PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -

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The Villanova women's rowing team had another successful day on the water yesterday in the Kerr Cup Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa. The Wildcats submitted six entries; the Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight, Novice Eight, Varsity Four, Second Varsity Four and the Novice Four. All six boats competed in the morning, but Villanova advanced four boats to the finals throughout the day.

The Novice Four and the Varsity Four started the day out against strong competitors. The Novice Four was the first boat to compete on the day. In their heat, they finished fifth, behind Philadelphia, Temple, Army, and Robert Morris, with a time of 9:07.59. The Varsity Four had 15 teams competing in their event and with only two boats in each advancing to the finals, the young women came up just short with a third place showing. They finished behind Duquesne and Philadelphia University with a time of 8:17.17.

The Second Varsity Eight had an excellent race, which was a final only. At the half way point, they were in fifth place, but found the strength within to move past their competitors finishing in third behind Temple and Fordham. Since Fordham had some violation problems at the bridge and was excluded from the even, the Villanova crew moved into second place position, with a time of 8:41.70.

The Novice Eight finished third behind Drexel and Loyola in their heat of four. With a time of 7:47.19, it advanced them to the final. They had a strong race and finished fourth overall out of nine teams. Their time was 8:10.90.

The Second Varsity Eight competed strong in their heat of five boats. They finished third in their heat, which advanced them to the Grand Final. Their time was 7:13.89 and finished behind Fordham and Temple. This was an excellent accomplishment for this crew. The conditions worsened in their final and their boat finished sixth in the Grand Final with a 7:44.84 time.

The Varsity Eight was the last boat to compete. They placed third in their heat of five, behind Drexel and Lehigh and they finished with a 7:20.01 time. Since they placed third, they moved on to the Petite Final and the team wanted to improve upon their morning performance. In the Petite Final, they had a strong race battling with Washington College over the entire length of the race. Both teams showed a lot of composure as they both fought to defend their pride. In the end, the Wildcats finished nearly two seconds ahead of Washington College with a time of 7:06.09.

The team again made the fans on the shore proud demonstrating program strength and progress. It was a great way to end a tough week of training and to enter the Easter holiday. The team will be back on the river on Tuesday to prepare for their final race before the conference championship on May 14th.