Home river advantage: W. Crew wins

The Penn women's crew team got off to a positive fall-season start at the Navy Day Regatta on Saturday, winning both the varsity eight and varsity four races in the Quakers' best showing ever at the event.

In the varsity eight, Penn defeated second place Navy by 21 seconds. The Quakers' junior varsity eight came in fourth.

Penn's varsity four `B' squad also came in second behind the varsity four `A' squad.

"Everyone in the varsity four rowed again in the varsity eight, so we put in a lot of effort," Penn junior Kristin Mauks said.

Though pleased with the win, the team viewed the race as a tune-up for tougher competition later this fall.

"Obviously the varsity eight was pleased with dominating the field," Penn senior captain Kate Magee said. "But at the same time, the level of competition in Navy Day is not as high as the competition that we're hoping to face when we go to Seattle [in November] or that we face during our cup run in the Spring. It's a good warmup for other fall races, like the Head of the Schuylkill, where bigger competitors tend to enter."

Last year, Syracuse provided the toughest competition at the Navy Day Regatta, but it did not attend this year.

Along with Navy, the field of this year's Navy Day Regatta included Rutgers.

Many members of the team said the success in the Navy Day Regatta was a result of their practices thus far.

"The practices have been really effective," Penn junior coxswain Haben Goitom said. "We've been doing a lot of rowing in small boats to get people to really have a feel for the water and working with your peer partner. Our work ethic and attitude in practice has definitely shown this year."

The Red and Blue head to Boston for The Head of the Charles race on Sunday, then return for the Head of the Schuylkill the following Saturday.

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