Lwt. Crew to visit Princeton for blood, regular season capper

The Penn men's lightweight crew team has been doing a little seat-swapping and a lot of speed training this past week. This Saturday, the Quakers will travel to Princeton and fight the Tigers for the Wood-Hammond Cup and face Navy for the Callow Cup. Since the Quakers' third loss of the season last Saturday against Yale and Columbia, lightweight coach Bruce Konopka has been busy switching rowers between boats, looking for the perfect combination of strength and speed for this weekend's race. While the Red and Blue didn't face the Tigers this past fall, they defeated the Midshipmen in the Navy Day Regatta. Therefore, the Penn rowers are confident that they will present Navy with a tough race. "We have a good record against Navy," Quakers junior varsity rower Kevin Milsom said. "We hope to beat Navy, and make this a race between us and Princeton." The competition against Princeton has the Quakers both anxious and motivated for Saturday's showdown. Last weekend, the Tigers fell to Rutgers for the first time in 13 years. Princeton finished six seconds behind the Scarlet Knights. Meanwhile, the Quakers lost to Rutgers by 10 seconds earlier this season. Even though the relative times have Princeton as a four-second favorite, the gap between the Tigers and the Quakers has never been closer. As a result, Penn hopes to seize its opportunity and beat the Tigers while they're down this weekend. "Princeton is already somewhat broken," Penn junior varsity rower Ed Hetherington said. "This is a good opportunity for us to smell blood and go after their weakness." The Quakers will have several weapons in their arsenal to seize victory this weekend. First, top varsity rower Dave Wilson, who didn't row last weekend, will return to his seat on the varsity boat. Next, the second and third varsity boats will be using what they hope are faster combinations and seating orders after a week of testing and racing. Most importantly, the Quakers are ready for a fierce competition against rival Princeton, a team which they haven't had the opportunity to race against in a year. "Of all the schools we race against, I detest Princeton the most," Hetherington said. "I just think about how much I want to kick Princeton's ass when I have to wake up for morning practice every day." This weekend's race is the last of the regular season. The Quakers will devote the remainder of their season training to prepare for the Eastern Sprints on May 21. Penn rowers hope a successful performance this weekend will motivate them to practice even harder for the championships. "I expect a good race," Milsom said. "If we do well, it will make us work harder and harder for the championships."