After a week of shuffling the lineup, the Penn heavyweight crew team was ready to deal with several variables entering Saturday's elite Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.
Yet the x-factor that usually is the biggest surprise in a race was a constant for the Quakers this weekend -- the river.
Rowing on its home course against some of the elite teams in the country, the Penn varsity eight "A" boat finished eighth in 12:20.51. The Quakers "B" boat finished 15th in 12:43.39.
Local rivals Temple and Saint Joseph's eclipsed the Quakers, finishing fourth and fifth respectively, while the New York Athletic Club had little trouble wrapping up the championship, finishing in 11:42.91.
Earlier in the season, Penn had assembled its top boat based purely on raw power, but the Quakers' new lineup is designed to move cohesively as a group. During the fall, each rower conducts an "erg-test," measuring rowing speed over a specific distance.
Penn's varsity eight had trouble staying as a unit during the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston when they were overly aggressive in the beginning of the race. The varsity four also had to adjust mid-race in Boston because of a collision with Loyola.
The Head of the Schuylkill marked the Quakers' second-to-last event of the fall season as Penn next heads to the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton, N.J., on Nov. 9.
The Quakers will return to action during the spring season with the Windermere Invitational on March 27 in Redwood City, Calif.
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