PHILADELPHIA – The 2024-25 season opener for Villanova was an impressive one that came with a pair of fourth-place finishes and five top-20 finishes overall at the Head of the Schuylkill on Saturday.
 
Villanova's day was highlighted by a pair of fourth-place showings in the Championship Fours and Eights to bookend the day. Each Blue and White boat finished well-above the top half of its respective fields. The lowest finish was 28^th place in a 76-boat Championship Fours field, still putting Villanova 10 places above the halfway mark in the field. Five of Nova's shells posted times that were under 15 minutes, two of those being sub 14-minute showings from the V8 and 2V8. Overall, the outing marked the most successful for the program since head coach Carissa Adams took the helm in the 2025-16 season.

"We have been discussing this regatta since we returned to campus in August," Adams said. "The athletes knew our mission and worked together to find success on the water across the entire program. Every athlete on the team deserves acknowledgment as they all pitched in to make this an excellent day for Villanova Rowing. I am proud of the strides we have made as a program and look forward to the progress we will continue to realize. This was a group effort that involved our administration, support staff, parents, alumni, coaching staff and most importantly our committed student-athletes."
 
The day started off with a bang for the 'Cats as all five boats in the Championship Fours finished in the top 30 of the 76-spot field. The contingent was led by Gianna Zajac, Maggie Coyne, Kira Capaldi, Sarah Robillard and Cecilia Jenkins who finished fourth with a time of 14:05.249. They were three seconds shy of notching a top-three finish. The final race of the day saw Zajac, Coyne, Capaldi, Sylvia Marks, Jalyn Colon, Jadyn Ramos, Jenkins, Robillard and Bailey Bryan cross fourth in a Championships Eights field that was comprised of 22 boats, posting a time of 13:02.174. That time had them 21 seconds outside of a top-three showing.
 
Two other groups landed in the top 20 of the Fours. Kate Shipley, Marks, Bryan, Ramos and Colon crossed in 14:39.943 for a 13^th-place showing while Abby Shang, Grace Quirk, Silvana Torres, Olivia Weglarz and Mary Tracy posted a 19^th-place finish in 14:49.981. Jessica Repetto, Natalia Brozyna, Ava DeJong, Isabella Thorne and Meg Wolf clocked in at 15:05.057 for a 23^rd-place showing while Tai Henderson, Natalia Peng, Maddie Sumnar, Ella Carriero and Sarah McKee turned in a 15:10.786 28^th-place finish.
 
The Club Championship Eights boat had a strong showing to start off the pair of afternoon races. Cate Donnelly, Peng, Torres, Quirk, Sumnar, Weglarz, Thorne, DeJong and Tracy posted a 13:40.158 finish to land 12^th out of 48.
 
 
Villanova's fall finale comes on Nov. 10 as the 'Cats head to Lewisburg, Pa. for the Bucknell Invitational.