Hwt. Crew paddles past Hoyas

For the first time in the spring season, the Penn men's heavyweight crew team competed on the waters of the Schuylkill on Saturday.

The Quakers could not have hoped for a much better start to their season.

Penn swept Georgetown in all five races, including a four second win in the varsity eight.

"Georgetown has a pretty good program," Penn coach Stan Bergmann said. "But we thought we were able to do pretty well against them."

The Quakers' varsity eight turned in the fastest time of the day, finishing in a time of 6:06.65. The Hoyas finished in 6:10.37.

Bergmann said he was impressed with his varsity eight, who were behind the Hoyas early in the race.

"I'm pleased with the varsity," he said. "They showed a lot of poise."

The varsity eight race was the only close contest of the day, as Penn breezed in the other four races.

The second varsity eight finished in 6:15.55, outmuscling the Hoyas, who crossed the line in 6:27.0. The third varsity eight won their race by 27 seconds after finishing in a time of 6:23.15.

But perhaps most important to the Quakers was the good showing from the freshman eight. They posted a fast time of 6:20.6, defeating the Hoyas by exactly nine seconds.

"It was good for the freshmen to get a win under their belt," Penn's longtime coach said. "They had a comfortable victory."

The varsity four rounded out the Red and Blue's first-meet victories, crossing the line in 7:06.6, four seconds ahead of Georgetown.

The varsity eight, led by bowman Chris Greenleaf and captain and strokeman Mike Parker, fell behind early in the race but rallied for the victory.

Also on the victorious varsity eight on Saturday were Tom Paradiso, Brian Beck, Hobey Stuart, Justin Clemow, Paul Falcigno, Duncan Hansing and coxswain Bill McManus.

Falcigno is a captain along with Parker.

"The varsity eight showed race savvy early in the season in coming from behind," Bergmann said.

The coach, who is in his 18th season as coach of the men's heavyweight crew squad, also said that he was more concerned with the results of the race, rather than the time.

"I don't concern myself too much with what time we finished in," Bergmann said. "There was a strong headwind on the Schuylkill.

"It's not like on a track or in a pool -- there's too many variables."

The Quakers will return to the banks of Boathouse Row at 9 a.m. next weekend as they take on Harvard and Navy.

Last season, Penn finished second to Harvard in the annual Adams Cup.

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