Temple University Athletics
Men's Crew Has Successful Tennessee Trip
4.19.09 | Men's Crew
April 19, 2009
OAK RIDGE, TN - The Temple University men's varsity crew enjoyed a very successful weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Owls captured medals in three of the four events in which they competed with the Varsity 8 earning a bronze medal in the regatta's premier event.
The SIRA Regatta included seven of the top eight men's Varsity 8s expected to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta held on May 8-9. The owls were 4th after the first 200 meters, trailing Florida Tech, Grand Valley State and Jacksonville. All four boats, as well as Purdue and Notre Dame, were separated by no more than half a boat length. At the half way marker only Notre Dame had fallen back, trailing by an additional 3/4 of a boat length.
Purdue put on a push with 750 meters to go, passing Temple. However the Owls came on strong down the home stretch and passed both Purdue and Jacksonville to finish in third place. The Cherry and White Varsity 8 was comprised of James Barr (stroke), John Masterson (7-seat), Patrick Curran (6-seat), Jason Cartwright (5-seat), Brendan Cunningham (4-seat), Joseph Welsh (3-seat), Thomas Masterson (2-seat), Scott Waters (bow) and Thomas Goldner (coxswain),
In the JV 8 race a young Owls crew, featuring six freshmen, remained unbeaten, easily winning the gold medal. After trailing early, TU rowed through the field, striking 35 strokes per minute, to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Jacksonville, Grand Valley State and Purdue. The Owls' JV boat was comprised of Stephen Brady (stoke), Joe Belleshiem (7-seat), Matthew Meyer (6-seat), Aaron Heyde (5-seat), Jeff Wunderlich (4-seat), Mike VanAssche (3-seat), Scott Herring (2-seat), John Boehm (bow) and Michael Berger (coxswain).
The Owls' freshmen/novice four, comprised of Djordje Vilimanovic (stroke), Petar Ivacic (3-seat), Brian Rehill (2-seat), Brandon Joyce (bow) and Sam Scimeca (coxswain) finished second to Ohio State. The Buckeyes caught up with the owls in the home stretch and passed them in the last 20 strokes.
The Temple varsity four had a much improved performance this weekend. The owl quartet of Chris Roberts (stroke), Alex Klein (3-seat), Brad Long (2-seat), Nick Contino (bow) and Samuel Gennace (coxswain), finished second in the Petite Final. That finish placed them seventh out of 24 collegiate Varsity Fours.
The Owls next compete in the Bergen Cup for city schools on Saturday, April 25th.
