Lightweight Crew's frosh end season

As the fall season winds down, most freshmen crew teams are still living in the shadow of the varsity teams that oversee them.

This is not the case with the Penn men's freshman lightweight team.

Coming off an amazing seventh place finish at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta -- in which most of the teams that finished ahead of Penn were either heavyweight or racing club boats -- the freshman lightweight squad has proven it can compete with the top teams in the country.

"We can definitely compete at the highest level, and we are anxious to defeat some of the premier teams, like Navy and Yale," freshman oarsman Jamie O'Neill said.

Penn's freshmen rowers will have another chance to prove themselves as they culminate the fall season at the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton, N.J., on Nov. 10th.

The freshman team will send two even eight boats to the event, which will feature several league rivals, including Yale, Princeton and Navy.

Unlike the Head of the Schuylkill, each team will be forced to enter evenly matched boats in this weekend's event. All boats will therefore have relatively similar chances to win.

"Since every crew has to enter even boats, the [Belly of the Carnegie] is more of a test of the depth of the freshman teams," freshman lightweight crew coach John Fife said.

The Belly of the Carnegie is also a significant race for the Quakers because it involves a more stable playing field. The freshman boats will compete in the lightweight eight event against other lightweight crews rather than against heavyweight boats or national racing associations.

"The Belly of the Carnegie will allow us to concentrate more on our division opponents and give us a better picture on how we stand," freshman oarsman Michael Karam said.

If the Head of the Schuylkill were any indication of the Quakers' abilities, however, the team might be one of the hunted teams at this weekend's event.

"We'd still like to come out on top of Navy," Karam said, referring to the one lightweight team that finished ahead of the Quakers at the Head of the Schuylkill. "But we're definitely no longer a wild-card on the river."

The smaller field will also reduce the possibility of collisions between boats, something that plagued the Quakers varsity squad two weeks ago at the location of this weekend's event.

"Even though the field is smaller, the format of fall head racing still increases the chance of collisions," Fife said. "We're going to be extra careful not to lose time."

Last year, the Red and Blue finished 10th and 13th out of 22 boats at the Belly of the Carnegie and finished sixth overall in point standings. Even though the varsity team will compete at the event, the freshman squad would like to improve upon last year's performance, and along with the heavyweight team, earn a higher overall point standing.

"With our momentum at its highest level coming into the event, it's not hard to see why we could not finish ahead of most of these teams," freshman oarsman Alan Blank said.

The freshman lightweight team will take a week-long rest immediately following the Belly of the Carnegie and begin winter training during the week of Nov. 18.

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