The Penn men's lightweight rowing team has not been accustomed to a deep roster of rowers --- until this season.
In 2008, the team only fielded two Varsity 8 boats and one Freshman boat. After graduating just two seniors from that season, however, the Quakers ballooned to include three Varsity and two Freshman boats.
"[This year] we had a huge increase in our roster size," coach Mike Irwin said. "This is the first year in my seven years as head coach that I had five [eight boats] competing at Eastern Sprints."
But despite the extra depth, the results at Sprints were disappointing for Penn, as the top boat finished ninth despite entering the race as a seven seed.
On Sunday, all five of the Quakers' boats competed in the race, which was held in Worcester, Mass. The First Varsity boat was seeded seventh overall, meaning a trip to the Grand Final would secure the Quakers a sixth-place finish or better. But the Red and Blue came up one place short in their preliminary heat, finishing in fourth place with a time of 5:58.33, nearly six seconds behind third-place Cornell.
In the Petite Final, Penn finished 3.243 seconds behind Columbia, giving the Quakers a second-place finish in the heat and a disappointing eighth-place finish overall.
"We went into the regatta seeded seventh overall based on the regular season, so we actually dropped a spot," Irwin said. "For us, that was a disappointment. We wanted to match our seed or finish higher if we could."
Additionally, the First Varsity team needed to finish in the top seven in order to qualify for the national championship regatta, which is hosted by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.
"Our goal was to make it out to California this year," Irwin said. "They're holding the IRA on the West Coast this year for the first time ever; to not qualify was sort of a disappointing finish for us."
The four other Penn boats finished relatively better than the First Varsity eight. Third Varsity and Second Freshman both finished one place higher than their seventh seeds and qualified for the Grand Final in their respective races. Second Varsity and First Freshmen were each seeded ninth and finished in that same spot.
This year's rowing team only featured two seniors, which means that the Quakers will retain their depth from this year and add more depth with an incoming freshman class.
"Our results this year weren't as high as we would have liked them to have been," Irwin said. "There are a lot of guys who are eager to return and make sure that they have a better year next year. They want to use our depth to take another step forward, get into the top half of the league, and get into Grand Finals."
