FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – As the Nova Southeastern women's rowing team sets its oars towards the spring season, plenty of progress has been made in a technically focused fall. "The whole goal in the fall season was to get everyone on the same page in terms of the style of stroke," said head coach Devin Fay.

The Sharks spent an abundance of time in the weight room and practicing on the waters of the intercostal in Hollywood, Fla., also participating in three friendly competitions starting at UCF, followed by the Head of the Indian Creek and capped off with the Hatter Invitational. Overall, the times against local SSC competition in Barry and Embry-Riddle, were similar to last year at the same point in the calendar with the Sharks competitive near the top end of the conference. The squad also featured some competitive pieces against UCF, as well as Stetson, that have been a result of the effort from the bolstered coaching staff.

"I think there has been a focus on trying to find that consistent stroke and the athletes have adapted by making changes throughout the fall, Fay said. We continue to evolve into a deeper unit, highlighted by competition across our top 16 athletes that allow for some great head-to-head competition in practice. This is a great sight to see and it will only help us in the long term, especially developing a fast team in the spring, plus the future development of the program."

With the current NSU rowing team looking to cultivate a champion mind-set, the Sharks honored former head coach John Gartin (2003-2011) into the 2019 Hall of Fame Class. Gartin took the helm at inception and quickly led the Sharks women's rowing program to national prominence. On his watch, NSU won four Sunshine State Conference championships, earned seven bids to the NCAA Division II National Championships and his rowers earned the program's first national title – claiming the NCAA Varsity 4 National Championship in 2009.

"We really want our student-athletes to be passionate and take a lot of pride in being a Shark, as well as a member of this excellent athletics department and rowing tradition we have here at NSU, Fay added. Our focus is on putting everything we have into our efforts and really putting in the work necessary to compete at the highest level. We have no team captains, we believe in holding everyone accountable in respecting and caring for one another because at the end of the day, the synergy of the team will be instrumental in our success come 2020. If we can tap into that passion and pride, I know come May we will be looking back proudly on a successful spring season."

UP NEXT
 
The team will continue to train in preparation for the upcoming spring season, in which its schedule will be released soon. In the mean time, 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 and @NSURowing on Facebook.