Penn rowing continues strong spring start with Burk Cup win

After last weekend’s impressive showing at the San Diego Crew Classic, Penn heavyweight rowing had no time to kick back and relax. On Saturday, the Quakers were faced with rival Northeastern for the Burk Cup on the Schuylkill.

Hailing from Boston, Northeastern is one of the top ranked crews in the nation — and certainly not an opponent to take lightly.

But after last weekend’s exposure to fast squads in California, including California and Stanford, coach Greg Myhr was hopeful that his team would be prepared to handle the test from the North.

And prepared they were.

In the main event for the day, a varsity eight race for the annual Burk Cup, the Quakers were able to outrow the Huskies by a narrow margin. Finishing the two kilometer course at 5:53, Penn barely bested Northeastern’s 5:55 mark to hold onto the cup.

The victory is important as it gives the crew confirmation that last weekend’s strong showing on the West Coast was not just a stroke of good luck. In the big picture, it gives an early-season psychological edge which may be instrumental as the spring progresses.

In the second varsity eight race, Penn emerged ahead of Northeastern again — this time by a narrow margin, finishing at 6:07 before the Huskies’ 6:09. In the third varsity eight race, Northeastern bested two boats from Penn, one freshman squad and a third varsity eight.

Finally, in the varsity four, the Huskies showed strength and picked up a comfortable victory against two Penn crews.

One of the oldest cup races — the Childs Cup — awaits next weekend for the heavyweights against Princeton and Columbia. The Quakers will look to extend its early-season success against conference competition, especially the No. 4 Tigers.

The lightweights also saw action on Saturday, hosting Cornell and Harvard on home waters. Penn and Cornell rowed it out for the annual Matthew-Leonard Cup, while Harvard joined in as a guest crew.

The Big Red and Crimson, at the top of the national rankings, proved too much for the Red and the Blue on Saturday. In the main varsity eight race, Cornell finished first with a time of 6:00, followed by Harvard’s 6:06 and Penn’s 6:08.

While the Quakers were able to overcome the Crimson in the second varsity eight race, Cornell and Harvard proved too much in the rest of the day’s races.

Although Penn took down Cornell in the freshman eight race, Harvard came out ahead of the field by six seconds. In the remaining races, the Big Red showed why they are entitled to their current number one ranking.

Next weekend, the lightweight crews will leave the comfort of home waters to redeem themselves against Columbia and Yale in the Dodge Cup.

Penn women's rowing found itself in Ithaca on Friday to contend for the Orange Challenge Cup against Northeastern and Syracuse. Due to difficult conditions, the main race was canceled and moved to Saturday.

The rest of the varsity races, which included two varsity eight and two varsity four races, saw Syracuse win each of the four races, often by comfortable margins. In the main varsity four race, Penn finished ahead of Northeastern to capture second place behind the dominant Orange.

Due to the weather delay, Syracuse was unable to participate in the Saturday races. Despite the extra day, the Red and Blue were unable to best the Huskies in the Orange Challenge Cup race. In rough conditions, Northeastern came out ahead with a time of 6:13, while Penn came in at 6:26.

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