RALEIGH, N.C. – Friday's full slate of racing at the Lake Wheeler Invitational saw season-best times for three Villanova boats, highlighted by a third-place finish for the V8 in their second heats of the day.
Three of Villanova's boats posted season-best times with resets of at least four seconds each. The 2V8 had recorded a 7:06.59 at the Knecht Cup a couple weeks ago but took over four seconds off that time for a new season-best of 7:02.690. For the V4, they made consistent strides to improve their times in each of Friday's heats, ultimately posting a season-best 7:47.470 late in the day. The V8 had two sub-seven-minute races at the Knecht Cup regatta, as well, and did the same with both of their races on Friday.
The best time of the day for the 'Cats belonged to the V8. In the first round of racing,
Cate Donnelly,
Maggie Coyne,
Jalyn Colon,
Sylvia Marks,
Ava DeJong,
Ella Cooper,
Farrah Bardouille,
Sarah Robillard and
Natalia Peng went 6:44.760 to notch a fifth place showing. In the final race of the day for Villanova, the group opened the second round V8 heats with a third-place finish at 6:51.380. The only two boats ahead of them in their heat were No. 15 Alabama in the lead at 6:29.880 and No. 22 North Carolina at second with a time of 6:32.840.
The 2V8 team of
Kate Shipley,
Sadhbh McDonnell,
Natalia Brozyna,
Nicola Ranone,
Sabrina Pauli,
Sarah Kearney,
Silvana Torres,
Abi Siddons and
Mary Tracy saw a 7:02.360 time in their first round of racing, putting them at sixth in their heat. In the second round, they stayed consistent with their time, going 7:02.690 to finish fourth in the heat. They were just under 10 seconds behind No. 15 Alabama in that race who finished second at 6:53.990 with Georgetown between them at 6:57.970.
Abby Shang,
Emmi Stanton,
Eliska Bohmanova,
Anabelle Wang and
Mary Eagle in the V4 boat saw a sixth-place showing in their first race of the day, narrowly crossing the finish behind George Washington with a time of 7:50.640. The second round saw a three second improvement for the team, marking the largest improvement for a Villanova boat on the day. They finished in the middle of the pack at fourth in 7:47.470.
In the 3V8,
Lorelei Cadorette,
Ella Larken,
Isabelle Rotival,
Sarah McKee,
Sofia Broughman,
Callie Hopkins,
Danika Gadient,
Taylor Pansy,
Lilly-Kate Foley started the day off for the Blue and White with a 7:07.800 showing in the first round of racing, crossing fifth in their first race together of the spring season. Opening up the second round of racing, the boat crossed fourth in their heat at 7:16.700.
Saturday's final round of action gets rolling at 9 a.m. with Villanova's 3V8 in the opening heat. V4 will go at 10 a.m., 2V8 at 10:30 a.m. and V8 closing the day for the 'Cats at 11 a.m. Fans can tune into ESPN+ to catch all of the racing.
