On Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, Villanova rowing boasted two third-place finishes and eight top-20 results across nine boats.
In one of Villanova’s strongest performances in recent dates, four boats finished in the top five in their respective races.
The group of sophomore Kate Shipley, senior Maggie Coyne, sophomore Jalyn Colon, senior Sarah Robillard and sophomore Natalia Peng set the tone for the day, achieving bronze medals in both the Championship Fours and Championship Eights.
Villanova’s Fours shell crossed in 13:53.013, while the Eights lineup with the help of sophomore Sylvia Marks, sophomore Bailey Bryan, freshman Ella Cooper and sophomore Ava DeJong crossed at 12:45.156. Each boat successfully cleared within 20 seconds of the winning times in fields of 56 and 27 entries.
“It just demonstrates to our athletes and our community that we’re on a trajectory of improvement,” head coach Carissa Adams said when asked about the podium finishes. “We went into this weekend with some pretty strong and lofty goals, and we ended up exceeding them.”
These podium finishes are the first for Villanova at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta since the team earned silver in the Championship Fours event in 2023.
The Frosh/Novice Four of Gia Rynkiewicz, Sarah Kearney, Farrah Bardouille, Abi Siddon and Addison Ismael executed with a fourth-place finish in 15:06.006, falling just two seconds shy of third.
“[The freshman] didn’t have a ton of time practicing in that lineup,” Adams said. “They did a great job coming together, and there’s still room for improvement. It shows they’re a strong recruiting class.”
Additionally, two Wildcat boats found themselves amongst the top five of the Championship Fours. Just under 30 seconds behind the third-place Wildcats, sophomore Abby Shang, Marks, Bryan, Cooper and DeJong crossed fifth in 14:21.566.
Junior Lorelei Cadorette, senior Sabrina Pauli, junior Meg Wolf, junior Silvana Torres and senior Emmi Stanton placed 17th in 15:03.132. Sophomore Izzy Cericola, sophomore Isabelle Rotival, junior Taylor Pansy, sophomore Abigail Saraceno and freshman Ava Hoefert rounded out the field in 33rd.
“Last year we had a historic performance with a fourth-place finish,” Adams said. “We wanted to beat that record. It was exciting to tally the results and see them accomplish that goal. What’s really neat is that our middle is so strong. We have so much talent there. That’s something we haven’t seen in the past.”
In the Frosh/Novice Eights, Grace Maguire, Kaelyn Whitaker, Sofia Broughman, Eileen English, Eliska Bohmanova, Rebecca Marinella, Callie Hopkins, Lilly Wavle and Alyssa Santa finished 11th in 16:08.579.
Villanova’s Club Championship Eights boats also posted 10th and 11th place finishes. Junior Jessica Repetto, sophomore Sarah McKee, freshman Nicola Ranone, junior Mary Tracy, freshman Anabelle Wang, sophomore Mary Eagle, Rotival, Ismael and Stanton crossed in 13:45.514. Meanwhile, Donnelly, Pauli, Kearney, Bardouille, Patrykus, Torres, Wolf, Brozyna and Siddons followed closely in 13:46.061.
“We’re exposing our athletes to steeper competition and we’re excited to see how we stack up,” Adams said. “The fact that we did so well this weekend gives us momentum. Hopefully, it shows our athletes there’s a whole different world of rowing out there that we can aspire to join.”
On Nov. 2, Villanova will travel to Princeton, NJ for the Princeton Invitational.
