M. Crew ends season at IRAs

The heavyweight and lightweight Penn men's crews concluded their spring seasons on the waters of the Cooper River this past weekend.

Pennsauken, N.J., hosted the annual IRA regatta where crews from all over the country row for the national title.

While neither of Penn's crews performed as well as they had hoped, they are looking to regroup and take the positives from the race into next year's season.

Once again, the Quaker varsity heavyweight eight missed qualifying for the Grand Final but managed to come away with first place in the Petite Final.

California, Brown and Princeton were the first three crews to cross the finish line in the Grand Final race.

Penn's second heavyweight varsity eight took third place in the Petite Finals. The top crews in this division came from Brown, Princeton and Washington.

The third Quaker eight to compete, the freshman boat, crossed the finish line of the Petites in fifth place.

California won the novice title with Washington and Wisconsin following in second and third place, respectively.

The heavyweight freshman four with coxswain ended in sixth place in the third level finals, the race for the boats who did not qualify for the Petite Finals. Winners of this event came from Wisconsin, Georgetown and Rutgers.

The lightweight Quakers broke up their eights into smaller boats and rowed in the heavyweight division. Because of this decision, they found themselves racing against crews sizably bigger than themselves.

The Red and Blue varsity "lightweight" four with coxswain fared best out of all Penn crews. This boat, rowing side by side with true heavyweight boats, qualified for the Grand Final and finished fifth.

This was the only boat that competed in a Grand Final race and did so with the added challenge of being comprised of lightweight rowers.

After a last minute line-up shuffle at the Eastern Sprints, another coxswain switch was made before Gerry Berry, Garret Cameron, Dan McCormick and Joel Frankel rowed their way into the grands.

Wisconsin won the race with Georgetown and Oregon taking second and third, respectively.

The "lightweight" varsity four without coxswain did not fare as well, finishing in fifth place in the third level finals. Wisconsin, Georgetown and Cornell took the top three spots.

Brian Conley, a sophomore lightweight, attributed much of the team's struggles this year to the lack of experience the crew had rowing together as a single unit.

"We had a young team this year and sometimes had trouble establishing a uniform rhythm," Conley said. "However, we hope to build off this season as we go into next year and integrate the current freshmen into the team."

With Conley as the new team commodore and Ed Hetherington as the new captain, the crew hopes to build both speed and depth for the 2001 season.

The third lightweight boat entered was the pair without coxswain. This boat took second place in the Petite Final as Cornell, Buffalo and Charleston rowed their way into the top three spots of the Grand Final.

Although neither the heavyweights nor the lightweights were particularly pleased with their overall performances, both crews are trying to take the positives from the final weekend of rowing to use as stepping stones as they head into a fresh season.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.