July 4, 2002

LONDON - The Marist College Men's Varsity Eight is one of two crews from the United States to win races on July 4th in the Temple Challenge Cup of the Henley Royal Regatta. The Red Foxes advance to the quarterfinals of the college crew race, and will take on Queen's University, of Belfast, in the round of eight on Friday morning.

The Red Foxes defeated Reading University by 3/4 of a boat length in the second round of the Temple Challenge Cup. Marist took an early lead rowing through the first mark in a time of 1:57 and the second mark at 3:20, among the slowest times of the day. The final time for the Red Foxes, 6:58, faster then two winners, and within eight second of four other winning crews on the day. The Red Foxes next opponent, Queen's University, defeated Orange Coast Community College by 2 3/4 lengths, in a time of 6:51. Harvard University, the defending Temple Crown Champion, crossed in a time of 6:54, and is the only other American crew to advance to the quarterfinals. Eight USA crews were in the original field of 32, with six advancing to the second round. Yale fell to University of London, while Williams lost to Durham, and Colgate fell to Oxford Brookes University.

Marist opened its first appearance at the 150-year old Regatta with a 3/4 boat length win over Imperial College of London. The Red Foxes led from the start and crossed in the fastest time of the first day, 6:41. Marist was 1:52 at the first mark, and crossed the second mark at a time of 3:09, before closing out the race ahead of its opponent.