This weekend, both the men’s and women’s rowing teams made a splash at their respective regattas and got a first look at some of their Ivy competition.
In their opening race of the season, the men’s heavyweights took on Georgetown and won three of their four contests. Both freshman eights outraced their competition by significant margins. The first beat the Hoyas by nearly 13 seconds, 6:35.8 to 6:48.7, and the second won by a comfortable 10.5 seconds, 7:11.6 to 7:22.0.
The second varsity eight was also dominant, crossing the finish line over 34 seconds ahead of Georgetown, 6:33.2 to 6:57.6. However, in the tightly contested first varsity eight race, Georgetown edged the Quakers by just 3.5 seconds, winning with a blistering 6:18.5 to the Quakers 6:22.1.
The heavyweights had little time to recover, as they were back on the Cooper River the next day to compete against George Washington in the McCausland Cup and Northeastern in the Burk Cup. The Quakers swept all four races against GW to defend last year’s win and improve to 3-2 all-time in the annual regatta. Despite strong headwinds, the varsity eight managed to defeat GW by five seconds, with a winning time of 6:45.1 to GW’s 6:50.1.
Northeastern proved to be stiffer competition for the Quakers, however, and the Quakers were unable to overcome them in any of the three races. The first varsity eight fell to the Huskies by 8.6 seconds, 6:38.5 to 6:47.1.
On the women’s side, the Quakers got a first look at No. 7 Yale and host Columbia at the Connell Cup on Saturday. In a varsity eight race that was close to the finish, Yale pulled ahead at the end to win with a finishing time of 6:31.0. Columbia came in second at 6:33.1, just ahead of Penn, who finished in 6:34.8. Yale also won the varsity four race comfortably, and the Quakers were just able to edge the Lions and take second, covering the course in 7:35.1.
Both the heavyweights and the women have a week off before their next contests, both of which will take place on Saturday, April 7. The heavyweights will take on Princeton and Columbia in the Childs Cup, hosted by Princeton, and the women will compete against Northeastern and Syracuse for the Orange Challenge Cup.
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