PENNSAUKEN, N.J. — The Knecht Cup came to a close on Sunday highlighted by the 2V4 finishing first in its Petite Final on Cooper River in Pennsauken, N.J.
All three Villanova boats made substantial improvements on their times over the two day event as they each took at least 17 seconds off of their times from the opening day. The largest cut came from the V8 which clocked in 29 seconds faster than its best time from Saturday.
"I was proud of the team for the growth we have seen since the Doc Hosea Regatta where we had a great first race and underperformed in our second race," Villanova head coach
Carissa Adams said. "We went out with a mission of putting together 3 strong race events over 2 days in each event we entered.
"Each boat hit the racecourse competing like teammates and came off the water reflecting like leaders. This mindset keeps our culture healthy, our performances focused and our team evolving."
The 2V4 had a strong start to the day in the Petite Final.
Abby Shang,
Meg Wolf,
Sarah McKee,
Isabelle Rotival and
Taylor Pansy fell into a close race with Fordham and Lehigh near the 1000-meter mark. They picked up the pace to take a boat-length lead later on before Lehigh made a push to gain ground approaching the finish. The 'Cats maintained they lead, crossing first in 8:37.60 for a three-second advantage over the Mountain Hawks.
Shortly later, the V4 finished sixth in the Petite Final 2 field with a time of 8:44.31.
Cate Donnelly,
Natalia Brozyna,
Mary Tracy,
Sabrina Pauli and
Emmi Stanton stayed within reach of Fairfield and Duquesne early in the race. They eventually fell nearly a length behind Fairfield, finishing four seconds behind the Stags.
Gianna Zajac,
Maggie Coyne,
Bailey Bryan,
Sylvia Marks,
Jalyn Colon,
Jadyn Ramos,
Cecilia Jenkins,
Silvana Torres and
Kira Capaldi rounded out the day in the Ann Harris Smith Memorial Trophy V8 Final. They were strong off the start in lane one before starting to fall over a length behind a close race between the rest of the field, the closest being the Drexel boat in lane five. The Wildcats started to get within two seats of the Dragons near the 1000-meter mark but ended up falling a boat-length behind of the field, crossing sixth in 6:48.45.
That V8 Grand Final appearance was just the third time in the last 20 years that the 'Cats had a team in the field. The V8 was third in 2006 and fifth in 2022.
Villanova gets another week of respite before hitting the road to the penultimate regatta of the season at the Lake Wheeler Invite on April 25 and 26 in Raleigh, N.C.
