At the end of last season, Temple put an end to its year-long struggles by cruising to a second place finish in the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta — the second largest regatta in the country — on May 2.
But despite finding some late season success, the Owls had still fallen short of their ultimate goal of advancing to the IRA National Championships.
Temple needed its First Varsity boat to finish first to qualify for the event but came in second behind Drexel on a photo finish. While the Owls’ second Varsity boat secured a victory in its race, it still wasn’t enough to qualify. As they prepare for the 2025 season, the team’s goal has been to continue the foundation it built in head coach Brendan Cunningham’s first season.
“It was good energy and building on the momentum coming off of last year,” Cunningham said. “I think that was the focus of this fall, was continuing that momentum that we’ve built.”
The Owls were constantly looking ahead of their opponents last season. Instead of taking it day by day, the team had their sights set on IRA’s — something that eventually came back to bite them, said rower Sebastian Rawson.
Cunningham brought in Michael Moore, a Temple Crew alum and Olympian in the 1992 Summer Olympics, to talk to the team before the Owls’ first expedition. Moore harped to the team about the importance of the hard work they put in before and during the season. Temple is now primed to build on the success if found at the end of last year during its upcoming 2025 season.
“[Moore] told us that ‘the crews that win Dad Vails are not the crews that wake up feeling good and they’re feeling like this is they’re going to shock the world,’” Rawson said. “‘They’re the teams that in the bitter colds in March and February, that’s when the training is tough and the mornings are not very nice to you, those the teams that work hard, then the fruits of their labor will show up at Dad Vails.’ I think that’s a true testimony to what rowing is.”
The team’s mindset has completely changed going into the season after the program went through an adjustment period during Cunningham’s first year. Many players struggled to buy into the new culture he was trying to set and it took a while for them to get fully on board. However, everybody went into winter training motivated and ready to hit the ground running.
The veterans on the team are a big reason why the motivation spiked. Twelve seniors are returning for the spring season and their demeanor will set the tone of the fall. Despite rowing under the old regime, they helped usher in a new era and the rest of the team took notice.
“I feel like all of us are really joined together on having the same goals,” said senior captain Kevin Harvell. “We kind of discussed that with Cunningham at the beginning of the season in the fall. Our goals for the season and then being able to have the same overall goal and aspect for the team itself.”
The underclassmen have learned from the older athlete’s teachings during the offseason. With Cunningham’s culture in full effect, the younger players have seen what it takes to win and want to ensure the same heartbreak doesn’t strike again this season.
Rawson was on the second varsity boat and witnessed the first varsity boat’s photo finish. Knowing they were so close to punching a ticket to IRA’s has been fuel for this season.
“Watching from the sideline since I was in the second varsity boat, I was able to see this margin,” Rawson said. “Being in that position and being able to see it from that angle really motivated me and then motivated the guys around me who were also watching it. Either if they were in the boat or watching from the sidelines.”
Temple’s goal since the fall has been to reach a championship, and they think their preparation has been strong enough to make it happen. After being within seconds of accomplishing that dream last season, the sense of urgency to do so this year is even higher.
“Coming off of last year was kind of like a stepping ground,” Harvell said. “We of like saw what we can do, how we could push ourselves to go further. We knew how we could be able to push ourselves to do more and be able to compete at a higher level.”
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