April 20, 2008
OAK RIDGE, TN -
The Temple men's crew placed four boats in the finals of the prestigious SIRA Championship Regatta held on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, TN this past weekend. The Owls' Novice 4 won gold with second varsity 8 earning silver and the Varsity 8 and varsity four taking bronze.
The Owls' Novice 4, comprised of coxswain Mark Brockbank, Ryan Rickus (stroke), John Masterson (3-seat), Jeff Wunderlich (2-seat) and Scott Waters (bow), easily defeated second place Jacksonville. Temple finished the race in a time of 6:52.60 with Jacksonville a distant second in a time of 7:05.13.
The Second Varsity 8, comprised of senior Sam Cunningham (stroke), sophomore Patrick Welsh (7-seat), senior Bill Gennaro (6-seat), sophomore Brendan Cunningham (5-seat), sophomore Scott Herring (4-seat), junior Joseph Welsh (3-seat), sophomore Mike Whitman (2-seat), sophomore Bradford Long (bow) and junior cox Thomas Goldner, lost to rival Saint Josephs in a close race. The Owls time of 6:14.42 was exactly two seconds behind the Hawks (6:12.42).
The Varsity 8, comprised of sophomore Tom Masterson stroked the Owls' shell that was comprised of senior
Robert Protesto, (7-seat), senior
Thomas Haubrich (6-seat), senior
Don Powers (5-seat), sophomore
Justin Allphin (4-seat), senior
Nicholas Vlahos (3-seat), sophomore
Patrick Curran (2-seat), senior
Chris Schwartz (bow) and senior coxswain
Rory Roberts, tied Jacksonville for third place with a time of 6:03.80. Virginia, ranked second nationally, won the tightly-contested race in a time of 6:01.60 while third-ranked Purdue finished second with a time of 6:02.45. Temple defeated fourth-ranked Grand Valley State (6:07.84) which finished fifth.
The varsity 4 won its Saturday heat and placed third behind Davidson and Texas, and ahead of Washington,Auburnand Michigan State.
The Owls next compete at the Bergen Cup on Saturday, April 26.
