Temple University Athletics
Saturday, March 23
Cooper River, N.J.
Temple University
vs
Murphy Cup Regatta
Men's Crew Looks to Top 2018 Season; Owls Begin on Saturday
3.18.19 | Men's Crew
PHILADELPHIA -- "The only thing better than winning, is winning twice," -- Temple crew head coach Brian Perkins.
The 2019 Temple men's crew team has big shoes to fill, as the Owls look to follow up a magical 2018 season. Last spring, the Cherry and White returned to the top of Philadelphia Rowing world in stunning fashion -- by sweeping competition at the Dad Vail Regatta and qualifying to the main draw at the Henley Royal Regatta.
So how do you follow that up? Well, by winning again, according to Perkins.
"As climactic as the Dad Vails were last year, and ultimately as anticlimactic as it was over in Henley, I feel that our guys are hungry now. They realize that the Dad Vails are our gateway to bigger things and they want to get to those bigger things – IRA finals, and getting back to Henley and doing well there."
Last year, the Owls relied on a stout senior class that had spent years in Temple's top boats. The progression from the start of the 2018 racing season, where Temple was open water lengths behind the top competition, to the end, where the Owls stood on top of the Dad Vail podium in a course record time, was due in large part to that senior group.
"When you start measuring your college rowing career in calendar pages, there is a certain intensity that comes with that," noted Perkins. "But now we're getting that intensity elsewhere. We got a bunch of guys are sophomores and juniors now that went to England as underclassmen and now they are really fired up as juniors to go back and not be the wide-eyed tourists we were."
Temple took 16 student-athletes to the Henley Royal Regatta, eight of which are on the current roster. That taste of international competition has helped drive the group of student-athletes who returned to Philadelphia with eligibility. And after a slow fall head racing season, the Owls seem like they are back on track.
"I was a little concerned, sometimes you have a hangover after an experience like that, being young and just surprised by the long season," said Perkins. "In the fall, I think we saw some of that, we saw some dullness. But they went into the winter very motivated and they held themselves accountable and did really well."
Temple's huge strides from the start of the 2018 season to the end put the Owls on top of the Philadelphia racing world. But, if the start to this season is any indication, this team could break out and surprise the competition nationally.Â
"We are way ahead of where we were last year in terms of our technical rowing, which is very exciting," explained Perkins. "This year, we don't have that huge senior class to influence things, but the actual rowing is way better. So if we get the same kind of improvement later in the season with this sort of youthful enthusiasm we have now, it'll be very exciting to see what happens."
Temple has almost 40 underclassmen on its roster, and freshmen will be featured in the top varsity boats on both the heavyweight and lightweight sides. Helping to guide the young team will be a pair of junior captains in Nicholas Carbonaro and Phillip MacNeal.Â
"Our captains are both juniors, which is interesting, and they are doing a great job," said Perkins. "They were the top vote getters and their statement of goals for the team were right in line with our team values and what the coaches want to do. Both are doing really, really well."
Carbonaro is on the heavyweight roster, while MacNeal is on the lightweight squad. Both crews open the 2019 season at Temple's own Murphy Cup Regatta on Saturday.
Following the Murphy Cup, the heavyweight and lightweight teams will largely race different schedules, until the return of championship season.
Temple's heavyweights will welcome duals with Georgetown, Hobart, Holy Cross, and Marist in April, before the Bergen Cup Regatta on April 27. They will then face Lehigh on May 4 for one last one-on-one day of racing.
The Owls' lightweights will compete against Penn, MIT, and Delaware on the Schuylkill to close the month of March, before adding Princeton and Dartmouth to the docket at Princeton on April 6. The Knecht Cup and Kerr Cup Regattas will follow, before a dual against Georgetown on April 27.
Both crews will be back on the Schuylkill for the all-important Dad Vail Regatta. Racing runs Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11.Â
The IRA National Championships will wrap the 2019 slate, with the event being held in Sacramento, Calif. from May 31 to June 2.
Â
The 2019 Temple men's crew team has big shoes to fill, as the Owls look to follow up a magical 2018 season. Last spring, the Cherry and White returned to the top of Philadelphia Rowing world in stunning fashion -- by sweeping competition at the Dad Vail Regatta and qualifying to the main draw at the Henley Royal Regatta.
So how do you follow that up? Well, by winning again, according to Perkins.
"As climactic as the Dad Vails were last year, and ultimately as anticlimactic as it was over in Henley, I feel that our guys are hungry now. They realize that the Dad Vails are our gateway to bigger things and they want to get to those bigger things – IRA finals, and getting back to Henley and doing well there."
Last year, the Owls relied on a stout senior class that had spent years in Temple's top boats. The progression from the start of the 2018 racing season, where Temple was open water lengths behind the top competition, to the end, where the Owls stood on top of the Dad Vail podium in a course record time, was due in large part to that senior group.
"When you start measuring your college rowing career in calendar pages, there is a certain intensity that comes with that," noted Perkins. "But now we're getting that intensity elsewhere. We got a bunch of guys are sophomores and juniors now that went to England as underclassmen and now they are really fired up as juniors to go back and not be the wide-eyed tourists we were."
Temple took 16 student-athletes to the Henley Royal Regatta, eight of which are on the current roster. That taste of international competition has helped drive the group of student-athletes who returned to Philadelphia with eligibility. And after a slow fall head racing season, the Owls seem like they are back on track.
"I was a little concerned, sometimes you have a hangover after an experience like that, being young and just surprised by the long season," said Perkins. "In the fall, I think we saw some of that, we saw some dullness. But they went into the winter very motivated and they held themselves accountable and did really well."
Temple's huge strides from the start of the 2018 season to the end put the Owls on top of the Philadelphia racing world. But, if the start to this season is any indication, this team could break out and surprise the competition nationally.Â
"We are way ahead of where we were last year in terms of our technical rowing, which is very exciting," explained Perkins. "This year, we don't have that huge senior class to influence things, but the actual rowing is way better. So if we get the same kind of improvement later in the season with this sort of youthful enthusiasm we have now, it'll be very exciting to see what happens."
Temple has almost 40 underclassmen on its roster, and freshmen will be featured in the top varsity boats on both the heavyweight and lightweight sides. Helping to guide the young team will be a pair of junior captains in Nicholas Carbonaro and Phillip MacNeal.Â
"Our captains are both juniors, which is interesting, and they are doing a great job," said Perkins. "They were the top vote getters and their statement of goals for the team were right in line with our team values and what the coaches want to do. Both are doing really, really well."
Carbonaro is on the heavyweight roster, while MacNeal is on the lightweight squad. Both crews open the 2019 season at Temple's own Murphy Cup Regatta on Saturday.
Following the Murphy Cup, the heavyweight and lightweight teams will largely race different schedules, until the return of championship season.
Temple's heavyweights will welcome duals with Georgetown, Hobart, Holy Cross, and Marist in April, before the Bergen Cup Regatta on April 27. They will then face Lehigh on May 4 for one last one-on-one day of racing.
The Owls' lightweights will compete against Penn, MIT, and Delaware on the Schuylkill to close the month of March, before adding Princeton and Dartmouth to the docket at Princeton on April 6. The Knecht Cup and Kerr Cup Regattas will follow, before a dual against Georgetown on April 27.
Both crews will be back on the Schuylkill for the all-important Dad Vail Regatta. Racing runs Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11.Â
The IRA National Championships will wrap the 2019 slate, with the event being held in Sacramento, Calif. from May 31 to June 2.
Â
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Crew
/ Men's Crew
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