Lwt. Crew finishes ahead of one boat

The Penn men's lightweight crew team kept its promise to beat at least one boat this past weekend when its varsity eight finished ahead of Navy. The Red and Blue finished in a time of 6:27.25, behind Princeton, which finished with a time of 6:15.81, but ahead of the Midshipmen, who finished in a time of 6:40.53. The Quakers had a similar performance in the fall, when they beat the Midshipmen in the Navy Day Regatta on the Schuylkill. While Penn's performance was good enough to place the Red and Blue above the boys from Annapolis, it proved insufficient when placed against Ivy powerhouse Princeton. The Quakers raced well for the first 1,500 meters, keeping within a boat length of the Tigers. But with about 500 meters left in the race, the Quakers began to fall behind and were soon an insurmountable distance behind Princeton. "We just didn't have the juice at the end," Penn varsity rower Joel Frankel said. "We didn't have the endurance to keep up with Princeton." The second varsity boat also had a good start. The Quakers were able to gain about five seats on Navy at the start, but couldn't keep their lead down the stretch. "We started out well," senior rower Eamon Jordan said. "But we started rowing sloppy and couldn't keep up." According to Jordan, the new lineup and changes in seat order that Penn tested out on Saturday did not prove to be very helpful for the Quakers. Penn finished in third place with a time of 6:46.31. The third varsity boat also placed last in its heat. The crew did not race as well as it could have, according to junior rower Ed Hetherington. "We were not rowing together. Everyone was doing their own thing," Hetherington said. "We kind of fell apart." A big factor in the loss was the fact that there was swamp weed caught under the boat, making it difficult for the rowers to gain speed. The Quakers were also rowing against a direct headwind. Both freshman boats also placed behind the Midshipmen and the Tigers. They finished in times of 6:46.94 and 7:11.28, behind Navy, which finished in a time of 6:45.32, and Princeton, which finished in a time of 6:27.36. The Quakers now have a month to prepare for the Eastern Sprints. With no other races in the meantime, the Quakers will be able to train more intensely for the Sprints than they have for any other event on their schedule. The varsity boat anticipates changes in its training over the next few weeks and hopes to gain speed for their next encounter with the Tigers. "The other teams won't know the speed we're gaining over the next few weeks," Frankel said. "We can surprise a couple of teams if we put together a complete race."