Lwt. Crew: Penn can't recover from poor start off the mark

A slow start to Saturday's race against Rutgers caused the lightweight varsity eight to kick off the spring racing season with less than satisfactory results. The Quakers suffered a seven-second loss to Rutgers after trailing by a boat-length starting at 1,000 meter mark of the 2,000m race.

"We didn't have the jump at the start," Penn coach Mike Irwin said. "By the time we wanted to get into it, it was too late. They were in a position to control the race." Rutgers had a considerably stronger start, pulling away from Penn as early as 300m into the race.

"We were in a hole that we couldn't dig out of."

That hole was the result of not attacking the race with enough intensity during the first 700m.

"We didn't get into that race aggressiveness and race rhythm," Irwin said.

The Quakers had expected that even though they had been slow off the start all week in practice, their ability to race well at the base rating would carry them to a win -- but Rutgers surprised them.

"They were able to watch exactly where we were and what we were doing, and did a good job maintaining the margin," junior coxswain Mark Albert said.

Irwin also attributes some of the trouble to lack of varsity racing experience on a team that is comprised largely of sophomores.

"The learning curve is going to be very steep this season," he said. "We're going to take some lumps on the way to being a better crew."

On the other hand, he also sees that it can be an advantage.

"The sophomores had an extremely successful season when they were freshman and they're hungry for that. Will they be aiming for that again? You bet. I think everyone is up to the challenge."

"It was a tough race to drop," Albert said.

Albert came back this fall after taking a year off both because he has tremendous respect for Irwin and the talent of the team.

"We know what needs to be worked on, and I'm confident we'll find our speed," Albert said

The Quakers' potential needs to be pushed to the limit this spring if Penn hopes to overcome the disadvantage presented to them by their relative inexperience.

"The plan is to cover that ground in time for Eastern Sprints,"Irwin said.

The freshman squad, on the other hand, was able to finish strong with a solid lead on Rutgers, winning by four seconds. Their coach credited the work that went into the race well before the boat was in the water.

"The main reason they succeeded was because they've trained really hard since September and done all the work," freshman coach John Fife said.

The freshmen, unlike the varsity, were able to pull into the lead after being down after the first 500 meters.

"We're going to work on the shift [to a base rating] after the start," Fife said. "I'm telling the guys, 'this is just one rung on the ladder, a step in the right direction.' We have to keep on plugging."

A lot could happen over the course of the freshman season when all the teams are learning to race at the Division I level.

"The intensity was good for their introduction to the league," Fife said. "As the season progresses, particularly in the freshman league, the intensity needs to increase. This was just a taste."

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