PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – A full first day of racing at the Knecht Cup on Saturday saw three of Villanova's four boats earn spots in Sunday's finals on the Cooper River.
The 2V4, V4 and V8 will all hit the water on Sunday with the fours both racing in Petite Finals in the morning. The V8 was the only boat to post two automatic-qualifying times on the day and will be competing for the Ann Harris Smith Memorial Trophy later in the afternoon. That race will mark the first time since 2022 that the Wildcats have had a boat in the Grand Final.
The V8 boat of
Gianna Zajac,
Maggie Coyne,
Bailey Bryan,
Sylvia Marks,
Jalyn Colon,
Jadyn Ramos,
Cecilia Jenkins,
Silvana Torres and
Kira Capaldi highlighted the Wildcats day with a pair of second-place finishes for that Grand Final spot. They crossed in 7:22.35 in their heat to automatically qualify for the evening semifinal. Later, they took nearly five seconds off their time with a 7:17.60, putting them 3.4 seconds behind Radcliffe to solidify their spot in the Grand Final. They will join Bucknell, Boston, Radcliffe, Drexel and MIT in the final tomorrow.
In the V4,
Cate Donnelly,
Natalia Brozyna,
Mary Tracy,
Sabrina Pauli and
Emmi Stanton were third through the first heat of the day with a 9:11.63 finish. That time was the sixth next fastest time and good enough to send them to the afternoon semifinals where they improved by nine seconds, finishing fifth in 9:02.46. They will race in Sunday's first of two Petite Finals for the V4 alongside Fairfield, Albany, MIT, Lehigh and Duquesne.
Abby Shang,
Meg Wolf,
Sarah McKee,
Isabelle Rotival and
Taylor Pansy were third in their 2V4 heat, crossing in 9:27.05 for the third-fastest time outside of the automatic qualifiers to earn a spot in the semifinals. They made a huge jump in their time in the afternoon, shaving 24 seconds off to cross fifth in 9:02.46. They will race in Sunday's Petite Final with Duquesne, Fordham, Lehigh, Marist and Connecticut.
The 2V8 squad of
Kate Shipley,
Natalia Peng,
Sarah Robillard,
Ava DeJong,
Anna Primmer ,
Olivia Weglarz,
Maddie Sumnar ,
Ella Carriero and
Grace Quirk finished third in their heat with a time of 7:46.58 that put them in position to take one of the remaining spots in the afternoon semifinals. In the following heat, Canisius narrowly edged out their time by just .17 to take the final spot, ending the Wildcat 2V8's time at the regatta.
Sunday action begins at 9:06 a.m. for the Wildcats with the 2V4 Petite Final followed by the V4 Petite Final at 9:22. The V8 Grand Final will come later in the afternoon at 12:50 p.m. Fans can follow along via the Knecht Cup
live stream on YouTube,
live results and updates from the course via the @NovaRowing X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
