Women make splash at Orange Cup

Women’s rowing coxswain Lexi Caffrey dried herself off knowing her soaking was well-earned.

In accordance with rowing tradition, the senior was thrown into the river by her victorious crew from the second varsity boat, which won its race against Northeastern and Syracuse by nearly ten seconds.

“We weren’t just going to settle for a win,” Caffrey said. “We really wanted to do it in style and do it big.”

Three wet coxswains in five races would normally be a sign of a successful day for Penn, but the technicalities of Saturday’s regatta dictated otherwise.

Since the Orange Challenge Cup is decided by the varsity eight race, Northeastern took the trophy back to Boston after winning that contest.

Despite their work to improve the slow starts that plagued the Quakers against Yale in March, Penn found itself trailing at the halfway mark.

“The first half of the race was not good,” coach Mike Lane said.

Nevertheless, the varsity boat overcame the setback to finish second ahead of Syracuse.

“The difference was the rhythm that our crew was in,” Lane explained. “That’s something we’ll work on this week.”

The varsity eight race notwithstanding, Penn enjoyed several commanding victories. The varsity four beat Northeastern by five and a half seconds, while the third varsity crew almost doubled that margin. The Huskies’ only other win came in the varsity B four plus, in which Penn fielded two boats to take second and fourth.

Defending trophy-holder Syracuse could only stagger through what Lane described as a “flat” morning. However, both the coaches and rowers stressed that such a year-to-year reversal is to be expected due to the competitiveness of the field.

“This weekend, anything can happen,” said varsity eight No. 4 rower Natassya Bedos. “Nobody ever comes in knowing they’re going to win.”

The Quakers believe the fitness standard that Lane introduced in the fall has helped them achieve faster times.

“It makes people more accountable over the summer,” Bedos explained, “understanding that you can’t just kind of give it up for two months and expect to come back where you were.”

Saturday’s results will place Northeastern ahead of Penn in the Eastern Sprints league varsity poll, but Lane knows from experience this does not rule the Quakers out of the big race next month.

“Two years ago we were in the same position, and at our championship we raced Northeastern ... and we beat them,” he said.

And while Northeastern may have left the regatta with the hardware, the Quakers may still have gotten the last laugh.

The Schuylkill exacted some revenge against Huskies coach Joe Wilhelm — a former Penn rower — as the river claimed his cell phone in exchange for the Cup.

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