Lwt. Crew looks to sink Navy, get first season win

The Penn lightweight crew team hopes that a change of scenery will bring a change in fortunes to what has been a very tough year. The No. 10 Quakers will search for their first win of the season when they travel to Annapolis, Md., on Saturday to face No. 7 Navy. This is the Midshipmen's only home match of the season due to the notoriously choppy waters of their homesite, Severn River. "We've rowed in bad conditions up here," Penn coach Bruce Konopka said. "You can find some bad places on the Schuylkill if you try. We're prepared for the worst, so if it's not it will be a bonus." The Quaker rowers also understand the significance of the Severn River's poor racing waters. "We're expecting rough conditions but we've just got to deal with it," sophomore Matt Courtin said. "This race could come down to who handles it better." Saturday's trip also represents the Quakers' last chance to improve upon their 0-6 record (0-5 Ivy League) before the EARC sprints, where the 2001 Ivy champion will be determined. "A win this weekend would be huge," Courtin said. "We've had a couple of close races so far this season so we really can't be satisfied by just hanging within a certain margin. "It definitely would be a big plus and a big moral boost for these guys because we're working real hard." Navy, however, will not be a pushover. The Midshipmen enter the race with a 3-2 record, their only losses coming to No. 4 Princeton and No. 5 Harvard. The loss to Princeton was by a mere three seconds, a closer margin than Penn's five second loss to the Tigers last Saturday. The Midshipmen also boast wins over No. 2 Georgetown, No. 9 Cornell and No. 11 M.I.T. "We hope we can counter their higher stroke rating with a little more efficiency," Konopka said. "Hopefully our stroke will be just a little below theirs." In laymen's terms, Penn will try and get more strokes in to counter the fact that Navy moves further per stroke. The Quakers are keeping this race in proper perspective, as most of the year is just a tune-up for Sprints, which now loom just two weekends away. "We're going to make sure that we don't lose our edge," Konopka said. "Both [the first and second varsity] boats are coming along real well." This weekend the Quakers hope that the progress finally shows up by getting that first "W" in their season record.

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