Rowing concludes fall season

The Owls concluded their fall season at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta on Saturday.

Entering 10 boats in the regatta, Temple saw a solid performance, particularly from its novice competitors.

In the Women’s Frosh/Novice Fours race, Temple’s lone boat appeared to have won the race in a field of 24 teams, but a 30 second interference penalty bumped the Owls back to fourth.

“The Novice 4 was awesome,” Grzybowski said.  “They had one day of practice this week, and were able to put together a really great race.  I was really impressed to see what they did.   It’s always a bummer to lose on a penalty, but time-wise I think they rowed a really great race, and it’s just a really great step forward for the program.”

As for the other nine boats, the results were generally positive.  In the Women’s Open Fours, Temple’s two boats finished eighth and 12^th out of a 40-team field.

In the Women’s Frosh/Novice Eights, the Owls’ four boats finished 11^th, 16^th, 25^th, and 33^rd out of a 33 team field.  Grzybowski said she is excited about the depth of rowers at the novice level going into the offseason.

“One of the biggest positives [going into winter] is the depth and size of our novice squad,” she said.  “I was really excited to have four novice eights and a novice four racing today.  That’s huge, I don’t know the last time when that has happened, if that’s ever happened before in our program.”

In the Women’s College Eights, Temple’s two boats finished 5^th and 25^th out of 40 teams.  In the Championship Eight Race, the Owls’ lone boat finished 16^th in a 20 team field.

Even with a slow start from the upperclassmen, freshman Hope Watson is convinced that the offseason will allow for improvement from everyone.

“I’m really excited for the spring, especially being one of the younger girls on the team,” Watson said.”  “Winter training is a time to grow and get a lot better, and I think the older girls are just really pushing it, and will lower their times as well, get a lot faster.  I’m hoping for the best, the program is taking a big step in a new direction, so it’s good.”

“At this point, it’s still about building power, building fitness,” Grzybowski said.  “That means a lot of time on the rowing machines, a lot of time in the weight room, just pushing, pushing, pushing, and we’ll be creating a competitive environment where everybody gets a lot faster and better and then we take all that speed and power and translate it into the spring [season] when we get back on the water.”

Steve Bohnel can be reached at sbohnel@gmail.com or on Twitter @SteveSportsGuy1.