Fairfax, Va.- The George Mason Invitational was moved up to Saturday afternoon due to the impending weather on Sunday but that did not hinder the success of the Villanova Wildcats.  The Wildcats advanced to the grand finals in all three events.

The race featured four A10 schools, St. Joseph's, Dayton, George Mason, and Duquesne, two CAA schools in Villanova and Delaware and one MAAC, Jacksonville, Big 12, West Virginia.  In the morning heats the A10 competed against each other while the four schools from the other conference did with the top two from each heat advancing to the grand finals.
"This was a great opportunity to face off against some strong competition," share head coach Carissa Adams.  "We have only raced Delaware so far this season, so this gave up valuable racing experience."  

In the opening race of the day Villanova came in second in the Varsity 8 with a time of 6:44.0.  Jacksonville finished first, West Virginia came in third, and fellow CAA school Delaware came in second. In the boat for the Wildcats were Claire Humphrey, Holly Hubbard, Kaitlin Urbanik, Mary Arnold, Spesia, Greta Horgan, Claire Barrett, Amanda Miller, and Julia Ramsey.

The Wildcats second varsity 8, Madeline Mccarthy, Kara Dempsey, Sydney Stepovich, Alexandra Petrozzi, Olivia Krause, Claire Burghardt, Madison Burke, Erin Welch, Muriel Thomas Clapp, came, came in first edging out Jacksonville by less then a second.  Villanova finished with a time of 6:47.8 while Jacksonville 6:48.5. 

In the varsity 4 race against the same four teams as the varsity 8 boat competed against the Wildcats came in second with a 7:42.2 time.  For Villanova Caroline Colgan, Caroline Shea, Fiona Fennessey, Annie Dudrear, and Mac O'Reilly were in the boat. 

The Wildcats in the second varsity 8 race came in third with a 7:59.7 time while the third varsity 4 picked up a first-place finish (7:49.9) beating both Delaware (7:57.6) and Jacksonville (8:10.1).  In the second varsity 8 boat was Zoe Barnes, Claire Kotwicki, Jadyn Ramos, Anna Flynn, and Abby Burns.  The third varsity 4 boat was Sophia Lopez, Elizabeth Liedtka, Emma Lovejoy, Tallulah Laska, and Madison Girard.

Villanova in the grand finals of the varsity 8 went up against Jacksonville, Dayton, and St. Joseph's and picked up a second place finished with a time of 6:47.1. In the second varsity 8 grand finals Villanova came in third with a 6:59.7 time.  Jacksonville took the first-place spot followed by St. Joseph's and Dayton took the final spot in the race.  The varsity 4 grand finals were Jacksonville, Villanova, St. Joseph's and Duquesne.  The Wildcats came in second with a 7:47.8 time beating both St. Joseph's and Duquesne.

In the final race of the day, the third varsity 8, the Wildcats came out on top.  Villanova finished with a 7:04.8 time, Delaware came in second (7:08.9), and Jacksonville third (7:20.0). In the winning boat for the Wildcats was Zoe Barnes, Claire Kotwicki, Elizabeth Liedtka, Sophia Lopez, Tallulah Laska, Emma Lovejoy, Jadyn Ramos, Anna Flynn, and Abby Burns.

Next the Wildcats will have a duel meet with the Bucknell Bison in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  The race will be Friday, April 30^th.