Washington, D.C. (April 29) -- The Temple men's

crew team captured their fourth straight

Georgetown Invitational Big East Championship this

past weekend under unique circumstances.

During a warmup row, Temple was blindsided in the bow

of its racing shell as one of the referees' launches backed into it. The

shell began to sink thus forcing the Owls to borrow a Syracuse boat.

Temple beat the Orangemen by 3.28

seconds with a time of 5:32.46.

Throughout the regatta's seven year history,

Temple has won the championship five times. Sean

Casey, in his third year of rowing for the Owls,

has won three consecutive Big East titles. Senior

rower Jason Read has won four consecutive titles,

more than any other participant in the regatta's

history.

Temple men's freshman/novice four also captured

first place with a time of 6:45.05.

Men's Varsity Eight:
1. Temple                       5:32.46
2. Syracuse                     5:35.74
3. Georgetown                   5:47.29
4. Boston College               5:48.07