For the Penn heavyweight crew team, life has almost become predictable.
There is optimism before every race. There is determination to do better than the last time. There is a belief that this time, finally, they will cross the finish line first.
But then the boat hits the water and reality sets in again.
This time, it came in the form of a loss to Cornell at the Madiera Cup last Saturday on the Schuylkill River. The No. 11 Big Red won all five races against the No. 16 Quakers, and left Penn without a Cup victory in 2003.
Quakers coach Stan Bergman tried to keep a positive mindset about the weekend.
"I liked the way we raced," he said.
The Red and Blue led for over half the race but let the lead slip away. Bergman saw "good improvement" over past races from his heavyweight eight, which finished in 5:47.38 to Cornell's 5:43.7.
Bergman praised Cornell, which beat Penn in the EARC Sprints Petite Final by over eight seconds and only missed out on the Grand Final by 1/10 second.
In order to try to get out of their rut, Penn experimented with a different lineup on Saturday. Senior Scott Ramsey moved up to stroke seat, senior Duncan Hansing moved to seven-seat, senior Hobey Stuart -- the only person who did not change positions -- sat at six, senior Brian Beck moved from four to five, sophomore James Lederman from stroke to four-seat, junior Ryan Broderick sat at three, sophomore Timothy Parks moved to two, and senior Chris Greenleaf moved all the way from seven-seat to the bow.
"It was a good change," Bergman said. "It was faster than they had been."
This was Penn's only race of the season on the Schuylkill River, and Bergman took both positives and negatives from staying at home.
"It's great to be home, but I don't think the focus was good," he said. "Sometimes away races are a little bit better. You are more focused, you are in the hotel together, you eat together."
Bergman did not mind the generally dismal weather, which has plagued the northeast for nearly two weeks now.
"Conditions were good," he said. "It was good racing."
The Quakers will now prepare for their final race of the season, the Interscholastic Rowing Association Championships on the Cooper River in nearby Camden, N.J.
"It's a true national championship," Bergman said.
This years IRAs are arguably the first in nearly a century that can be given such a title, as Harvard and Yale have pushed their annual clash -- which dates back almost 100 years -- back a week in order to come to this regatta. The Crimson will come to Camden as the top-ranked team on USRowing.com, and will face a tough test from Pac-10 powers California, Washington, Stanford, and Oregon State, all of whom will make the trek across the country to race this coming weekend.
"It's the best racing there is in the country," Bergman said.
Bergman praised the Cooper River course, calling it "a great rowing facility, one of the better courses in the United States."
"All the lanes are fair, so you can't ask for a better situation," he said. As for the wind, Bergman described the course as "flat as a pancake."
Despite the evenness of the course, the task at hand for the Red and Blue on Saturday will not be an easy one. The competition will be the toughest Penn has faced all year, and the seniors will have the added pressure of knowing this is their last race in a Quakers uniform.
"I want them to go out with the best race they've had all year," Bergman said. "Our goals are to knock over some of the guys who have beaten us during the year."
But Bergman acknowledges the difficulties that face his team this weekend, and the challenges of this past season.
"My goal is to be really competitive," he said. "We've got to first become competitive and then we can start winning."
