PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – Villanova earned 21 points in Saturday's Coastal Athletic Association Championship finals to take a sixth-place finish on the Cooper River.
All three boats took at least six seconds off their heat times in the finals, leading the team to score its fourth-most points at the event in program history and matching the 2022 team's point total. Graduate
Kara Dempsey was tabbed an All-CAA honoree for the first time in her career after helping the Varsity Eight to a fourth-place finish in the Grand Final. Both the Varsity Four and Second Varsity Eight won their Petite Final races.
Cate Donnelly,
Natalia Brozyna,
Maeve Bonass,
Mary Tracy and
Emmi Stanton started the day in the V4 Petite Final. They built a substantial lead over Monmouth that put them across the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Monmouth with a winning time of 8:32.627. That time marked a nine-second improvement from Friday and earned the 'Cats two team points.
The 2V8 did much of the same in its Petite Final showdown with Monmouth.
Madison Girard,
Sabrina Pauli,
Sage Santora,
Silvana Torres,
Rachel Patrykus,
Makenna Davis,
Katie MacClary,
Isabella Thorne and
Julia Kreisl created plenty of distance to finish in 7:31.542 for a 19 second lead. That finish added four points onto Villanova's team score to put it at six points with one race left.
The V8 team of
Gianna Zajac,
Maggie Coyne,
Kira Capaldi,
Jadyn Ramos, Dempsey,
Grace Quirk,
Cecilia Jenkins,
Sarah Robillard and
Anna Flynn trailed the top three boats of Northeastern, UC San Diego and Drexel for much of final race of the day. The final 500 meter saw the 'Cats make a strong push to get a seat closer to Drexel, but they ultimately finished four seconds out of the top three with a time of 7:04.546. That fourth-place finish added 15 team points to Villanova's ledger and was six seconds faster than its Friday time.
Villanova finished three points back of fifth-place Delaware with 24 points. Northeastern won the conference title for a 10
th consecutive year, posting 48 points. UC San Diego took second with 40 points while Drexel followed in third at 33. UConn rounded out the top four with 26 points.
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