PENNSAUKEN, N.J. – The first day of the CAA Championship brought a pair of Grand Final berths for the Wildcats Friday morning on the Cooper River.
Both the V8 and 2V8 finished in the top three of their heats for a chance to race in Saturday's Grand Finals. They will be two of three Villanova boats to be in those finals, joining the 3V8.
The best finish of the day came from
Kate Shipley,
Natalia Peng,
Sarah Robillard,
Grace Quirk,
Anna Primmer,
Ella Carriero,
Mary Tracy,
Isabelle Rotival and
Natalia Brozyna in the 2V8. The 'Cats fell into a tight race early with Delaware and Drexel. By the 4:30 mark, Villanova and Drexel had started distancing themselves from the Blue Hens and UConn, staying neck and neck until Drexel pushed ahead nearly a minute a later. Drexel kept its lead through the homestretch but Villanova made a final push near the finish line for a 7:01.434 second-place finish, crossing just three seconds behind the Dragons.
That time marked the fastest of the year for the team when racing on the Cooper River this season. Their previous best mark on the river was 7:08.201 in the Petite Final of the Doc Hosea in March.
In the V8,
Gianna Zajac,
Maggie Coyne,
Kira Capaldi,
Jadyn Ramos,
Jalyn Colon,
Silvana Torres,
Cecilia Jenkins,
Sylvia Marks and
Bailey Bryan posted another top three finish. The group crossed in 7:06.162, six seconds behind UC San Diego in second (7:00.691) and Northeastern in first (6:53.116).
The V4 team of
Cate Donnelly,
Sarah McKee,
Olivia Weglarz,
Maddie Sumnar and
Ava DeJong wrapped up the day for the 'Cats with a fourth-place showing, crossing in 8:27.258, just three seconds behind Eastern Michigan. They will race again on Saturday in a head-to-head final with Monmouth.
Saturday's final day of racing kicks off with the 3V8 Grand Final at 9:30 a.m. followed by the V4 Petite Final at 9:40 a.m. The 2V8 Grand Final is slated for 10:10 a.m. with the V8 Grand Final closing the day at 10:30 a.m. A live stream will once again be available at
flosports.tv/caa with live results through
Regatta Timing. More info and updates can also be found at the
conference's Tournament Central page.
