Penn women's rowing faces first choppy waters of season

Saturday proved to feature the first choppy waters of the season for Penn women’s rowing.

The annual Connell Cup race saw Penn lose out to Yale and Columbia in the varsity eight race on the Schuylkill on Saturday.

The race, originally scheduled to be held on Columbia’s training grounds in Overpeck County Park in New Jersey, had to be moved to the Schuylkill due to excessive ice. Despite the unexpected home advantage, Penn’s main varsity eight was unable to reclaim its second place finish from last year, as it fell behind Columbia.

Penn finished with a time of 6:34, behind Columbia’s 6:28. Last year’s winner, Yale, had no difficulties defending the cup as it finished comfortably ahead of its Ivy rivals with an impressive 6:12 time.

The main varsity eight race was the last in a series of races on Saturday between the three crews, which included two more varsity eight races (one without Columbia) as well as two varsity four races.

Yale rowed to victory in the lot, finishing comfortably ahead of both Penn and Columbia. In three of the races, Penn was able to show strength by overcoming Columbia by narrow margins.

Only in the main varsity four race were the Quakers able to mount a challenge against the Bulldogs, where Penn finished eight seconds, with a time of 7:03, shy of the winning boat which finished at 6:55.

Penn was able to edge Columbia in each race other than the varsity eight, although the two teams were very evenly matched throughout the day, often finishing only seconds between each other.

In the third varsity eight race, which only included Penn and Yale, Penn finished 26 seconds behind Yale’s 6:26 with a time of 7:02.

Next weekend, Penn women’s rowing will race in the Orange Challenge Cup.

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