CHERRY HILL, N.J. – Competing for the first time this spring, the University of Pennsylvania women's rowing team had an extremely successful day at the Doc Hosea Invitational on Sunday. The event—which was canceled after morning heats due to increasingly inclement weather—was run on the Cooper River, site of the Ivy League Championships in May.
 
Penn put five boats out at the event, and three of them finished with the best time in their classification while another had the second-best time. In the process, all four won their heats.

Click here for final results!
 
"We were very fortunate to get a season-opening race for our crews this morning against excellent competition," said head coach Wesley Ng. "Our NCAA boats handled the challenging conditions and each won their opening heat while the second varsity four put up a solid win and our third varsity closed out the day with a second-place finish. Whenever you get a chance to be at the race course with teams that are ranked in the top 20, you can gain valuable experience for later in the season."
 
As part of the day's races, Penn and Cornell competed for the Class of '89 Plate for the first time since 2019. Based on the Quakers' better times in the NCAA boats (1V8, 2V8, 1V4), the Plate remains in Philadelphia.
 
Varsity Eight
Penn clocked 6:27.17 which was the fastest among 18 boats competing in the division. In the Quakers' race, their time was well ahead of second-place Notre Dame, which came across the line in 6:42.97, more than 15 seconds off Penn's pace. UMass (6:44.15) was third, followed by Dartmouth (6:49.29), Michigan State (7:02.83), and Rhode Island (7:12.03). The second-fastest Varsity Eight boat in Sunday's heats was Syracuse, which clocked 6:29.56 in winning the third heat by nearly 12 seconds.
 
Second Varsity Eight
Penn's time was 6:38.87 in its heat, good enough to beat second-place Temple (6:51.95) by more than 13 seconds. Drexel (6:53.56) was third, followed by Notre Dame (6:55.35), Michigan State (6:58.78), and Columbia (7:06.15). The only 2V8 faster than Penn on Sunday was Syracuse, which won its heat in 6:31.75; no other boat bettered the 6:45 mark.
 
Varsity Four
Penn's time of 7:27.01 was far faster than any other Four on the Cooper River Sunday. In the Quakers' heat, second-place Notre Dame (7:37.39) was more than 10 seconds behind while Georgetown (6:53.49) was more than 16 seconds behind the Irish in third. Michigan State (8:06.14), Dartmouth (8:10.78) and UMass (8:14.18) rounded out the heat. Columbia had the second-fasted Four in the field, winning its heat in 7:31.24.
 
Second Varsity Four
Penn clocked 7:36.92 to win its heat by more than five seconds over second-place Rutgers 'B' (7:42.24). They were the two fastest boats out of 17 in the morning heats.
 
Third Varsity Eight
Penn took second in its four-boat heat, clocking 7:19.81 which was off the pace set by race winner Rutgers (6:58.69). Cornell (7:25.74) was third, followed by Temple (7:22.85).
 
Up Next
Penn will compete with host Columbia and Yale for the Connell Cup next Saturday in Leonia, N.J., the first time the Cup has been in play since 2019. Dartmouth will row as a guest.