The University of Pennsylvania women’s rowing team finished fifth at the Rocky Top Invite, according to an April 4 announcement. The two-day event was held on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and featured nine teams, including six that are nationally ranked.
The competition is significant for Penn as it offered the team a chance to race against several top-ranked programs and test their lineups ahead of future events. Penn accumulated 114 points over the weekend, placing behind Tennessee (198), Alabama (151), Duke (131), and UCLA (121).
Penn’s Second Varsity Eight performed well throughout the weekend by winning its heat on Friday and finishing second in both its Saturday semifinal and final races. The Varsity Four boats each placed fourth in their respective finals. The Varsity Eight won its petite final on Saturday with a time that would have placed them ahead of at least one boat in the A Final.
“We achieved some success racing these last few days,” said Penn’s head coach, Bill Manning. “We’re incredibly proud and pleased that our Second Varsity took silver and raced Tennessee closer than any other boat. Our Fours both placed fourth; all three of these boats are full of young athletes who are showing great potential.” Manning also said, “Overall, we showed a lot of progress and learned a great deal racing. We rowed different lineups in each of our six Eights races to provide racing experience in our top boats to many athletes. As has been the case this year, we showed good speed—the Varsity Eight won the B Final by oen water with a time that would have put them well ahead of a boat in the A Final. Our task now is to turn good speed into great speed, which we can do by identifying the strongest lineup and, more importantly, by making the most of each practice. We have two weeks to work on things ahead of the Orlando Invitational.”
The Quakers will return to competition at the Orlando Invitational scheduled for April 17-18.
