PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – Villanova scored 21 team points in its four races down the Cooper River on Sunday, leading to a fifth-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships.
Madison Burke, the stroke for the Varsity Four team, was honored as an All-CAA team selection after the race, the first laurel in the senior's career.
The Third Varsity Eight boat of
Madison Girard,
Rose Baker,
Olivia Frizzell,
Elizabeth Liedtka,
Anna Flynn,
Isabella Thorne,
Sofia Lopez,
Lydia Deppman and
Vic Hamilton started the day for the Wildcats. They turned in a fourth-place finish of 7:23.48, 16 seconds out of third.
The second race of the day was the Varsity Four where the crew of
Alannah Cunningham, Burke,
Julia Longo,
Emma Lovejoy and
Zoe Barnes recorded Villanova's highest finish of the championships. They were third with a 7:41.667, topping UConn and Eastern Michigan who were close behind at just a five-second difference.
Mac O'Reilly,
Annie Dudrear,
Fiona Fennessey,
Grace Quirk,
Corinne Gardner,
Julia Kreisl,
Alexandra Petrozzi,
Caroline Shea and
Caroline Colgan in the Second Varsity Eight shell were sixth, crossing in 7:06.73. They topped UConn in that one by seven seconds but were just four seconds behind UC San Diego in fifth.
Villanova's final boat on the water was the Varsity Eight.
Julia Ramsey,
Erin Welch,
Jillian de Merlier,
Olivia Krause,
Claire Barrett,
Sheila Joyce,
Kara Dempsey,
Mary Arnold and
Madeline McCarthy fell into a tight battle for fourth with Delaware. Ultimately, the 'Cats beat out the Blue Hens by four-tenths of a second to capture a fourth-place finish at 6:46.25. They were five second shy of a top-three showing, trailing Eastern Michigan who took third.
Villanova ended up five points out of the top three where Northwestern and Drexel led the pack with 38 points each. The tiebreaker between the two was decided upon the placement in the First Varsity Eight Race where Northwestern edged the Dragons by three seconds to capture the title. Eastern Michigan was third with 26 points while Delaware held a two-point advantage on the Wildcats with 23 points that were good enough for fourth.
