PHILADELPHIA – Villanova's Collegiate Four A and Collegiate Eight A boats turned in strong showings in a pair of large races, highlighting the team's season-opener on Sunday at the Navy Day Regatta.
The Wildcats took to the Schuykill River for three different competitions. Both the Four A and Eight A crews found themselves in the top half of the leaderboard for the 40-boat Collegiate Four and 30-boat Collegiate Eight fields, respectively, posting 17
th and 13
th-place finishes.
"We felt really good with our racing today," head coach
Carissa Adams said. "We've seen a lot of progress with the team this fall and I believe we are exactly where we wanted to be for this race. The program has experienced a reset and I believe that we are on pace. It was a great opportunity to find areas where we can improve for the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in two weeks."
The A boat of
Cate Donnelly,
Maggie Coyne,
Kara Dempsey,
Olivia Krause and
MK Coolican crossed in 14:24.97, landing it at 17
th. The B shell of
Madison Girard,
Erin Welch,
Julia Kreisl,
Alexandra Petrozzi and
Madeline McCarthy finished in 15:08.52, good enough for 29
th.
Villanova's lone crew in the Collegiate JV Eight consisted of coxswain
Gianna Zajac,
Charlotte Walkey,
Sabrina Pauli,
Julia Geib,
Carolyn Connolly,
Sofia Lopez,
Kelechi Onuigbo,
Cecilia Jenkins and
Jenna Nolan. The Wildcats posted a time of 14:13.80 that earned them 11
th place, just over seven-hundredths of a second shy of a top-10 finish.
The final race of the day to feature Villanova boats came in the Collegiate Eight. The A team of Donnelly, Coyne, Dempsey, Krause, Coolican, Petrozzi, Kreisl, Welch and McCarthy turned in a 13:20.60 time that was good enough for 13
th. The B squad of Girard,
Caroline Shea,
Corinne Gardner,
Olivia Frizzell,
Rose Baker,
Grace Quirk,
Isabella Thorne,
Anna Flynn and
Lydia Deppman was not far behind, crossing in 13:59.61 for 21
st.
In two weeks, the Wildcats return to the Schuylkill River for the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta on October 29.
