Princeton, Dartmouth headed to Schuylkill

While over 100,000 fans will head to the Penn Relays this weekend, the Penn women's crew team will have to vie for attention as it hosts Princeton and Dartmouth tomorrow on the Schuylkill.

The event can't claim international attendance or record-breaking crowds, but this weekend's race against Ivy foes will undoubtedly be a grueling duel between three of the top teams in the Northeast.

"It's going to be a tough... very competitive weekend," sophomore Susan Francia said.

"But nothing we can't handle."

Princeton, currently ranked fifth nationally in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Poll took the Eisenburg Cup last weekend in a decisive win over ninth-ranked Yale in both varsity races. Earlier this season Penn was unable to race against the Elis, due to a collision during warmup.

The Tigers' first and only loss of the season thus far came on April 12 when they were pummeled by No. 5 Harvard, but they went on to stroke past No. 15 Cornell, which defeated Penn this season.

"Princeton is good. We're going after them this weekend, and hopefully we'll pull out a win," Francia said.

Though unranked -- Penn is tops amongst the also receiving votes teams in the poll -- the Quakers should not be dismissed from contention.

"Dartmouth apparently has a phenomenal second varsity boat, so that race should be an exciting one to watch," Francia said.

The Big Green, also unranked recently fell to Harvard in five of the six races and fell victim to No. 8 powerhouse Brown.

The Quakers, however, are focusing less on the current rankings and more on the current state and motivation of the team.

"We've recently had some changes in our lineup, which should work to our benefit," sophomore Dierdre Kelleher said.

"We've combined some of the freshmen with the varsity. It has been very exciting to integrate the team.... We're more of one team rather than a divided one."

This "one team" mentality is just one of the many motivating factors behind this weekend's race. The Quakers, especially the varsity squads, feel they are riding a wave of momentum. Penn hopes that this wave of mentality and desire will carry the team through to Eastern Sprints -- the Quakers' final competition of the season.

"We've been able to accomplish lots of what we set out to do this season," sophomore Stephanie Foelster said.

"This is our last season race, so we're really going to put everything on the line and just give it all we've got."

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