Nova Southeastern University Athletics

The Nova Southeastern women’s rowing team will be recognized as a prominent and successful program that saw many departmental milestones during the program’s era that spanned from 2003-2020. Unfortunately, due directly to the consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the university and athletics administration needed to proceed with very difficult decisions – which included suspension of the program indefinitely on August 8, 2020. The program and its many alumni deserve to be celebrated and will continue to be honored by NSU Athletics as a large component of laying foundations for the Sharks’ overall culture of continuous success. Across the Sharks’ 17-year women’s rowing history, the program appeared in 12 NCAA Division II Championships, won six Sunshine State Conference Championships and earned 14 individual boat conference championships. Coaches John Gartin (2003-11) and Stephen Frazier-Wong (2013-14) each accounted for two SSC Coach of the Year awards apiece while Mary Lenington added another in 2012, the trio mentoring winners of five SSC Boats of the Year and SSC Rowers of the Year Nicole Felluca (2007) and Monica Henderson (2008). Sharks rowing student-athletes garnered 63 All-SSC honors, made 22 appearances on Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-America teams and earned 45 CRCA Scholar All-American honors.

The Nova Southeastern women’s rowing program was established prior to the 2003-04 school year with NSU Hall of Famer John Gartin at the helm. The Sharks found immediate success and blossomed into a program of national prominence. NSU made its first appearance at the NCAA Division II National Championships during that inaugural 2003-04 season, becoming the first NSU sport to reach Nationals in its first season of competition, also tied at the time for the highest-ranked team nationally at No. 5. That inaugural squad also produced NSU’s first female NCAA All-American in Jennifer Rembe – a four-year Sharks volleyball player, recruited by Gartin to try her hand at rowing with her one remaining year of eligibility and cementing her place in the NSU Hall of Fame. Moving into the varsity eight National runner-up position the very next season, the Sharks started laying the groundwork for a program breakthrough – that 2005 boat was crewed by coxswain Cheyenne Poskey, Stephanie Blair, Luciana Bedos, Monica Henderson, Lauren Thomas, Miglena Dzhupanova, Ashley Amrich, Nicole Felluca and Katrina (Bonilla) McCleod.

With the Sharks holding steady on their third consecutive Sunshine State Conference title (2007-09), a big win was on the horizon, further elevating the program’s notoriety under Gartin’s guidance. On New Jersey’s Cooper River, the 2009 squad helped bring home the NSU program’s first NCAA DII title of any kind that spring on May 31. Battling a legacy program in five-time champion Western Washington in the varsity four, the boat featuring coxswain Heather Clayton, Lauren McElhenny, Claire Kurlychek, Ashley Lofria and Jessica Sutter gained the advantage early and created a boat length-lead through the first half of the race – holding a two-second edge at the 1000m mark. Pulling away down the stretch, NSU earned the near four-second victory with a time of 7:53.04. The win not only marked the first NSU department-wide individual title, but also produced the first rowing National Championship for the SSC in a sport long-dominated by west coast programs. At the time, the Sharks were only in their seventh year in the league. Beginning in just its third year of existence, the NSU varsity four initiated an era of dominance, winning the conference title in the event from 2006-14.

The Sharks made six consecutive NCAA DII Championships appearances from the program’s inception (2004-09) and reached yet another milestone amidst the subsequent streak of four straight runs to the national meet (2011-14) – winning individual National Titles in both the varsity four and varsity eight under coach Stephen Frazier-Wong to secure the program’s first team NCAA Division II National Championship. Those 2013 Sharks also produced the first SSC and NCAA South Region team title at the Eagle Creek Park race in Indianapolis. The varsity four of Courtney Berger, Megan O'Donnell, Caitlin Mooney, Emily Harrington and Amber Morrell opened the day with a huge seven-second victory over Barry, setting the tone with a 7:43.85 finish. The varsity eight crew of coxswain Amanda Hudon, Lauren Boudreau, Tori Torrisi, Stephanie Hauck, Amanda Craig, Taylor Van Horn, Kelly Scott, Sarah Patterson and Camille Evans traded leads with Barry before triumphing in a five-second win to complete the upset sweep of the favored Buccaneers and give NSU Athletics its sixth National Championship. Much like the varsity four, the Sharks’ varsity eight boat had a firm grip on the SSC, winning the league in 7-of-10 years between 2005-14. Ironically, it was a boat that whiffed on the SSC crown which later delivered with everything on the line for NSU’s next historical feat. Barry had risen to No. 1 in the NCAA rankings, controlled the Region and downed the Sharks varsity eight at the SSC Championships. Yet, on June 2, 2013, the day belonged to the Sharks.

On the biggest stage, and embracing the underdog role under coach Frazier-Wong at Indianapolis’ Eagle Creek Park, the Sharks flipped all the pre-race predictions upside down. Opening the final day of competition, the varsity four crewed by coxswain Courtney Berger, Megan O'Donnell, Caitlin Mooney, Emily Harrington and Amber Morrell set the stage for a momentous Sharks finish, rowing at their potential to defeat Barry by seven seconds and powerhouse Western Washington by 10 ticks with a time of 7:43.85. Despite the varsity eight trailing the Bucs by a steady two seconds throughout the season, NSU toppled Barry for the first time that year, trading leads for the first 1500m before the Sharks made their move in the final stretch to build a 10-second lead on a final time of 6:42.75. The crew of coxswain Amanda Hudon, Lauren Boudreau, Tori Torrisi, Stephanie Hauck, Amanda Craig, Taylor Van Horn, Kelly Scott, Sarah Patterson and Camille Evans collected the first varsity eight NCAA Championship and landed the 2013 squad a place in NSU history with the rowing program’s first team NCAA Division II National Championship. As a program, those early Sharks squads not only cemented their legacy in NSU history, but also proved to be pioneers for the league as a whole, as the 2013 title was the first by any program in the SSC – as well as the first in the sport from the NCAA DII South Region.

The Sharks challenged for a repeat title the following year in Indianapolis, as the 2014 squad came a mere point short of Humboldt State to finish runner up at the NCAA Championships. The varsity four of coxswain Amanda Hudon, Cassily Lobaugh, Daesha Roberts, Caitlin Mooney (and Kelsey Obringer came just 2.3 seconds shy of seven-time champion Western Washington down the stretch. A tightly-contested varsity eight grand final saw NSU narrowly edged out (1.9 seconds) by HSU, the Sharks’ crew finishing second – coxswain Courtney Berger, Tori Torrisi, Bethany Warlich, Adrianna Rosario, Megan O'Donnell, Amanda Craig, Emily Harrington, Remi McClellan and Kelly Scott. That season saw the Sharks finish as the victors of the DII Aberdeen Dad Vail Varsity-8 Championship and garner the program's sixth and final Sunshine State Conference Championship. The Sharks made two additional appearances at the NCAA Championships, finishing fifth as the petite final winner in 2015 and sixth in the 2016 competition. In addition, over the course of the program’s history, the Sharks garnered the Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association (FIRA) Championship three times as a team and five times as Varsity Eight Champion, earned one Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) title and had five boats win the Dad Vail. A prestigious group, the rowers have earned five representatives to date in the NSU Athletics Hall of Fame – Gartin (2019) and Rembe (2011), as well as Nicole Felluca (2013), Taylor Liput (2014) and Cheyenne Poskey (2015).

NSU Women's Rowing in the NSU Athletics Hall of Fame
Jennifer Rembe	Nicole Felluca	Taylor Liput	Cheyenne Poskey	John Gartin