PRINCETON, N.J. – Villanova raced in its penultimate event of the fall slate on Sunday with the V8 finishing in the top half of an impressive Women's Open 8+ field at the Princeton Chase.
"Once again, I am feeling very proud of the athletes in our program," head coach
Carissa Adams said. "Their strong performance demonstrates that they are resilient and can overcome any hardship thrown at them. The student-athletes trust me and my vision and today we took another step forward in our up-leveling process. Both boats finished exactly where we needed them to amongst a field of 63, many of which are top 20 programs. Based on their performance, they can go into our next phase of training with confidence and feel motivated for our spring campaign."
The boat of
Kate Shipley,
Maggie Coyne,
Jalyn Colon,
Sylvia Marks,
Sarah Kearney,
Ella Cooper,
Ava DeJong,
Sarah Robillard and
Natalia Peng posted a 15:20.327 time that landed it 28
th in a field of 63 teams. The 'Cats were just a minute and a half out of first which belonged to Princeton's A boat (13:56.055), a group that finished the 2024-25 season at No. 6 in the nation. All-told, the field saw seven teams that were in the CRCA/Pocock National Rankings last season, including No. 8 Rutgers, No. 10 Virginia, No. 11 Michigan, No. 16 Penn, No. 17 Dartmouth and No. 24 Clemson.
Last week at the Head of the Schuylkill, just 20 seconds separated the bronze-medal 'Cats from Penn's B and A teams. This week, they stayed within close proximity of those boats yet again while extending their gap with teams they led last week. Among CAA teams in the field, Villanova was the leading group with the next closest being Drexel's A boat in 34
th (15:35.837), 15 seconds behind the 'Cats compared to last week's 12-second margin.
The 2V8 team of
Cate Donnelly,
Sabrina Pauli,
Farrah Bardouille,
Silvana Torres,
Meg Wolf,
Mary Tracy,
Isabelle Rotival,
Natalia Brozyna and
Emmi Stanton turned in a 16:40.463 showing to finish 47
th.
"This was the first time we had been to the Princeton 3-mile Chase in over 10 years, and the athletes really enjoyed themselves," Adams said. "I am hopeful we can continue participating in the future and know that our athletes will continue to step up every year."
Just one event remains for the Blue and White this fall as the 'Cats head to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Nov. 8.
