WORCESTER, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania men's lightweight crew stunned everyone twice on Sunday afternoon at the EARC Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond.
 
Tied for the fifth seed entering the day, the first sting came in the morning heats when Penn's Varsity Eights, along with Yale and Georgetown, knocked top-seeded Cornell into the afternoon's petite final as the Bulldogs, Hoyas and Quakers took the top three spots just ahead of the Big Red.
 
That was mere prelude, however. In the afternoon's Grand Final, the Red and Blue—from Quinsigamond's sixth lane—blew out to an open-water lead before the race was 500 meters old and they never looked back. In a complete race from start to finish, Penn won the Lightweight Varsity Eights title for the first time since 1976 and just the second time since 1955. The Quakers' winning time was 6:34.753, more than two seconds ahead of second-place Yale and more than three seconds ahead of third-place Navy.
 
It perfectly capped a day in which Penn's top three boats all exceeded their seed. The Second Varsity Eights were seeded sixth but finished third to earn bronze medals, while the Third Varsity Eights were seeded seventh but made the Grand Final and took fifth.
 
"This was a great day for the Penn Lightweights," said head coach Colin Farrell. "The Varsity 8+ has worked really well together through a very competitive year and were pushed the whole way by the rest of the squad, especially our bronze-medal-winning Second Varsity. It takes a total team effort to win in this league, from the athletes and coaches to the alumni, the parents, the administration…everyone. You need a lot of people pulling together. I couldn't be prouder of the Penn 150s."
 
Penn's Varsity Eights have now had top-three finishes each of the last three years at Sprints, after finishing third in both 2017 and 2018 and this year's win. The last time the program had back-to-back-to-back top-three finishes at Sprints was 1950 (third), 1951 (first) and 1952 (first).

The Varsity Eights boat consisted of coxswain Julianna Langhorn and crew (stroke to bow) Dominique Williams, Colley Loum, Aleksandar Izda, Alex Beheshti, Ed Barry, Neel Vallurupalli, Justin Meeker and Alexander Bowlby.
 
Second Varsity 8+
HEAT: Penn was nipped just just .12 seconds in the morning heat by Cornell, but the Quakers were second in their four-boat heat and easily advanced to the afternoon grand final with a time of 6:15.263.
 
FINAL: Penn jumped out to a fast start in this race, as well, but were unable to hold the momentum all the way through the 2,000 meters. Cornell was able to power through at the mid-point of the race and ended up winning in 6:42.953. Yale also clipped the Quakers, clocking 6:45.633 to Penn's 6:46.705. Princeton was fourth, more than five seconds off Penn's pace.
 
Third Varsity 8+
HEAT: In an incredibly tight morning heat, Penn was judged to be second out of four boats in a photo finish. Navy easily won the heat in 6:44.855, and then the Quakers were second in 6:50.217 which was judged to be .012 seconds ahead of third-place Harvard and .618 seconds ahead of fourth-place Princeton.
 
FINAL: Navy and Yale established an early lead and were never threatened, the Midshipmen winning the title in 6:41.518 and the Bulldogs taking second in 6:42.726. Penn pushed Columbia and Harvard for third place most of the race, but it was the Lions who took third, the Crimson who took fourth, and the Quakers in fifth with open water on sixth-place Cornell.
 
Fourth Varsity 8+
This division only had an afternoon final and Penn finished sixth out of six boats.
 
Up Next
Penn will row at the IRA National Championship regatta, which will run May 31-June 2 in Sacramento, Calif.