As a sign of spring season finally hitting full gear, all three Penn crew teams participated in races over the weekend, with varying results.
The most successful, no doubt, was the women’s team, which retained possession of the Orange Cup for the second consecutive year by beating both Syracuse and Northeastern to the finish line in the varsity eight race.
On Lake Onondaga in Syracuse, N.Y., the Penn women clocked in with a time of 7:09.8, well ahead of second-place Northeastern, which finished in 7:14.4. The Orange were an even three seconds behind the Huskies for third.
The Red and Blue also won three other races on the day — the second eight, the varsity four and the third eight.
Next weekend, the women’s team will hit the road again and head south to take part in the Virginia Invitational on Lake Monticello.
Against No. 4 Princeton, the men’s heavyweight team was not able to capture its first Childs Cup since 1993, but it was able to win a race and place second in two others.
The host Tigers won the varsity eight race, which decides the winner of the cup, in a time of 6:27.3, well ahead of Penn, which finished in 6:40.6. Columbia was third at 6:42.5.
The heavyweights also finished second to Princeton in the first freshman eight, but in the second freshman eight, the Quakers crossed the line first in 6:57.0, ahead of the Tigers by 3.8 seconds. In the second varsity eight, Penn finished last behind two Princeton boats.
Next Saturday, the Penn men will take on Yale and host Columbia for the Blackwell Cup. The Red and Blue have not won the cup since 2002.
In the most challenging weekend for the three Penn crews, the lightweight men faltered against No. 1 Harvard and No. 5 Cornell at the Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca, N.Y. The Quakers crossed the finish last in each of the four races in which they took part.
In the varsity eight race, Penn was forced to forfeit possession of the Matthews-Leonard Cup back to Cornell, which defeated the Quakers by 12.8 seconds, crossing the finish in 6:09.1. Harvard won in 6:02.8.
The Penn lightweights will look to right the ship next Saturday in the chase for the Dodge Cup against Yale and host Columbia. The Quakers have not taken home the cup since 1992.
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