Princeton edges out Hwt. Crew

The Penn heavyweight crew team once again fell short Saturday against its archrival, Princeton. The No. 6 Quakers finished the 2,000 meter race in six minutes and six seconds, convincingly behind the front-running Tigers. No. 3 Princeton finished with an impressive time of 6:01 to capture the Childs Cup. No. 16 Columbia lagged behind, finishing with a time of 6:23. This is the eighth straight season in which Princeton has edged the Quakers for the coveted trophy. "It's very difficult to lose no matter who the opponent is," Penn sophomore Hobie Stuart said. "But Princeton always makes it worse." Princeton, which never trailed, took a one-seat lead off the start and doubled that narrow margin by the halfway mark of the race. That was when the Tigers hit their stride and took a three-fourths-of-a-boatlength lead over the next 1,000 meters, a lead that proved to be insurmountable. Even the victory over Ivy power Columbia did not take the sting out of the loss for the Quakers, whose season spiraled downwards after a heartbreaking photo-finish loss to the Tigers a year ago. The team emphasized that this year's disappointment be put into proper perspective. "Last year we had a letdown after this race since we put so much work into it," Penn senior Nick Tripician said. "This year we realize it's a long season and this is just a little bump. It's not the end of the world -- Princeton was just too good Saturday." Princeton's eight put up the same time on Saturday as No. 1 California put up to win the San Diego Classic on April 7. The Red and Blue did, however, manage to improve upon their 6:14 finish in the same meet. Steady improvement is even more critical in crew than in other sports, as the Ivy League champ is not determined until the EARC sprints at the end of the racing season. "IRAs and sprints are the races that you set [as] your goals," Stuart said. "This is just a stepping stone, and more fuel on the fire." Penn figures to drop somewhat in the rankings this week. The Quakers moved up to No. 6 after finishing third behind only Cal and No. 4 Washington at the prestigious race in San Diego. "We're not at all concerned with rankings," Tripician said. "Come race day it doesn't matter [where you're ranked]. If you win you win, if you lose you lose. You can win IRAs if you're ranked first or 20th." The Red and Blue look to improve their time when they face No. 9 Yale and Columbia at the Blackwell Cup this Saturday on the Schuylkill. "These are all preparation races coming up," Tripician said. "We're going to gain experience and find out about ourselves.... Ideally the experience will get us to our max ability for IRAs and sprints."

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