. After the fall racing season and the longer head races concluded, the heavy- and lightweight teams had to adjust their training schedules for the spring's shorter and faster 2000 meter sprints. Both teams, as usual, stayed on campus over spring break for twice-a-day practices. These practices were used to fine-tune technique and to begin finalizing boat positions. Most oarsmen felt the practices were beneficial. "We've been working hard," Penn junior lightweight Jed Cridland said. "Spring break was tough with two practices a day, which is physically demanding. But it was good training." The frigid Philadelphia weather complicated practices over break, especially during the morning rows. "The practices were excellent, even with the wind chill in the single digits," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. Even worse than the temperature, however, were the water conditions. "The water was bad and it was really windy," senior lightweight captain Joe Melchiors said. "It was hard to get a lot done. Trying to set the boat was difficult." Setting the boat, distributing weight equally to both port and starboard side, becomes nearly impossible with high waves. The 10 days of practice also saw extensive seat-racing, which is head-to-head competition between two boats, with one oarsman from each boat trading seats with his alternate in the other boat, in pursuit of the fastest eight man combination. The boat positions are now coming together for both teams' initial spring race. The lightweights begin their season March 28, when they travel to New Brunswick to race against Rutgers. They then travel to San Diego on April 4, where they will be joined by the heavyweight team to face off against such powers as Harvard, the University of Washington and the University of California at Berkeley. Extra running, twice-a-week lifting and morning ergs have the Quakers confidently eyeing the championships. "The attitude in the varsity boat is different from previous years," Nick Tripician said. "The whole program is dedicated to going undefeated." Let the racing begin.