M. Hwt. Crew to take on Navy and No. 2 Harvard

After sweeping Georgetown in all five varsity races, the Penn men's heavyweight crew team will look for similar success, as they row against perennial rowing powerhouse Harvard and Navy on the waters of the Schuylkill on Saturday.

This weekend's race will be no easy task for the Quakers, who placed second behind Harvard in the Adams Cup last year. However, this year the Quakers have other plans.

"There is quite a bit of emotional fire in this race. A lot of incentive has been to beat crews like Harvard and Princeton," Penn senior captain Mike Parker said. "We're going to go out there and give everything we got."

Polled by coaches as the No. 2 crew team in the nation, Harvard opens their season against a dangerous Penn crew ranked No. 9 in the pre-season.

"We intend to knock off the top seed and use this [poll] as motivation," Parker said.

Last week, the varsity eight fell behind Georgetown early in the race.

"We're a second-half race crew team, and the wind caught us off guard," Penn bowman Chris Greenleaf said.

But the Quakers eventually sprinted back in front to win the race by almost four seconds with a 6:06.65 time. Parker said the Red and Blue cannot afford any mistakes against solid Harvard and Navy squads.

"We have to be on top of our game with little margin for error," Parker said. "Last week, we could've been more aggressive in the first half of the race. It was the matter of playing catch-up, [but] we kept our poise."

That same poise will be needed for Penn to squash the competition.

"We can't have any effect on the other crew's race. It's going to be all in our boat," Greenleaf said. "We aren't going to get flustered if they're ahead a little bit."

With a senior-laden team, the Quakers will also benefit from their depth and athleticism.

"This year more than past years, we have a lot more depth," Parker said. "There's a constant level of athleticism in this program. It's going to pay off with success."

However, the Quakers are not underestimating the competition. They said they must expect Navy's and Harvard's spurt during the race and keep focused. Harvard will have no surprises in their move, usually utilizing the same strategy in each race.

"I know Harvard always makes a move during the middle," Greenleaf said. "We need to have enough poise and stick with them like we did against Georgetown."

One of the keys for this weekend's Adams Cup is a more efficient stroke and a positive mental attitude.

"We have to keep our length during the stroke and keep our strength," Greenleaf said. "[Penn coach Stan Bergmann] he told us to have a positive anticipation and never get down on ourselves.

"It's going to come down to who has the better mental attitude."

The race of the almost 70 year-old Adams Cup begins 9 a.m. with races going out in 20 minute intervals, and the first varsity eight racing last.

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