Over the weekend in the Wood-Hammond Cup, Penn lightweight rowing could not keep up with the crews from Princeton and MIT on the Schuylkill, capturing just one win on Saturday's races.
During Spring Fling weekend, Penn’s lightweights went down.
The Red and Blue’s rowing squad came up short in two separate events on Saturday, finishing second to Princeton in the Wood-Hammond Cup before falling to MIT in another race later in the day.
The Wood-Hammond Cup — held early Saturday morning in ideal rowing weather on the Schuylkill River — pitted the Quakers against Princeton and guest participant Georgetown.
Although Penn did manage to win the event’s first race at fourth varsity, it was the only victory of the day for the Red and Blue. The Quakers finished ahead of Georgetown but came in second to Princeton in all of the other eight-man races.
In the day’s only four-man race, the Quakers came in a distant third, more than 30 seconds behind the second-place Tigers. In the only race in which Penn did not finish last, Georgetown glided to victory with a time of 7:12.7.
In the event’s main race, the Varsity Eight, the Quakers finished in 5:50.7, just behind Princeton, who won the Cup with a time of 5:44.8. The Tigers retained their ownership of the Cup after winning the race last year.
After an intermission that featured the Robert E. Tiffany boat dedication, named after a class of 1955 Wharton graduate, Penn got back on the water for a matchup with the Engineers. The Quakers, perhaps weary from their earlier race, fell in all three matchups. The second varsity race was the most closely contested battle, as MIT eked out its victory by less than one length.
Saturday’s action marked the final event in which the Quakers will participate on the Schuylkill this season.
Penn will be back in action for its final cup race of the 2015 spring season when it travels to take on Navy in the annual Callow Cup on Saturday. The Midshipmen — utilizing their abundance of nautical savvy — have won the trophy 13 out of the past 14 years.
With that in mind, the Quakers will certainly be up a creek next weekend. They’ll be sure to bring their paddles.
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