No. 10 Lwt. Crew gets another winless season with Navy loss

Saturday marked the end of a disappointing regular season for the No. 10 Penn lightweight crew team, as the Quakers' loss at No. 7 Navy ensured their second consecutive winless regular season. "It's frustrating," Penn senior Tim Mah said. "We always think that we have a chance to win coming into the season, but the league was real tough this year." The Quakers finished the regular season 0-7 (0-5 Ivy League). Navy defeated Penn's varsity boat by nine seconds on Saturday morning, 6:12 to 6:21, on the notoriously choppy waters of the Severn River in Annapolis, Md. "Even that early [6:45 a.m.], the conditions were rough," Mah said. "Navy handled it better than we did -- they're more used to it. "It was obviously a factor since we don't usually practice on water that constantly rough and they practice on that everyday." Navy got off the line quicker and, from there, slowly pulled away from the Quakers. "We had a decent start, but not good enough to hang with them," Penn senior captain Eddie Hetherington said. "We couldn't capitalize on any of our moves. Navy set the tone." Penn's two JV boats finished third and fourth behind Navy's top two JV boats in a five-boat race. Navy's third JV boat finished fifth. "There have been improvements this year," Hetherington said. "We're moving in the right direction, just obviously not as fast as we would like." With the win, Navy improved to 4-2 on the season. The Midshipmen have notched impressive victories over No. 2 Georgetown, No. 9 Cornell and No. 11 M.I.T. Their only two setbacks have occurred against top-five opponents Harvard and Princeton. Despite their poor showing in the regular season, the Red and Blue have maintained a top-10 national ranking all season long. This lofty status is a result of their strong schedule, as every one of the team's losses has come to a squad ranked in the top 10. Also, the Quakers still have a chance for redemption, as the Ivy League title is not determined until May 13, when EARC Sprints take place in Worcester, Mass. All of the Ivies, along with several traditional eastern powers -- including Navy -- will race there. "We're all still in good spirits here," Hetherington said. "We're still working hard, no one's thrown in the towel. "We still feel there's time to turn it around."

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