CHERRY HILL, N.J. – The final day of action at the Knecht Cup brought three Petite Final races for Villanova that all saw top-three finishes, highlighted by a winning outing in the 2V8 Petite Final on the Cooper River Sunday.
 
Cate Donnelly, Caroline Shea, Jadyn Ramos, Julia Kreisl, Isabella Thorne, Olivia Frizzell, Sabrina Pauli, Anna Flynn, and Caroline Colgan lined up against a field that included West Virginia, La Salle, Stetson, St. Joseph's, and fellow CAA side Eastern Michigan. The Wildcats fell into a final sprint with La Salle just ahead of the fishing, edging the Explorers by over a second with a winning time of 7:06.16. That time was nearly 12 seconds better than Saturday's qualifying time of 7:18.03.
 
Villanova's winning time marked the sixth-fastest among 2V8 boats on Sunday in both the Petite and Grand Finals, finishing better than Connecticut's sixth-place time of 7:13.80 in the Grand Final. Of the CAA teams in the 2V8 finals, Villanova was the third-fastest behind Delaware and Drexel who were first (6:56.16) and third (6:59.48) in the Grand Final, respectively.
 
Gianna Zajac, Sarah Robillard, Sofia Lopez, Rose Baker, and Cecilia Jenkins in the V4 boat started the day with a third-place finishing in their Petite Final, crossing the finish line in 8:25.05. They were in the midst of a four second spread between second and fifth place, finishing just two seconds back of second-place MIT.
 
The final group on the water for Villanova Sunday was the V8 group of Madison Girard, Erin Welch, Kara Dempsey, Maggie Coyne, Olivia Krause, Jillian de Merlier, Ellie Falk, Alexandra Petrozzi, and Madeline McCarthy. They posted a 7:09.11 time that was good enough for third place. Five seconds separated first and third in that V8 race with the 'Cats finishing just behind West Virginia (7:03.97) and Duquesne (7:07.09). Among all three V8 finals, Villanova had the eighth-fastest time of the 16 boats.
 
Villanova heads down to Fairfax Station, Va. next Sunday for the George Mason Invitational.