Rowing teams fall to difficult opponents

This weekend, both the men's heavyweight and women's rowing teams faced stiff competition while on the road.

The women fell to third out of three teams in the Connell Cup against Columbia and Yale at Orchard Beach Lagoon in Pelham, N.Y.

The men didn't fare any better at the Windermere Classic in Redwood Shores, Calif., falling to Washington, Trinity, Stanford and UC Berkeley.

The women's varsity eight finished in 7:08.3, last behind the Elis (6:50.9) and the Lions (7:00.4). The Penn varsity four finished second with a time of 8:07.4, behind Yale but ahead of Columbia.

Despite the overall losses, Penn coach Barb Grudt observed promising races.

"Even though we came up short on a bunch of races, we showed that we have fight in us," Grudt said.

For example, Penn's second varsity eight was edged by Columbia, the teams finishing with times of 7:14.50 and 7:13.60, respectively.

"They almost had a come-from-behind victory, which is the kind of spirit I'm looking for," Grudt said.

The Quakers have a two-week hiatus before their next competition, racing in the Orange Challenge Cup against Northeastern and host Syracuse.

"We have two weeks to work on some technical improvements such as base rhythm," Grudt said. "We're going to continue working on maintaining composure against fast opponents, like Yale, who are past national champions."

The men's heavyweight team also came up short against tough competition.

The varsity eight fell to Washington, Trinity College and Stanford. Against Washington, the Quakers finished in 6:38.93, three seconds behind the Huskies. However, the Red and Blue behind Stanford by over 13 seconds.

Similarly, the novice eight fell to UC Berkeley, while the freshmen eight were defeated by Washington and Stanford.

Like the women, the men's heavyweight team has a two-week break before its next race, the Childs Cup against host Princeton and Columbia on April 8.

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