BOSTON, Mass. – Simmons College crew's second Varsity Eight was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Women's Rowing Boat of the Week for the week of March 29 to April 5. 

The Sharks second Varsity Eight crew, consisting of senior Laura Matt (Fairfax Station, Va.), senior Eva Weber (Guilford, Conn.), first year Michelle Crosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.), first year Eleanor Pullan (Northampton, Mass.), junior Jess Randolph (Concord, N.C.), junior Rachel Corning (Ipswich, Mass.), junior Abi Smith (Brookline, Mass.), and first year Karina Bercan (Derry, N.H.) on the bow, while first year Clarice Johnson (Norwell, Mass.) took up the coxswain duties, earned the weekly honor for the conference's first reporting period of the season. 

Simmons' second Varsity Eight placed second in the first race of the Charles River Basin Rowing Series on April 4 in the team's first regatta of the spring season. The Sharks and Bates College led Massachusetts Institute of Technology by a boat length as the crews moved past the MIT boathouse, while fighting against a strong headwind. Simmons remained strong to hold off a late charge by MIT to finish three tenths of a second ahead of the Engineers to secure second place. The Sharks finished with a time of 8:41.48, while MIT crossed the finish at 8:42.23. Bates took the top spot with a time of 7:57.46. 

Simmons was chosen fourth in the 2015 NEWMAC Pre-Season Coaches Poll, prior to the season. The Sharks will return to the water for competition on Saturday, April 11 when they compete in the Donahue Cup at 9:30 a.m. on Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury, Mass., but the location is subject to change, depending on lake conditions.