HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – On one of the most unpleasant mornings of the calendar year thus far, the NSU women's rowing team battled the adverse weather conditions in an early season competitive scrimmage against Barry Saturday morning at Holland Park.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
LOCATION: Holland Park | Hollywood, Fla.
HOST: NSU
FOLLOW US: @NSUSHARKS on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
 
CONDITIONS:
Rainy and windy, with a slight chop in the water. 
 
RACE FORMAT:
Each boat had a floating start, racing in 5x1600 meter pieces, with stroke ratings in the 28-32 range

RESULTS:
Varsity 8:

• Although the Sharks had an extremely young V8 boat featuring four freshmen, the combination of Ava Carollo, Vivian Boettger, Claire Holtyn, Gabrielle Orr, Martina Pischedda, Freya Epp, Mikayla Switzer, Perrine Sarraute and Katerina Verbraeken came out swinging against a strong Barry squad. 
• NSU jumped out to the early lead several times, maintaining the advantage for the majority of the distance, but overall Barry would hold the slight edge in the final quarter of the set pieces.

Varsity 4:

• Just like the V8 boat, the V4 squad the Sharks deployed had an extremely solid outing, especially given the fact three walk-ons were manning the boat. 
• The combination of Emily Morton, Emily Jawor, Savanna Duda, Victoria Kelley and Ariel McAffrey got the better of Barry for most of the morning pieces.

BEYOND THE RESULTS WITH COACH FAY:

• "I am fired up about the results this morning, said head coach Devin Fay. In the eights, Katerina and Perrine in the stroke pair gave us a great push, as well as Ava in the cox seat, really starting our spring season off on a good note."
• "Kudos to Gabrielle for stepping into the boat last minute and not missing a step. It was great to see the next woman up mentality the team showed in that boat, and with a better initial rhythm and increased focus on being more in unison, there is a great potential for us going forward."
• "The fours had such a solid outing, to have the leadership of Ariel leading the way as a senior stroking the boat was great to see as they had quality rows all morning, competing very well."

The early friendly gave the Sharks some good momentum coming out of the weekend and the Senior Day celebration capped off the morning of racing as nine Sharks were recognizing in their final campaign as a Shark.

1. Samantha Burgess / Bradenton, FLA.
2. Jessica Cavalier / Kearny, N.J.
3. Ariel McAffrey / Oklahoma City, OKLA.
4. Gabrielle Orr / White Plains, N.Y.
5. Miranda Sadlow / Windsor, MASS.
6. Barbara Sansur / Caracas, VENEZUELA
7. Mikayla Shelton / Bend, OREGON
8. Mikayla Switzer / Orlando, FLA.
9. Ayelen Vegas / San Carlos De Bariloche, ARGENTINA

UP NEXT
NSU will travel up to Melbourne, Fla., for their final scrimmage of the 2020 season, competing against former SSC Champions, Florida Tech on Saturday Feb. 29. 

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.