W. Crew returns to Schuylkill this week

After an 11th-place finish at the Head of Charles Regatta, the Quakers head back to their home river. After a better-than-expected finish at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, the Penn women's crew team will get a chance to race this weekend on a more familiar course. The Head of the Schuylkill Regatta will give the Quakers a "home-river advantage" when they meet with some of the same competitors they raced against on the Charles last weekend. The varsity eight has shown improvement this year, with an 11th-place finish at the Head of the Charles, seven places better than last year. This continues an upward trend for Penn women's crew, which has been struggling to build a solid program ever since varsity coach Carol Bower resigned in 1996 due primarily to dissatisfaction from her rowers. Coach Barb Kirch, hired in 1997, has helped the program by providing stability; this is the first time since 1995 that all of the rowers on the varsity team have rowed under the same coach during their entire college careers. And Kirch's rowers are very upbeat about their coach. "I think everyone thinks she's a good coach and they respect her with her own rowing career and also coaching and the junior national team," senior Rebecca Rothman said. Kirch coaches the Junior Women's National Team during the summer; this year the National Team eight boat took an unprecedented second-place at the World Championships in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, most of the rowers that Kirch coaches in the summer don't come to Penn. "The recruits? she is coaching in the summer time are going to go to Michigan, Virginia or Washington," senior co-captain Kealy O'Connor said. "She gets the next-level kids." Under Kirch, crew has had some shining moments, but a big finish in one of the major spring regattas has still proved elusive. In 1997, the team earned an at-large bid to NCAA nationals, but didn't make the final in that event. Last year, the Quakers managed to beat rival Yale for the first time since 1991. However, they also placed 13th at Eastern Sprints last year, failing to make even the petite final. The team hopes that this year will change all of that. "Our goals: I believe everyone wants to medal in [Eastern] Sprints," O'Connor said. "I'm hoping to get a bid for NCAAs. That's the top-10 crews." That will take some work, considering Penn's past record in Eastern Sprints and NCAAs. However, this weekend's Head of the Schuylkill race should give the Red and Blue an opportunity to show they can compete with the best. The outlook is hopeful; last year the Quakers lost to Syracuse at the Head of the Schuylkill while this year they beat Syracuse by 17 seconds at the Head of the Charles. While fall results don't predict success in the spring, the overall improvement of women's crew is encouraging. This year's team, with six experienced juniors and seniors, hopes to be able to work towards a big win this weekend and, more importantly, this spring.