Temple men’s rowing earns varsity eight title at the Dad Vail Regatta for the first time since 2021
The Drexel women’s varsity eight took home first place for the second year in a row.
Temple men’s rowing won its 22nd men’s varsity eight title at the 86th annual Thomas Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta on Saturday, securing its first win in the division since 2021.
The Owls did so on the 25th anniversary of making history at the regatta when they hit a 12-year win streak in 2000. They went on to win again in 2001. Saturday’s win over some fellow Philly programs was their fifth since then.
“Historically, Temple’s been very successful at the Dad Vail, and I think a big testament goes out to the guys on our team for setting what they wanted early on in the season and doing the work to get there,” said coach Brendan Cunningham. “I think that became very clear when the athletes started to take ownership of the process and started to really put in the work to meet the standard, and I think that was pretty important through this season.”
Temple was in lane three with the defending champions, Drexel, in lane two, La Salle in lane four, and St. Joseph’s in lane five. Stetson and Marietta filled the outside lanes.
Temple jumped to an early lead, but Drexel and La Sallestayed close. Ultimately, the Owls finished with a time of 5 minutes, 37.711 seconds, beating La Salle by three-tenths of a second to hoist the Richard O’Brien-James Hanna Trophy. Drexel, coming off a three-peat, finished third.
“I’m excited for the guys. They put in the work this year. They made it very clear early on what they wanted. They set the goals, and they did the work to get it done,” Cunnigham said. “They went out today, they executed all the way through the regatta, and they got the job done.”
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Senior Kevin Harvell said of the boat’s eight rowers, five were seniors who have grown together across four seasons. Their chemistry aided in their efforts to bring home a first- place finish.
“I started my freshman year as a novice, so just being able to see how much work we’ve been putting in, and how much effort we really showed is really awesome to go out and show Philadelphia, in this regard, that we’ve worked really hard to get it here,” Harvell added.
But the women’s varsity eight told a different story for the Dragons, who faced three other Philly programs. Drexel topped St. Joe’s, Temple, and La Salle. Georgetown and Fordham rounded out the field.
Unlike the men’s race, the women’s race was close for the full 2,000 meters, with Drexel in lane three, maintaining a three-to-four seat lead over St. Joe’s, in lane five. But in the last 500 meters, it was Georgetown that inched closer to take the lead over St. Joe’s to place second.
Drexel’s 6:38.387 secured the Evelyn Bergman Trophy for the second year in a row and its fourth overall title in the women’s varsity eight.
The Dragons’ director of rowing, Paul Savell, who took over coaching the women’s team this year, said he was proud of his team and they “showed a lot of heart” in what was a close and tough race.
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“We just talked about being a really tight-knit team, being there for each other through the whole year.” Savell added. “It’s been a very selfless team, and that kind of helps out there when you know you can count on everybody else.”
While Savell took over coaching the women’s team this year, there was still continuity from last year’s first-place boat, and credited the seniors and returning rowers with helping lead the boat across the finish line.
“The seniors are so important,” Savell said. “The veteran leadership, they’ve seen it all before. They know that it can happen, they allow everybody to believe that it can happen.”
As the events came to a close Saturday, Drexel took home the Bratton-Galloway Trophy for most overall points with 179.5. The Dragons also snagged the men’s point trophy (114 points), while Temple (102) took second and La Salle (62) placed third.
Temple also placed second for most overall points at 102. Georgetown won first in women’s points.