Schuylkill refreshes Crews' performances

From varsity eights on down, all of Penn's crews placed well at home. Home-course advantage is not typically considered important in crew racing. But if it wasn't the crowd, then it must have been something in the water, as all Penn crews scored solid performances last Saturday on the Schuylkill River. In one of the final weekends before the five month break between fall and spring season, Penn crews showed their stuff to a home crowd at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. "It was a beautiful day," Penn heavyweight coach Stan Bergman said. "And the racing went very well." The heavyweight varsity placed first out of all collegiate entries with a time of 13 minutes and 11 seconds, trailing only the U.S. National Team and a local powerhouse crew from the Penn Athletic Club. The eight succeeded in defeating crews that had scored victories on them in the past three weeks, including Temple and Navy. "It was an improvement over the Charles," Bergman said. "We're training harder and moving in the right direction." Part of that improvement is due to the return of Penn senior Garrett Miller to the lineup. The commodore had spent the first part of the fall continuing his participation with the U.S. National Team, helping that crew to a victory at the Head of the Charles. For Penn's women, however, the weekend was even more packed, as they attended the Princeton Chase on Sunday in New Jersey, in addition to Saturday's race. "The Chase was a great chance to race crews we won't see next spring, including Ohio State and Michigan," Penn women's coach Barb Kirch said. With a time of 15:11, the varsity eight placed ahead of traditional Ivy foes Dartmouth and Cornell, closely trailing such powerhouses as Northeastern and Radcliffe. Being that the Chase occurred less than 24 hours after the Schuylkill, success at the latter regatta relied on addressing the problems discovered in the former. "We put together a solid race in Princeton," Kirch said. "It was a definite improvement over the Schuylkill." At that regatta, Penn (15:29) placed a close third behind Syracuse (15:26) and Michigan (15:10). As with most races in the fall, however, the focus for the women's team was placed more heavily upon self-improvement than on improving against others. The team's main objective was to race more aggressively. Judging by their results, the team definitely succeeded. Penn's lightweight men also succeeded at the Schuylkill, though their race was marred by equipment problems. "We went to a different type of shell this week and the rigging was screwed up," lightweight coach Bruce Konopka said. "It really hurt us." The crew still turned in a respectable performance, placing second among collegiate crews (13:35) behind Georgetown (13:21). A brighter note for the lightweight team was the stellar performance turned in by the freshman. The eight, led by first year coach John Suter, placed fourth in the open-weight freshman event with a time of 14:02. The crew was close to the Boston University heavyweight's time of 13:58 and ahead of Syracuse and Columbia's entries. The winner of that event, however, was the Penn heavyweight freshmen with a time of 13:33, continuing a dominating fall season for the eight. After facing virtually every strong crew in the nation in Boston the weekend earlier and losing to a strong Harvard crew by less than six seconds, the eight pulled away from its competition this weekend with a solid win. All freshman teams will conclude their seasons at the Belly of the Carnegie at Princeton in three weeks, while both men's varsity crews will step off the water in two weeks in Philadelphia at the Frostbite Regatta. For the women, however, the fall season is over. Though the time is mainly useful for testing lineups and improving technique, the women have shown a marked improvement in their racing performances.