Hwt. Crew: Penn takes second at Childs Cup

While their classmates filled the Quad this past weekend for Spring Fling, the Penn heavyweight varsity eight finished second at Princeton's annual Childs Cup on Saturday in its first official spring race.

The Quakers finished in second place with a time of 6:18.01, while the host Tigers retained the cup with a time of 6:13.8. Columbia trailed the pack with a time of 6:36.7.

"It was a solid race," senior Hobey Stuart said. "We are all disappointed to lose to Princeton, but you learn from it and move on."

Penn placed second in two other races on Lake Carnegie, only to be beaten by Princeton in both races. In the novice eight race, Penn notched a time of 6:39.35, defeating Columbia by over five seconds. The Quakers finished over 10 seconds behind Princeton.

Freshman phenom Jorge Beruff explained that while beating Columbia was a notable achievement for the Red and Blue, he and his teammates are going to have to work even harder if they are to close the gap -- which was just under five seconds last weekend -- between themselves and Princeton.

"Racing Princeton gave us a good gauge of where we are at," Beruff said. "If we are going to establish ourselves this year, those are the boats that we are going to have to stay with."

In the second novice fours, the Quakers finished second with a time of 8:00.11. In the second varsity eight, Penn finished third behind Princeton's second and third varsity eight squads with a time of 6:42.38.

The Quakers, ranked ninth in the USRowing Collegiate Coaches first regular season poll, travel to New York next weekend to race for the Blackwell Cup. This time, Penn's foes appear to be a bit more manageable, as the team faces unranked Columbia -- who the Quakers defeated on Saturday -- and 11th-ranked Yale.

But facing weaker competition may prove to be a double-edged sword. While it will provide Penn with an easier opportunity at a first-place finish, Beruff noted that there will be more pressure on the Quakers to be the first team to cross the finish line.

"We knew Princeton was really good, so there wasn't that pressure to beat them," Beruff said. "But we know we can beat Yale [and we already beat Columbia] so it is on us to get the job done."

Indeed, while the Quakers second-place finishes across the board last weekend were understandable given Princeton's sixth-place ranking, another second-place finish would be quite disappointing.

The Quakers will be expected to win.

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