FAIRFAX, Va. – All four Villanova boats earned spots in their respective grand finals in Sunday's regular-season finale, including a win for the Varsity Eight at the Mason Invitational from the Sandy Run Regional Park.
"I was very impressed with the way that the athletes handled themselves and committed to our strategies going into our race," head coach
Carissa Adams said. "We have great respect for all the programs in this regatta and felt this would be a great way to assess our program before our conference championship in three weeks."
The last two weekends have been productive for the Varsity Eight team of
Julia Ramsey, Erin Welch, Jillian de Merlier, Olivia Krause, Claire Barrett, Sheila Joyce, Kara Dempsey, Mary Arnold and
Madeline McCarthy. The reigning Boat of the Week in the Colonial Athletic Association has had three winning races in its last two competitions. The group had a big showing in the final race of the day, winning with a time of 6:30.5.
"That team launched with confidence and we felt we had a good chance of being competitive," Adams said. "The crew did a wonderful job of following our plan and finishing the day with a victory."
The day started with great conditions in the morning heats before a steady tailwind picked up for the afternoon finals.
The first Villanova boat out on the water was the Varsity Four.
Alannah Cunningham,
Madison Burke,
Zoe Barnes,
Isabella Thorne and
Anna Flynn had the second-fastest time in its heat at 8:04.2, just behind West Virginia to land a spot in the V4 Grand Final. They ended up fourth in that race, showing good attitude with an 8:02.2 finish.
In the Third Varsity/Novice Eight race, the Third Varsity Eight boat of
Madison Girard, Caroline Colgan, Emma Lovejoy, Rose Baker, Olivia Frizzell, Julia Longo, Sofia Lopez, Vic Hamilton and
Cecilia Jenkins were second through the opening heat with a time of 7:32.7, earning a place in the afternoon's Grand Final. Later on, the Wildcats battled in a close race, edging Jacksonville for second place at 7:21.5 and topping Delaware's B-Boat.
The Second Varsity Eight crew of
Mac O'Reilly, Annie Dudrear, Fiona Fennessey, Grace Quirk, Corinne Gardner, Julia Kreisl, Alexandra Petrozzi, Caroline Shea and
Elizabeth Liedtka were four seconds off of the fastest time in its heat, posting a time of 7:10.2 to get into the Grand Final. Another close finish came for this group in the final with all four boats being separated by seven seconds. Villanova's group finished third in 6:57.1, besting St. Joseph's boat by two-tenths of a second.
The final race of the day came down to the Varsity Eight, after earning a spot in the Grand Final with a second-place finish in its morning heat with a time of 6:54.6. It held a two-and-a-half second advantage over the rest of the field with the next closest crew being Jacksonville at 6:33.0.
"We wanted to see how we would stack up against Jacksonville, who dominated our team early in the season. They are a very successful program and we went into this race hoping we would have an opportunity to matchup with them in the final. We were able to keep our composure throughout the race and row our race plan even though we were being over stroked by our competitors."
The next time Villanova is back in action will be in the postseason. The Wildcats head to nearby Pennsauken, N.J. on May 15 for the Colonial Athletic Association Championship.
