Senior Spotlight: Phil MacNeal, Crew
3/25/2020
A four-year member of the Owls, MacNeal has had a storied career with Temple crew, serving as team captain in his final two seasons. He owns a pair of Dad Vail medals, bronze as a sophomore in 2018 and silver as a junior in 2019, both with Temple’s top lightweight boat. His 2019 boat also helped the Owls to the overall team points trophy for the first time in school history. MacNeal owns gold medals from the San Diego Crew Classic (2018, L8), the Kerr Cup (2018, L4), the SIRA Championships (2017, L8) and competed at the IRA National Championships in 2018. MacNeal will graduate from the Klein College of Media and Communication with a degree in Communication Studies in May.
Owlsports.com caught up with MacNeal, as he finishes his final semester at Temple.
In the book of your life, what’s the title of the Temple chapter? In the ongoing grand manuscript of my life, the Codex of the Fifth Wendell Phillip MacNeal, the chapter in which Temple would be detailed would be vast, dubbed “Forged in Fire - Reborn from Water.” The trials and tribulations I have endured and conquered throughout my time at Temple threw my once fragile being into an infernal crucible, so that the ironclad individual I am today could emerge from the seas of time.
What’s the best part about being a member of the crew team at Temple/what will you miss the most? Everything about having the honor of not only calling myself a Temple oarsman, but a brother to over 50 of the most courageous, driven men holds a sacred place in my heart atop an unassailable fortress of joy and gratitude. However, if I were to highlight one thing I am going to long for in the years beyond graduation, the foremost bastion of this fortress if you will, it would be the unequivocal sense of kinship amongst the squad. Unlike typical friendships, the feeling of connection among us runs deep, coming the closest I have ever felt to a complete replication of a familial bond. Going through the umbral valleys of pain and standing atop the soaring peaks of victory with these men created something few beyond the ranks of Division I athletes and battle-hardened soldiers will ever experience, and for that I am eternally grateful. I will be blessed to have such a feeling again, even if just for a moment, throughout the rest of my existence on this Earth.
What is your favorite memory of being a student-athlete at Temple? Among the countless memories I shared with my fellow oarsmen over the years, my favorite would have to be the morning of March 12, 2020. In the moment, I did not know our season would prematurely end mere hours after practice concluded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps something deep within us all knew this was going to be it, our last stand of Spring ‘20.
As we lined seven eights across the river for an unofficial scrimmage with our city rival, Drexel, and took off for a brief, 600-meter race, the feeling was electric. Blood surged through my veins, carrying with it massive amounts of oxygen and increasing amounts of lactic acid with every stroke. My lungs expanded and contracted like the billows in the engine room of a freight train, and the glorious cries of my brethren oarsmen erupted across the tumultuous water and the ashen skies. Stroke after stroke, we did battle. Our oarlocks clacked against the collars of our oars, and the wheels beneath our seats whined as we flew back and forth in a bittersweet dance of pain and precision.
By the time we had crossed the line, and the mighty steel trusses of the Strawberry Mansion Bridge soared over us, I managed to shoot a glance to my right. Barely making out the sight before me amid my darkening tunnel vision, I saw that we had indeed crossed the line first before any other boat that had lined up mere minutes before. As my brain starved for oxygen, it was also bathed in dopamine as I plunged my hands into the icy waters of the Schuylkill and let out one last cry of victory. Never had I pushed my body harder, nor felt such glory, despite the laughably unofficial nature of the event, and I will take that moment with me to the grave and across the ethereal gates of Heaven.
If you could give advice to your freshman year self, what would it be? If I could give advice to my Freshman year self, I would sit him down, hold his hands in mine, and look deep into his eyes, saying this:
“You will be tested, you will cry, suffer, get sick and tired, you will bend, but you will not break, for you will emerge victorious when your final day comes unexpectedly in your final season, and forever more as you sail on to new seas beyond the one which you currently traverse. All the pain you will experience is going to be temporary, but it will last forever if you give up. Never, EVER, give up, no matter the cost.”
Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, it is hard to say where I see myself. Perhaps I will be writing stories for a publication, or making taglines for a company, but I do know one thing. Wherever I end up, I will be successful, respected, and tougher than ever having conquered five more years of what life has to throw at me.
I would like to foremost thank my Mother, Father, and Sister for being my rocks throughout my time at Temple, and I extend my infinite gratitude to all the coaches, trainers, and teammates that have inspired and driven me to heights I never thought imaginable. To everyone I have crossed paths with over the past four years, thank you. You all have made me the person I am today.Phil MacNeal, Temple Crew Class of 2020
