The Penn heavyweight crew team had a chance at its first Childs Cup in nine years on Saturday on the Schuylkill River, but came up only with a near miss.
"This time of year, we're trying to increase the speed," Penn coach Stan Bergmann told The Daily Pennsylvanian before the race on Thursday. "We're gradually building the speed throughout all the boats."
Unfortunately, for Bergmann and the Quakers, there were strong headwinds on the banks of Boathouse Row Saturday morning, and the Quakers lost a tight race to Princeton in the first varsity eight, the contest that decides the winner of the Childs Cup.
It is the ninth consecutive year that the Tigers have taken home the Cup. They finished in a time of 6:13.6, which was only slightly better than Penn's 6:16.8. Columbia, the third team that competes in the Childs Cup, was a distant third with a time of 6:45.6.
With the loss, the Quakers' record in the Childs Cup drops to 38-38.
The last time the Red and Blue won the Childs Cup, in 1993, they outdistanced Princeton by four seconds. Columbia, the other team usually in the race, did not row that year.
The Quakers were, however, able to capture one of the races on Saturday.
Penn won the second freshman four with a time of 7:52.1, beating Columbia, who finished in 8:06.4. Princeton did not row a boat in that race.
But the Tigers took all of the other races in the Childs Cup. The second varsity eight outdistanced Penn by just nine tenths of a second, finishing in 6:26.5, compared with Penn's 6:27.4.
Columbia was a distant third in the second varsity eight, crossing the line in a time of 6:51.5.
The Quakers' third varsity eight also fell to the Tigers, falling by 7.1 seconds (6:32.9-6:40.0). Columbia did not race in the third varsity eight.
In the freshman eight, the Quakers were third in a time of 6:40.5, behind Princeton's 6:24.7 and Columbia's 6:37.9.
The races were altered and the times were skewed, however, by strong headwind conditions on the Schuylkill.
The Quakers will return to the waters on Saturday when they take on Yale and Columbia in New Haven, Conn., in the Blackwell Cup.
The Quakers have won the Cup for three straight seasons, and have captured it 31 times overall.
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