Temple Women's Varsity 4 Victorious at Bergen Cup

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Women's Varsity 4 won gold to highlight a strong showing at the 2011 Bergen Cup held on the Schuylkill River Saturday morning.

"It was the best racing of year by our team and puts us in good position going into the Vails," Temple head coach Tim Hagan said.

The Varsity 4, comprised of freshman Kara Carson (stroke), junior Kara Jackson (3-seat), sophomore Angela Flinn (2-seat), sophomore Brittany Adell (bow) and sophomore Jillian Malkowski (cox), defeated host Saint Joseph's by nearly two seconds for its first win of the year.

"It feels amazing," said Jackson, the veteran of the boat. "We have such great chemistry as a boat. At the A-10 Championships we did not do as well as we liked so it was awesome to come here and place first at the Philly Bergen Cup."

The Owls' Varsity 8, comprised of of sophomore Paige O' Sullivan (stroke), sophomore Megan Welsh (7-seat), junior Allison Boc (6-seat), junior Taylor Wasserleben (5-seat), sophomore Joanna Sutor (4-seat), freshman Jackie Lees (3-seat), Brynn Moore (2-seat), sophomore Claudia Loeber (bow) and senior Erin Buchanan (cox), placed third behind Saint Joseph's and Drexel while the Second Varsity 8, comprised of junior Dana Meadows (stroke), senior Caitlin Pennington (7-seat), freshman Sarah Barber (6-seat), sophomore Grace Givnish (5-seat), freshman Sarah Gierhart (4-seat), freshman Victoria Joye (3-seat), freshman Lauren Kidd (2-seat), freshman Megan Boyer (bow) and senior Allison Bates (cox), also finished third.

Temple is off next week for final exams before returning to the Schuylkill for the Dad Vail Regatta on May 13-14.