On Sunday, Nov. 2, Villanova rowing finished highest among all Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) teams at the highly competitive Princeton 3-Mile Chase.
The meet featured nationally-ranked competitors, including Princeton, Virginia, Michigan, Rutgers, Penn and others. In the Open 8+ event, the Varsity Eight lineup placed 28th overall. By finishing 15 seconds in front of Drexel’s A boat, the Wildcats have cemented their place within their conference.
It was Villanova’s first appearance at the Princeton Chase in more than a decade.
Head coach Carissa Adams emphasized the significance of leading the CAA at such a prestigious event.
“It helps put Villanova on the map,” Adams said. “People in the rowing community are starting to really look at us and take the program seriously.”
The Varsity Eight boat — which included sophomore Kate Shipley, senior Maggie Coyne, sophomore Jalyn Colon, sophomore Sylvia Marks, freshman Sarah Kearney, freshman Ella Cooper, sophomore Ava DeJong, senior Sarah Robillard and sophomore Natalia Peng — finished in a time of 15:20.327. It finished 90 seconds behind the winning Princeton A boat, which closed in at 13:56.055.
“Due to the weather and some internal things on the team, we ended up only having two practices last week,” Adams said. “We had lineup changes that affected every boat competing, so our mindset was to go in and trust the process, trust that everybody who remained in the boat was strong, resilient and could overcome adversity.”
In Villanova’s Second Varsity Eight, the team of senior Cate Donnelly, senior Sabrina Pauli, freshman Farrah Bardouille, junior Silvana Torres, junior Meg Wolf, junior Mary Tracy, sophomore Isabelle Rotival, junior Natalia Brozyna and senior Emmi Stanton clocked in at 47th, with a time of 16:40.463.
Adams believes that Villanova is trending in the right direction, making another statement after an impressive performance at last weekend’s Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.
With just one race remaining in the fall season, the Wildcats will head to Poughkeepsie, NY, on Saturday, Nov. 8, for the Marist Fall Scrimmage to close out their campaign and carry momentum into winter training.
“[The Marist Fall Scrimmage] is kind of a fun race,” Adams said. “We’ll be doing short pieces that simulate our spring season. It’s going to be a nice jumpstart going into winter training and getting prepped for our sprint season.”
