W. Crew barely misses Award Plaque

The Award Plaque tradition continues, but not to the Penn women's crew's satisfaction. In the eight years that the Quakers have raced against Princeton and Dartmouth for the trophy, the varsity eight results have read -- Tigers, the Big Green and the Quakers. However, Saturday's race was one of the closest in the regatta's history, with only an eight-second margin between first and third place. "There was no open water between the boats at any given time. It was just a great race," Penn assistant coach Susan Hermann-Seybolt said. Penn's second varsity, first novice eight and second novice eight all finished third in their races as well. The varsity four placed fourth out of four boats. "I would have liked for them [the freshmen] to have been a few seconds closer, but they raced significantly better than the weekend before," Hermann-Seybolt said. The racing conditions on Princeton's Lake Carnegie provided a new challenge for the Red and Blue, which they hope to use to their advantage on May 14, at the EAWRC Sprints on Lake Waramaug in Prescott, Conn. "This race was the first race we had done into a direct headwind, and we know now that we need to work on some things in case the conditions at Sprints are similar," sophomore Cathlyn Sullivan said. Race experience against two solid crews seems to be the most valuable thing that the Quakers will take away from the regatta. "It's hard to lose, but we had a very solid race and we were very close to both Princeton and Dartmouth," junior Rachel Pringle said. On top of having to survive the final exam period during the upcoming week-and-a-half, the team will also have to focus intently on preparing for Sprints, which could be considered the culmination of the Quakers' season. "I want them to turn in their best races of the season, where everything that they've been working on comes together," Hermann-Seybolt said. The preparation will be more of a mental process, since the team's physical strength has pretty much been well-established now nearing the end of the spring season. "Our goals right now are to prepare mentally for Sprints. We've been doing a lot of physical training this entire season, but now for these next two weeks, we just need to get ourselves together both individually and as boats," Sullivan said. The competition looks to be closer than it has been in recent years, with the overall increase in speed of the field. "There will be a lot of fast crews. The whole field has really stepped it up this year, and our boat is significantly faster than it has been in past seasons. It will be exciting to figure out how we match up to the field," Pringle said. The Quakers need to race well at Sprints, as their finish there determines if they will receive a bid to the NCAA Championships held later this month on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. In addition, with a strong performance, the Red and Blue will cap off what has been a strong spring season. "It's a good season to have under our belts in a building program. There was a lot of commitment, a lot of hard work and a lot of learning," Pringle said.

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