W. Crew tears apart competition in Philly

Both the Penn women's varsity and freshmen rowing squads are on track for their best seasons in a long time.

The Quakers' varsity eight finished first out of 21 boats, while the freshman novice team finished ahead of Princeton for the first time in three decades on Saturday at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.

Penn's varsity eight defeated defending champion Syracuse by nearly five seconds and third-place UMass by nearly 20 seconds.

Rowing on its home river provided an important advantage for Penn.

"We're really familiar with the course," Penn senior captain Kate Magee said. "The one turn under the Columbia railroad bridge, [coxswain Haben Goitom] turned really well, and we took advantage of that."

"[Goitom] definitely shaved seconds off our time with the course she takes," Penn senior captain Laura Hamm added.

Hamm said that beating Syracuse was important because the Orangemen finished 11th at the Head of the Charles. Penn did not qualify for that race.

"The fact that we beat them yesterday means that we would have placed within the top 10 at the Head of the Charles," she said.

The Quakers' time was an improvement of over 45 seconds on their time at the event last year, when they lost to Syracuse by 27 seconds.

With just one race left in the fall season, the Quakers feel the showing was a promising sign for their spring campaign.

"The biggest thing about these fall results is how we'll do in the spring," Hamm said.

The freshman novice squad made history at the event by defeating rival Princeton for the first time in 30 years. The Quakers finished third out of 56 boats in the race, eight seconds behind the winner Navy, but three seconds ahead of Princeton.

Penn's second freshman boat also fared well on Saturday, finishing sixth.

"I think it's the first time in 30 years that we've had a group of girls that are so motivated and hard working," Penn freshman Heather Cisowski said. "And we're only going to get better."

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