Penn rowing divides and almost conquers

Penn women's rowing tested its limits this weekend, and they did not come away empty handed.

While in action at the Clemson Invitational in South Carolina, the Quakers secured the Class of '89 plaque for only the third time in program history. The perennial competition between Penn and Cornell is decided by weighting the results from both schools for all boats and races. 

At the two-day regatta featuring competition from the top Division I programs across the country, and Penn held its own. Wins in both of the eights races on Saturday morning help secure a series of upset finishes. The first race ended with Penn in fourth, eight seconds ahead of Cornell, while the second had the Red and Blue coming in fifth with a similar cushion over the Big Red. Virginia took first in both races, with Washington State and Indiana rounding out the podium.

Coach Wesley Ng was pleased overall with the weekend’s performance — and unsurprisingly very proud of his team’s securing the Plaque.

“The other high was winning the Class of ’89 plaque that is contested between Cornell and Penn,” Ng said. “The race started in 1992 and we’ve only won it in 1994 and 2007 so having our varsity and second varsity defeat Cornell to win the plaque was a nice surprise and perhaps a marker of progress — but in the context of the larger regatta we have lots of boat speed to discover and earn.”

On Sunday, both the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight finished in fifth with the first coming in at 6:52.4 and the latter 7:05.1. The Varsity Fours struggled a bit more, with both teams finishing in sixth.

Regarding the difficulties of such fierce competition, Ng thinks his squad faired pretty well and has plenty to be proud of.

“The Clemson Invitational had 20 Division I rowing programs attend — close to 25 percent of all of Division I. A multi-day regatta presents a different challenge than a regular dual race because you have to race aggressively, recover in a really smart way, and let your aerobic fitness bring you forward. We had some highs and lows throughout the regatta," Ng said.

“The varsity had a solid first race in challenging conditions and then followed up with two races that if we put them together would have been a more complete race. The second varsity high was defeating Harvard-Radcliffe in the second race of the regatta by a really close margin — I’m not sure when the last time we were able to put one past them was in the 2V event. Our fours found the competition level very high and I know they’re going to rededicate themselves to better practices in the coming weeks.”

On the men's side, there would be no smooth sailing for heavyweights this fling.

Penn men’s rowing came in second in the Blackwell Cup on Saturday, falling to No. 1 Yale, but edging out No. 18 Columbia. This has been the eighth time the Quakers have earned silver in the past 14 competitions.

The home team came in ranked twelfth in the nation, and on the familiar waters of the Schuylkill River. Penn placed second in the Varsity Eights and Second Varsity Eights. The Bulldogs were twenty seconds clear in the first race at 5:26.9, with Penn barely beating the Lions. However, in the latter, Penn rounded out at 5:37.9, and was within two seconds of victory over powerhouse Yale, with Columbia coming in last.

Both of Yale’s boats hit the stripe first in the Third Varsity Eights, with Penn still besting Columbia.

The men will chase the Adam’s Cup next weekend in Boston against Harvard and Navy on the storied Charles.

Up next for the women is chasing Class of 1984 Award Plaque against Princeton, Dartmouth and Bucknell at the home of the Tigers.

Looking forward, Ng said, “We’re going to keep investing in our processes and building towards our peak performance at the Ivy League Championship.”

So with the season winding down, Penn only has a few more chances to take home more hardware to fill its ever growing trophy-chest.

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