W. Crew takes second in sunny Orange Cup

The Penn women's crew team returned from Syracuse, N.Y., with no qualms about the weather -- which was unexpectedly ideal for the weekend's races. After having races canceled and entire meets postponed due to rain, snow and sleet for the past two weekends, the calm water and relatively warm weather was a pleasant surprise for the Quakers.

"The weather was absolutely beautiful and the conditions were significantly better than what we had the past few races," senior co-captain Sarah-Jane Irwin said.

"The team got excited as a whole, which definitely helped in our race."

Though the Quakers fell to Syracuse in both the varsity and second varsity races, they came out victorious over Northeastern -- ending the Huskies' three-race winning streak.

The Penn varsity squad finished just over seven seconds behind Syracuse in 6:48.9. This time topped Northeastern by five seconds -- the same margin by which the Huskies beat the Quakers last season.

"We definitely showed that we're one of the strongest teams out there," Irwin said.

"We learned from this race what we need to work on to improve in relation to other teams."

Junior coxswain Jessie Reich had similar sentiments.

"We lost to both [the Huskies and Orangemen] last year, so this great win over Northeastern has given us a lot of incentive and motivation for the rest of the season," Reich said.

"We are improving, but so are the other teams. So it's important for us to stay focused -- keeping sprints in mind at the end of the season."

The second varsity squad was very impressive over the weekend. Penn finished behind Syracuse, but with a narrower margin than the varsity team -- just under five seconds.

With the spring-like weather that is now prevailing, the Quakers are looking to improve the facets of racing they can control, namely technique and physical fitness.

"This team is the strongest team I've rowed for, and we want to make sure we maintain this for the rest of the season," Irwin said.

"We are learning together, and when we finally do click out there on the water -- like we did this weekend, it's really amazing what we can do."

Aside from the EAWRC Sprints and the NCAA Championships -- two end-of-season competitions -- the Quakers have their final two races on the Schuylkill River.

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