WORCESTER, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania heavyweight men's crew had both of its boats exceed their seeds at the EARC Sprints on Sunday. The Varsity Eights entered the day seeded 15th, but won the Third Final to finish 13th on the day. The Second Varsity Eights were seeded 14th but made the Petite Final and ended up taking 12th place. All the races took place on Lake Quinsigamond.

Varsity 8+
HEAT: Penn was unable to sneak into the Petite Final, giving ninth-seeded Navy a run for the fourth-place spot which would have locked it up. The Midshipmen ended up less than two seconds ahead of the Quakers, clocking 6:29.666 to Penn's 6:31.482. Princeton, Brown and Cornell took the top three spots in the race.
 
FINAL: Perhaps inspired by the Lightweight Eights, who won their title in the previous race, the Quakers jumped out quickly and never let the other four boats back into the race. The nearly wire-to-wire win came by more than three seconds, Penn's time of 6:36.480 ahead of second-place (and 13th seed) Wisconsin's 6:39.784. No. 14 seed Georgetown, Holy Cross and Rutgers were all more than 11 seconds behind the Badgers.
 
Second Varsity 8+
HEAT: Penn earned its spot into the Petite Final by besting 11th-seeded Columbia for fourth place, the Quakers' 6:56.764 nearly four second ahead of the Lions' 7:00.524 and well clear of Rutgers. Brown and Northeastern took the top two spots into the Grand Final, while Syracuse was third for the other Petite berth.
 
FINAL: Penn finished sixth in the race in 6:51.522. Boston University was the Petite Final winner, followed by Syracuse and Navy.
 
Up Next
Penn is scheduled to row at the IRA National Championships regatta from May 31-June 2 in Sacramento, Calif.