Women's Crew to row in Fall finales

The Penn women's crew team will face its last test of the Fall season this weekend.

The Quakers will have the home-river advantage when they row in the Frostbite Regatta on the Schuylkill tomorrow.

The Quakers' varsity boats will go head-to-head with other collegiate crews -- including Georgetown, Columbia and uptown rival Temple.

The Quakers' novice boats will also have a chance to prove their mettle when they compete in the Belly of the Carnegie on Sunday.

"We're going to be competing against basically every other freshman crew on the Eastern seaboard," Penn freshman rower Katie Held said. "I think we're going to do relatively well.

"Last race we did really well and even though [the Belly of the Carnegie] is a different lineup and [there are] a lot more schools, we should have a good showing [and] finish out the fall season strong."

So far, the Red and Blue have led a successful campaign. They started out strong, and in their first race of the season at the Navy Day Regatta, the Quakers finished first.

Though the Quakers did not race as well as they would have liked at the Head of the Charles, they picked up the intensity a notch at the Princeton Chase, where they recorded a very respectable ninth-place finish.

"We're doing well," Held said. "We get along on and off the water. Everything is in sync."

This weekend the Quakers are hoping to round out a fine Fall season.

"We're always excited to race," sophomore rower Megan Wellington said. "We're a competitive bunch and we're anticipating doing well."

The Quakers have been training intensely in recent weeks, practicing on the water six days a week, sometimes as early as 6 a.m.

In their final races, the Quakers will hopefully use the momentum of the Fall season and the anticipation of the Spring season to help propel them into first place.

"We're hoping to have a good close to our fall season," Wellington said. "It has really been a developing season. [There was] a lot of turnover in our boats. It has been a learning season, but it has been good."

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