This weekend's final fall regatta proved not only to be a sign of promise for the future of Penn crew, but also one of the most successful races of the season.
At the Belly of the Carnegie Regatta on Sunday -- a freshman-only regatta -- the women's freshman squad finished the fall season on top, placing first out of 30 teams with a time of 15:55.38.
The women's dramatic victory led the combined Penn team -- of heavyweights, lightweights and women -- to third place overall. The Princeton "A" boat finished just 0.2 seconds behind Penn's entry. The Red and Blue's second entry into the race, the "B" boat, finished fourth at 16:36.46.
Coach Barb Kirch Grudt was pleased not only with the win, but with Penn's balance.
"The goal of the race was to show the overall depth of our team," Grudt said. "Finishing in first and fourth showed we have pretty even boats."
Grudt did note that success at the Belly of the Carnegie does not ensure anything for the upcoming season.
"The enthusiasm will carry them through the critical winter training that's coming up. Now they have an expectation of winning," Grudt said. "There's no guarantee that means anything for the spring, though. We need to develop more power to be competitive."
The Penn men's freshman lightweight team placed sixth and eighth, the "B" boat finishing at 14:27.05 and the "A" boat finishing at 14:27.22. This regatta mandated that coaches give each boat equal talent.
Cornell grabbed the top two spots, its boats finishing with times of 13:40.04 and 13:43.72.
Penn men's freshman lightweight coach John Fife saw this weekend's race as a good chance for the freshmen to get experience. Like Grudt, he does not put too much stock in the race as a portent of spring results.
"It was a good opportunity to race, but by no means a barometer for the spring," Fife said. "A lot can happen between now and the Eastern Sprints."
Fife looks forward to moving the freshman squad indoors this winter to develop its strength.
"This race gives us a reason to fight for more in the winter time," Fife said. "The winter is make or break time. This is when we find our speed."
The Penn men's freshman heavyweight "A" boat finished in third in 13:53.82, trailing both winner Harvard, who finished in 13:48.12, and runner-up Princeton, which finished in 13:52.88. The Penn men's freshman heavyweight "B" boat finished 19th in a time of 14:31.51, while the "C" boat placed 32nd at a time of 18:12.79 -- last place.
The weekend as a whole, though, was a success and a harbinger of future triumph.
"We're getting better and better every day," Fife said.
In addition to Fife's hope for the season and years ahead, the numbers don't lie -- Penn has made progress.
At last year's Belly of the Carnegie, the Quakers finished in sixth place, nearly five minutes behind the winner, Princeton, with an overall time of 1 hour, 44 minutes and 45.36 seconds. On Sunday, Penn finished in third place overall with a much improved time of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 54.44 seconds -- less than a minute and a half behind Princeton's first-place time of 1 hour, 28 minutes and 39.90 seconds.
