New practice style, greater confidence for LW Crew

The Penn lightweight crew team is a little more confident this year, despite a less-than-stellar showing a year ago. "Past performance is the best indicator of future success?" Following last season's winless tour of the Ivy League, that is a phrase the Quakers make sure to take with a healthy grain of salt. "We did really poorly when we lost to all the Ivies," Penn junior commodore Brian Conley said. "We're looking to be a lot stronger and a lot faster this year." Conley, a self-described assistant captain, along with captain Eddie Hetherington, is a big part of the club's renewed confidence. "There is more maturity to the whole group," Penn coach Bruce Konopka said. "And [Conley] and Eddie Hetherington, they've given a lot of good leadership for the team." Following the disappointment of last season, Conley and Hetherington met with Konopka. The team's wishes were made clear in the meeting -- the Quakers wanted to practice in more competitive, race-oriented situations before the start of the season. "There's been much more effective training... a lot of racing style practices," Penn junior Jim Miller said. "Mentally we're much better and sharper." In general, the spirit of the club has been high throughout the more competitive winter practices. "We've been working hard this winter as a group," Konopka said. "This is a great group of guys who get along real well. The team is a very cohesive unit." It is possibly more important for lightweight crew to maintain a good attitude than any other sport. This is due to the high number of walk-ons upon which the club is dependent to maintain its numbers. "We've got a solid group of freshmen and we're hoping to build up the program," Conley said. "But we lost a lot of freshmen who left last year who were disappointed with the results." Fortunately, despite the turnover rate, the current class of juniors -- who make up 12 of the 20 varsity team members -- provides consistency that the Quakers believe will help them on the water. "The juniors have been building consistency by rowing together for now three years," Miller said. The long road back to respectability begins this Sunday on the Schuylkill River against Rutgers. "[Rutgers was] a really fast crew last year," Conley said. "But with our times this year, we're even looking to beat them." For the upcoming race against the Scarlet Knights, Olivia Kuhn-Lloyd will coxswain the first boat, which consists of rowers Tevis Jacobs, Matt Courtin, Brendan Cavelli, Tim Mah, Luca Trento, Jim Miller, Dan McCormick and Greg Eschbaugh. Both Hetherington and Conley, due to somewhat sub-par workout performances, will begin the season on the second eight boat. However, Konopka does not believe this will infringe on their ability to lead. "They were elected by their teammates for a reason, regardless of the boat they row in now," he said. The team's major competition in the Ivy League comes from Columbia, the defending league champions, and Yale, which looks to repeat as national champions. Princeton also returns a very solid freshman team from a season ago. Despite this, the Quakers have set their sights very high. "[Our goal] is to try to win the championship, as it is every season," Konopka said. Penn junior Paul Tomlin was more tempered in his expectations. "[We'd like to get on] the medal docket at [EARC] sprints," he said. "Which I definitely think is an attainable goal for us." No matter what the team faces this year, the Red and Blue are determined to face it together. "In previous years there have been a lot of disagreements and bad attitudes," Tomlin said. "This year we're all on the same page and gunning for the same goal."

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