Rowers set for final Sprints to finish

Finals exams ended at just the right time for the Penn rowing teams.

Without classes to attend or exams to take, the crews have the luxury of more sleep after their early morning practices, which can only help the Quakers as they head into Sunday’s Eastern Sprints Championships.

Before competing for the hardware, each boat from Penn’s three programs (men’s heavyweight and lightweight, as well as women’s) will have to negotiate a qualifier full of familiar Ivy League and regional opponents.

The women’s side remains excited about its chances of making the medal round, which, according to coach Mike Lane, “has been our goal all year long.”

Penn hopes to rebound from being blown out by Virginia two weeks ago, when the Quakers fell well short of their target of finishing close behind the No. 3 Cavaliers.

“We didn’t do a good job of falling into a rhythm,” said co-captain Jen Drossner. “When that happens during a race it can be kind of disastrous.”

In order for the women’s varsity boat to qualify, the No. 8 Quakers need to get past No. 5 Columbia, whom they bested in their season opener, and Bucknell, ranked 11th.

While Penn accomplished this feat two years ago, the program has not finished fifth or higher in the grand final since 1982.

Even if this year’s Quakers are unable to match that success, Penn’s glory days will nevertheless return to the Sprints thanks to a unique addition to the afternoon’s racing.

The remaining crew of the undefeated Penn 1980 varsity boat will participate in an alumnae race against old foes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Sprints victory.

On the men’s side, heavyweight coach Greg Myhr is convinced his team’s newest members will shine the brightest.

The freshman boat’s string of successes, including a win over Columbia, whom it will race in the morning heat, leads Myhr to believe that this crew has the best chance of making the finals.

While the performance of the freshmen will pay dividends next season when they transition to the varsity boats, the younger Quakers are already motivating their teammates this season.

“As they get into the varsity boats with their experience of finishing ahead of other crews,” Myhr said, “that starts to bring the whole team along.”

In fact, the varsity eight boat came close to an upset over No. 7 Northeastern in Penn’s most recent regatta on April 25, as the Quakers led for most of the race before running out of steam in the final stretch.

“They didn’t know what to do in the last 250 meters — how could they?” said Myhr. “They had never been there before.”

Myhr knows that for his more experienced crews to emulate the success of their underclassmen teammates, they will need more than just momentum.

“It’s going to take an extraordinary race, frankly, to crack into the second level final,” he said. “It’s going to take beating some crews that have beaten us soundly.”

Meanwhile, the field in the lightweight division has been opened up by an upset that occurred two weeks ago, when the Harvard varsity eight crew handed Princeton its first defeat in two years.

Lightweight coach Nick Baker is encouraged by the momentum he has seen in recent races and hopes to see all of his boats in the grand final, which the Penn seniors have yet to reach.

“We haven’t won a cup this year, so we haven’t done what I wanted to do,” remarked the first-year coach.

Baker highlighted the Dodge Cup match against Yale on April 17 and Penn’s recent race against Navy, where Baker previously coached, as the strongest regattas of the year, but he is clear that close margins are not a substitute for trophies.

“That’s part of the step of where we want to be … but that’s not the end destination,” he said.

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