VILLANOVA, Pa. – The first regatta of the spring has arrived for Villanova as the team heads to nearby Pennsauken, N.J. for the Doc Hosea Invitational on Saturday.
This will be the first of three events this year for the 'Cats on the Cooper River. The last time the 'Cats were on the waters near Cherry Hill was for the Coastal Athletic Association Championships to close last season.
Villanova will be racing in the regatta for a third consecutive year and return a slew of 'Cats who raced in last year's event. Last year's showing saw all three of Villanova's boats make the Petite Final, logging sixth place finishes in each of those. The V8 team of
Cate Donnelly,
Maggie Coyne,
Kara Dempsey,
Sarah Robillard,
Anna Flynn,
Jadyn Ramos,
Kira Capaldi,
Silvana Torres and
Julia Kreisl posted the fastest time among the Wildcats with a 7:05.81 finish in afternoon finals, taking nearly 12 seconds off its morning heat time.
The Doc Hosea field boasts 12 teams this year with four of the teams coming from the CAA. Conference counterparts for the 'Cats include Drexel, Eastern Michigan and reigning CAA Champion Northeastern.
Racing begins at 8 a.m. with morning heats followed by finals which are slated to begin at 11 a.m. Finals will be comprised of Petite and Grand Finals. Villanova will be sending four boats onto the water with the following lineups:
V8 (prelim: 8 a.m. / Heat 1, Lane 6 vs. Rutgers, Navy, Rhode Island, Bucknell, Saint Joseph's)
Cox -
Gianna Zajac
Maggie Coyne
Bailey Bryan
Sylvia Marks
Jalyn Colon
Jadyn Ramos
Cecilia Jenkins
Silvana Torres
Kira Capaldi
2V8 (prelim: 8:30 a.m. / Heat 2, Lane 6 vs. Penn, Northeastern, Georgetown, Temple, Drexel)
Cox –
Cate Donnelly
Natalia Peng
Sarah Robillard
Ava DeJong
Anna Primmer
Olivia Weglarz
Maddie Sumnar
Ella Carriero
Grace Quirk
V4 (prelim: 8:50 a.m. / Heat 2, Lane 6 vs. Penn, Northeastern, Georgetown, Temple, Saint Joseph's)
Cox –
Kate Shipley
Natalia Brozyna
Mary Tracy
Sabrina Pauli
Isabelle Rotival
3V8 (prelim: 9:30 a.m. / Heat 2, Lane 4 vs. Penn, Northeastern, Drexel, Rutgers B)
Cox –
Abby Shang
Meg Wolf
Rose Baker
Emmi Stanton
Sarah McKee
Lilly-Kate Foley
Mary Eagle
Abigail Saraceno
Taylor Pansy