FAIRFAX STATION, Va. – For a second consecutive weekend, Villanova's Second Varsity Eight boat posted a Petite Final victory with the other three boats earning spots in their Grand Finals on Sunday at the George Mason Invitational.
"I thought we had a good weekend overall. We had strong performances in the morning session in all of the events, which placed our 3 or our 4 boats in the Grand Finals," head coach
Carissa Adams said. "We had made some pretty significant changes to our line-ups and the team did a great job adapting. Our goal was to go out and assess if these changes were beneficial. Based off of the results in the morning, I would say they were successful and we can continue to build upon them as we make our way to the CAA Championship in a few weeks."
Madison Girard,
Madeline McCarthy,
Alexandra Petrozzi,
Julia Kreisl,
Isabella Thorne,
Olivia Frizzell,
Jillian de Merlier,
Anna Flynn, and
Caroline Colgan were third in their morning heat, posting a time of 7:38.3 that was just a second away from landing a spot in the Grand Final. In the afternoon final, the 2V8 was three seconds faster, winning with a time of 7:35.1. That time gave the 'Cats a 23-second lead over the rest of the field with the next closest boat being Dayton's at 7:58.0. Kreisl, Thorne, Frizzell, Flynn, and Colgan have been a part of both winning boats over the last two weeks.
Villanova's fastest time of the day belonged to the V8 team of
Cate Donnelly,
Caroline Shea,
Jadyn Ramos,
Olivia Krause,
Maggie Coyne,
Kara Dempsey,
Sheila Joyce,
Ellie Falk, and
Erin Welch. That group crossed second in its heat at 7:08.0, earning a place in the afternoon's Grand Final with the third-fast time of the morning in the V8 heats. The group took nearly a second off its morning time in the final race of the day, posting a 7:07.8 that was good enough for sixth.
At the V4,
Gianna Zajac,
Cecilia Jenkins,
Sabrina Pauli,
Sofia Lopez, and
Sarah Robillard turned in a second-place time of 8:47.6 in its heat, also moving into the Grand Final with the third fastest time among V4 boats. The group made a substantial improvement in its afternoon race, shaving nearly 20 seconds off with an 8:25.5 showing that earned fifth-place status.
The 2V4 group of
Olivia Kachurak,
Rose Baker,
Grace Quirk,
Kelechi Onuigbo, and
Addison Wittnebert worked an 8:55.2 time in the morning that gave it third in its heat and sixth overall for the event, locking up the final spot in the afternoon's Grand Final. The team made nearly a three-second improvement, finishing sixth in 8:51.4.
Villanova wraps up the regular season this coming Saturday as it heads to Shamokin Dam, Pa. to face Bucknell and UConn on the Susquehanna River.
