Novice Crews test racing waters at Navy Day

In their first race of the fall season, all of Penn's crews worked on their skills along the Schuylkill River. Let the preseason begin! With the bulk of their season still several months ahead, Penn crews took to the Schuylkill River last weekend for the first time this fall in the Navy Day Regatta. The regatta, part of the short fall season which allows crews to size each other up before more serious racing begins in April, turned out to be Penn and Temple's day just as much as it was Navy's day. The regatta is considered the least competitive in Penn's fall schedule, but it is nevertheless a great chance for Penn crews to gain valuable experience before more important regattas. "The Navy Day is a good first race," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "It's at home and the competition is pretty good; I wasn't disappointed." Perhaps the most important purpose of the regatta is to give freshmen their first opportunity to race in a Penn uniform. Because crew is one of the few sports that accepts athletes with no previous experience, giving novice oarsmen many chances to compete is especially important. The Quakers freshmen did not disappoint. The men dominated their racing, taking first and second in their competition. While the women's race was closer, Penn still took first and third in outdistancing their competition. Even closer racing was found at the varsity level, where the margin of victory for the men's eight was a mere tenth of a second. Unfortunately, Penn came out on the losing end of the stick, as Temple pulled a 12:09.7 to the Quakers' 12:09.8. Penn's women also came in second in their competition, losing to Navy by 16 seconds. Penn's second boat, however, came in only three seconds behind the first boat, showing the depth of their team. "Everybody wanted to beat Navy," Penn women's coach Barb Kirch said. "But we also knew that Navy would be stronger this year with their new coach." Also showing improvement this year was Penn's lightweight men with a convincing victory over conference foes Rutgers and Navy. They, too, showed their depth by entering a modified version of their varsity in a different event and coming up with virtually the same time as did their original lineup. For most Penn crews, however, the results of the Navy Day Regatta were of little importance. Like a preseason baseball game, the Navy Day Regatta showed team progress but mainly served as preparation for bigger and better things to come.