Hwt. Crew takes on Navy and Harvard for the Adams Cup

As most students on campus prepare to lock themselves into stuffy rooms for the big finals push, the Penn men's crew teams, in addition to studying, are making a different kind of push -- they are preparing for the Eastern Sprints Championships on May 9. The lightweight team finished its cup season on the Schuylkill last weekend, losing to Princeton while beating Navy. Meanwhile, the heavyweight crew hopes to use the momentum from last week's win over Yale and Columbia to defeat Harvard and Navy tomorrow in a race for the Adams Cup on the Schuylkill. "The Adams Cup is always a great race," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "It's one of those things that you can't predict." Going strictly by the numbers, Harvard should edge Penn in a tight race while Navy shouldn't even be in the running, as the Crimson are ranked fifth, the Quakers sixth and the Midshipmen 14th in the most recent USRowing National Collegiate Rowing Coaches Poll. Using that logic, though, the Quakers shouldn't have beaten the Elis last weekend, who are ranked fourth in the same poll. But rankings only mean so much when crews get onto the starting line, so Bergman is not about to discount anyone's chances. "[Navy] has come in with that kind of record before and won the Cup," he said. Bergman described the race as "another measuring stick." The phrase accurately describes most of the cup races that lead up to Eastern Sprints, which serve as the championships for the Ivy League and other top eastern collegiate crews. "Harvard is still ranked ahead of us," Penn senior captain Greg Rauscher said. "And last year they beat us at Henley." While Penn's loss to Harvard in the semifinals of the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in London last summer may be a motivating factor this weekend, the Adams Cup isn't just about revenge. The race also has direct implications for Sprints. "This is a huge race for us," senior commodore Garrett Miller said. "It's vital that we win going into Sprints." Miller said that beating Harvard would be the difference between a two and a three seed in the opening heat at Eastern Sprints. "[A No. 2 seed] means that we don't have to kill ourselves making finals and we then would still have something left for finals," Miller said. Miller added that for another win this week the Quakers would have to improve over last week's winning performance. "They're faster than Yale," Miller said. "They'll charge at you a lot. We really worked on our move and our cruising speed this week and both of them improved." Despite showing marked improvement in practice, the Quakers were without their seven-seat, Tim Thompson, for the week's first two practices. The junior, who was out earlier this season with a fractured rib, pulled a muscle in the win over Yale but should be back at full strength for tomorrow's race. The Quakers just finished their last regular week of practice and will now have to schedule practices around final exams. The Penn rowers are entering the most important part of the year, both athletically and academically, but it's nothing new for any crew team. "Last year [Sprints started] a week after exams," Bergman said. "It happens to every team every year, sometimes you get a break and sometimes you have to go right into Sprints off exams. Sometimes, though, I think it might be the best thing when you have to taper. "We'll try to get a lot done early in the week. Then we have to practice when the guys can make it. You have to look at their eyeballs a little bit so you tell if they can go or not. It's a stressful time of year. I don't know how they do it." Rauscher did not share his coach's concern. "Finals aren't going to affect us," he said. "We just have to work on coordinating our schedules. It shouldn't really be a problem."