Freshmen carry Lwt. Crew against Rutgers, Princeton

For Penn lightweight crew team, this weekend's races belonged to the rookies.

The Quakers made two visits to New Jersey on back-to-back days to take on rowing perennial powerhouses Rutgers and Princeton.

Saturday, the Red and Blue traveled to New Brunswick, N.J., with high hopes of defeating the formidable Scarlet Knights.

Despite rough waters due to poor weather, Penn turned in an impressive performance, especially at the novice level.

The rookies took the second four and the novice eight races easily, proving that Penn is and up-and-coming dominant force on the crew circuit.

With the help of first-year assistant coach Steve Perry -- who previously coached at Rutgers -- the Quakers have made drastic improvements on the water and in recruitment.

The varsity crews were less successful on the Raritan River, dropping both the first and second varsity eights. However, in comparison to years past, the Quakers fared well and even led for part of the race.

"Against Rutgers, [the first varsity eight] was actually ahead until the last 500m," Penn senior Brian Conley said. "Then they took a move, but we didn't respond. We didn't handle the little bit rougher conditions well in the last 500 meters."

The Quakers were encouraged by their performance, especially since Saturday's race was the first of the spring season.

With less than one day to rest, the Quakers were back on the water. Sunday morning Penn faced off against one of the top crews in the nation -- Princeton.

And once again, the freshmen showed up ready to perform.

The freshmen prevailed in both the first and second novice races. With two wins over the weekend, the novice boats are now the team to beat and will be favored heading into the culminating Eastern Sprints Regatta.

For it being the first two races of the season, we were especially happy with the freshmen," Conley said. "It actually helps even this year, it sets the tone for the whole team."

The varsity eight boats and the varsity four boats all lost to the Tigers, who eventually claimed the Wood-Hammond Cup.

In the first varsity eight race, Penn lost by six seconds, which, considering last season, proved to be a reasonable margin.

"We were pretty confident against Princeton especially," Conley said. "They're a good squad and we hung with them. I think we raced a really good race. It gives us a lot of confidence going into our next races and Eastern Sprints."

This week, before the Quakers head to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on Cornell and Harvard, the Quakers will be working on improving their overall performance and tightening details.

The Red and Blue will attempt to build on last weekend's performance throughout the remainder of the spring season.

"I was definitely pleased with the results overall," Conley said. "We were ahead of a few crews and we kept our composure, even though we didn't end up winning."

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