W. Crew opens season, finally

The Penn women's crew team is more than ready to hit the water of the Housatonic River Saturday after last weekend's home season-opener was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

In their first regatta of the season, the Quakers will face Yale and Columbia in New Haven, Conn., in competition for the Connell Cup.

"Our first race getting cancelled gave us more fire," Penn junior and varsity anchor Sarah-Jane Irwin said. "It's not really making us more nervous -- we're more pumped and excited."

All three teams are traditionally very competitive, especially Yale. The Elis won the Cup last year by a narrow margin of two points, with the Quakers placing second. Penn finished five points ahead of the Lions in the annual three-team race.

"All three teams are going to be rowing to win, we're very excited because we have a good shot," Irwin said.

In the past few years the Red and Blue have been continually improving as a program, and their main goal this season is an NCAA tournament bid. Last year, the team missed the tournament cut-off by two spots, finishing 17th nationally and recording their first back-to-back winning seasons in 20 years.

The successful squad lost seven seniors last year to graduation, but they are still expecting to do well with a strong group of experienced underclassmen to round-out the team.

"We have a strong base of rowers, everyone coming in is exceptionally fast," Irwin said. "The seniors were a big loss but we've made up for it in other places."

The team secured one of the largest and most impressive recruiting classes in its history, including Megan Wellington, the only freshman rowing on a varsity boat.

The Grimsby, Ontario, native joins the squad having already rowed for five U.S. National Championship crews. She has won multiple gold medals at the Canadian Henley competition, as well as two golds and a silver at the Canada Cup.

The team is also be lead by senior captains Kate Magee and Laura Hamm. Magee was voted team MVP last year.

Since they have no further races at home this season, the Quakers will have to find confidence on the road to achieve their goals.

The winner of the Plate -- the trophy from last weekend's cancelled race -- will be determined by the how the three teams -- Penn, Georgetown and Navy -- finish at EAWRC Sprints at the end of the season. This adds additional pressure since Sprints also determine placement in the NCAA tournament.

But for now the Quakers are focusing on the immediate future. A win against Columbia and Yale would be an ideal confidence-builder to propel them into the rest of their season.

"This weekend is a really big race. I expect we'll race incredibly fast and it will put us out on top," Irwin said.

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