CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The top boat of Nova Southeastern women's rowing team competed in its second race of the fall season, the 54rd Head of the Charles on Sunday afternoon in Cambridge, Mass, finishing ninth overall in the 40-boat race.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
LOCATION: Cambridge, Mass.
HOST: Head of the Charles Regatta
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CONDITIONS:

• As expected, brisk temperatures stayed in the forecast with the daytime high only reaching the mid 40s. On top of that, strong 20 MPH winds gusted in all directions, greatly affecting all competitors. The combination of the two made for slow conditions throughout the day for all crews.

 RACE FORMAT:

• Head style race, one boat at a time with a staggered start trying to catch the boat in front and stay ahead of the boat behind.
• The course was the classic 5,000 meter Charles course. There were many turns with several at 90 degrees and one long 180 degree turn, six bridges and tons of competition. This is a coxswain's race.

RESULTS:

• This was the first time that the varsity 4 boat rowed together in competition outside of practice. In a field of 40 boats, the crew consisting of coxswain Ava Carollo, Perrine Sarraute, Marnie McLean, Emily Stewart and Lisette Villarreal finished in ninth place.
• Nova Southeastern finished with an overall time of 21:50.96 and narrowly missed out on sixth place.
• Six to ninth place all finished within five seconds of each other.
• SSC competitors Florida Tech and Barry finished the event one and two as they rowed a very fast race, ending with a comfortable lead.

 BEYOND THE RESULTS WITH COACH DEVIN FAY:

• Coming into the race the Sharks set out to finish in the top five, which would have been an improvement on last year's result. Unfortunately, the Sharks missed that mark, but only by a little bit as all five athletes did row pretty well and achieve a solid result.
• "I really felt like there was not much we could have done better and I was pretty happy of our performance today," head coach Devin Fay said. "I think more than anything it speaks to this year's extremely deep and competitive field that presented a great challenge. Ava steered a great course and the girls were pleased at their performance."
• "At the end of the day, the results do not dictate how strong of row we had today," Fay added. "Some things did not quite go our way, as it would have been nice to end up sixth instead of ninth, but overall it was a solid row."

UP NEXT:
The Sharks will conclude the fall season at the Hatter Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 27, in DeLand, Fla.

SHARKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:.
Be sure to follow @NSU_Rowing on Twitter or visit NSUSharks.com for updates and results. To keep in touch with the team be sure to follow nsu_rowing on Instagram.