Navy edges out Penn rowing

If Penn rowing was looking for motivation heading into the winter, it certainly found it this Saturday.

While the freshmen of Penn heavyweight rowing put up a commendable effort, the Rutgers Fall Classic was all about Navy, whose combined heavyweight and lightweight boats edged out the Red and Blue.

The event was exclusively for freshmen and also used a unique format, combining times of two boats to measure team results in a head race. Under this format, as opposed to relying solely upon one fast boat, crews had to assemble two even boats to achieve a high degree of depth, or evenness.

This fall, after a series of promising results for Penn — including a victory over Navy at the Navy Day Regatta — things looked promising for the Rutgers Fall Classic.

As in any great rivalry, victories must come from both sides. On Saturday, it was Navy’s time to get back at Penn.

Like last year, the Navy freshman heavies picked up first place in the eights race with a comfortable, nearly one minute lead. Remarkably, the combined times of two Navy lightweight boats earned them second place, and behind them by just a mere second, the Penn heavyweights came in at third.

“It was a disappointing finish to the fall season,” said assistant coach Drew Baustian , who has been working with the freshmen oarsmen throughout the fall season after joining Penn earlier this year.

Last year, the Penn freshman heavies trailed the Navy heavies by a combined 31 seconds and took second place.

While Penn was not represented by any lightweights, it did have a third boat in the race. Penn’s final crew finished among the last boats.

For the two main boats, however, it was not all gloom, as they still managed to overcome the likes of Bucknell, Lehigh and Georgetown without much difficulty. The hosts, Rutgers, finished dead last, coming in with a combined time about four minutes behind that of the winning Navy heavies.

In terms of individual boat times, the two leading Penn boats finished fourth and fifth respectively, something which indicates significant depth and a good sign for the future.

On Saturday, however, it was not enough to overcome Navy. Nevertheless , the Quakers are trying to look ahead towards winter training.

“I’m hoping this serves as a motivator,” Baustian said.

And after that, spring is just around the corner. 

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