M. Crew squads done 'til spring

The freshman and varsity hwts. and lwts. finished their fall season. It was a busy weekend for the Penn men's crew team. While the freshmen traveled to Lake Carnegie, the varsity crews stayed home to row in the Frostbite Regatta on the Schuylkill. After a weekend of tough rowing, all crews are now officially off the water and anticipate intensive training to fine-tune their skills for the spring season. The Penn freshmen took fifth overall at the Belly of the Carnegie behind crews from Princeton, Rutgers, Cornell and Yale. Princeton won the Belly Bowl for having the top times combined for heavyweight, lighweight and women. "We had hoped for better," freshman heavyweight Duncan Hansing said. "We could have rowed better." The heavyweight men finished fourth in their division, behind Rutgers, Princeton and Navy. This was their first experience rowing in even boats, a change from a first and second eight. The lightweight men finished strong, showing much promise for the spring season. Their decision to not split into even boats proved wise. Their first boat took second place to Cornell by mere seconds. Their overall time was approximately 37 seconds faster than the better of the two heavyweight boats. Back home on the Schuylkill, the varsity performed strongly against various regional crews.This year marks the end of the tradition of Frostbite Regattas. Both the heavyweights and lightweights ended the Frostbite, as well as their fall season, victorious. The heavyweight varsity eight took first place rowing against Columbia, Dowling and Temple. "We raced well with a lot of maturity," captain Greg Jenemann said. "We didn't panic when the race got tight. We attacked it as a team." The varsity eight then split into two boats of four rowers and each finished first in their races. "This was good training for us to supplement our weight lifting," varsity rower Keith Sutter said. "It was our last day to go out on the water and have fun." The second varsity boat finished second behind Penn's first lightweight boat in a race that also included Drexel and Maritime (N.Y.). "We threw our lineup together and only spent one day practicing as an eight," Radley Spring said, who stroked the second boat. "We fell apart in the last 500 meters." The third four, however, comprised of Spring, Bret Bolkcom, Buddy Broome and Sam Whitaker finished first in their division. "We are excited with our fall performance because we are still in the early phases of our strength building workout," Spring commented. "Coach [Stan] Bergman is taking a much smarter approach to our training this year so that our cardiovascular strength and technical ability will peak simultaneously and explode during the spring season." The varsity lightweights also finished their fall season strongly. The varsity eight won both races, the first against Johns Hopkins, St. Joseph's and Villanova and the the second against Drexel, Maritime and Penn's second varsity heavyweight boat. "We trained hard all fall," lightweight varsity rower Joel Frankel said. "We just relaxed and rowed well and everything came together." The lightweights also intend to undergo rigorous winter training now that all crews are officially off the water. "Our winter training will determine the success of our spring season," Frankel said. Jenemann echoed Frankel's sentiments. "We are now entering the hardest part of our season. Off the water we need serious mental focus and dedication to be successful in the spring."

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