In its first home race of the season, the women's rowing team found success after last weekend's disappointing results.
The Red and Blue received two first-place finishes, one second and one third in the four races Saturday at the Class of '89 Plate, held on the Schuylkill River. In all, Penn placed second out of the three teams -- the Quakers, Rutgers and Cornell.
The Quakers were coming off a difficult meet in Syracuse, N.Y., where they finished last out of three teams. There, they faced less-than-ideal weather conditions.
"I couldn't feel my fingers last week while racing, but that's never an excuse," explained varsity rower Sarah Burd.
Weather may not be an excuse, but it does play a role in crew races.
While the weather in Philadelphia was an improvement, the caliber of the competing schools stayed constant in the 16th running of the event.
The second varsity eight won first place with time of 7:30.0. Rutgers came in 7.6 seconds behind, followed by Cornell.
In the varsity four race, while only Penn and Rutgers competed, Penn won by 16.9 seconds.
"In the four, we had a great lineup today," assistant coach Lia Welsch said. "Changing around the personnel makes a big difference."
The novice eight placed second after Cornell. Rutgers followed in third place, and the second Cornell boat finished in fourth.
For the novice eight, the freshmen boat, this race was the first of it's kind.
"I think in general, people were a lot more fired up for this weekend," Welsch said. "It's the first home race for all the sophomores and the freshmen."
Too much "fire" may have affected the varsity eight, which placed last behind first-place Rutgers and second-place Cornell. The Quakers started strong but appeared to run out of steam toward the end.
"The varsity eight is always a different animal," Penn coach Barb Grudt said. "You know, you've got the best athletes from each program, and I think we tried a little too hard today."
"It wasn't the prettiest race, and it wasn't everything we wanted, but we really improved and stepped it up this week" Burd added.
Overall, Rutgers won the Class of '89 Plate by just one point in the overall race standings.
The Quakers will look to continue to improve next weekend. The final home meet will be against Ivy League opponents Princeton and Dartmouth on Saturday, April 22.
"We race Princeton and Dartmouth next weekend, and that's going to be probably one of the toughest challenges for us of the year," assistant coach Mike Lane said. "Princeton is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, so it's going to be a test."
Both the men's lightweight and heavyweight crew teams also competed on Saturday.
The heavyweight crew placed second in the Blackwell Cup in Pellham, N.Y. The freshman eight boat won first place, followed by Yale, Columbia and Yale's second boat. The varsity eight boat placed second after Yale and over Columbia.
The next heavyweight race will be the Adams Cup in Annapolis, Md., on April 22.
The lightweight team competed in the Dodge Cup New Jersey, also against the Elis and Lions. The varsity eight, second varsity, and novice boat all received third-place finishes.
For the next lightweight race, the team will return to Jersey for the Wood-Hammond Trophy Race at Princeton, also on April 22.
