PHILADELPHIA – Despite facing gusty winds on Saturday morning on the Schuylkill River, Villanova placed second in all five races against La Salle and Drexel in Philadelphia.
"I was proud of the team for how they handled the tough weather conditions," head coach
Carissa Adams said. "For some of the athletes, this was their first rowing race ever and every boat went out with goals in mind and I feel we did a great job executing them. All of these early races give us an excellent opportunity to try out various lineups and to assess areas of improvement. I am confident we can find more speed over the next few weeks and we will be a stronger team at the Knecht Cup on April 9."
Villanova's varsity eight boats both finished with times sandwiched between Drexel and La Salle to open the day. The varsity eight crew of
Julia Ramsey,
Annie Dudrear,
Erin Welch,
Jillian de Merlier,
Sheila Joyce,
Claire Barrett,
Olivia Krause,
Kara Dempsey and
Mary Arnold finished with a time of 7:26.6, second to Drexel's winning mark of 7:18.4. La Salle's boat turning in a 7:34.9 for third. In the second varsity eight, Drexel took first again, this time at 7:29.4. As for Villanova, the team of
Alannah Cunningham,
Madeline McCarthy, Fiona Fennessey, Madison Burke, Corrine Gardner, Julia Kreisl, Zoe Barnes, Emma Lovejoy and
Elizabeth Liedtka were second in 8:00.3 while La Salle was third at 8:28.1.
"Although the results have us behind Drexel consistently, they don't demonstrate the hard work and determination that our athletes demonstrated today," Adams said. "The varsity eight was the fastest race of the day with Villanova coming in second behind Drexel but beating LaSalle.
The varsity four, third varsity eight and fourth varsity eight races were all head-to-head battles between the Wildcats and hosting Dragons. Drexel's varsity four team finished in 8:33.8 while Villanova's unit of
Mac O'Reilly, Alexandra Petrozzi, Kaitlin Urbanik, Greta Horgan and
Grace Quirk were second with a time of 9:07.1.
The third varsity eight saw the Dragons win with a 7:59.7 followed by an 8:22.8 from the Wildcat boat of
Madison Girard, Caroline Colgan, Caroline Shea, Julia Longo, Anna Flynn, Isabella Thorne, Regina Passarella, Lydia Deppman and
Sophia Pegg.
Drexel won the fourth varsity eight in 8:38.07 with Villanova following in at 9:08.9. The Wildcats in that boat were
Tai Henderson, Sofia Lopez, Rose Baker, Hayden Karnes, Kelechi Onuigbo, Olivia Frizzell, Hailey Bierling, Cecilia Jenkins and
Aisling Kennedy.
"We are a very young team and we have a lot of opportunities for improvement with every race we complete," Adams said.
The 'Cats are back in action on April 9 as they take part in the Knecht Cup in Pennsauken, N.J.
