WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Simmons College Second Varsity Eight won the Petite Final over Clark University and Mount Holyoke to finish fifth overall, while the One Varsity placed second to Mount Holyoke to finish sixth overall this morning on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.

The Sharks Second Varsity Eight turned in a time of 7:42.03 to finish third in the preliminary heat with Hamilton College winning the heat with a mark of 7:17.5 ahead of second-place finishing Worcester Polytechnic Institute's time of 7:26.90.

Simmons 2V8 regrouped to win the Petite final by almost 20 seconds with a time of 7:40.4 ahead of Clark's time of 8:00.35 in the 2k race. The Sharks were led by first year coxswain Isabel Gimlewicz (Camden, Maine), who directed junior stroke Madison Summers (Hudson, N.H.), followed by senior Elsbeth Colson (Everett, Mass.), junior Christine Yu (Plainville, Mass.), first year Steffi Gaehde (Brookline, Mass.), sophomore Rebecca Ramsey (Jefferson, Mass.), first year Elaine Nolan (West Bridgewater, Mass.), sophomore Chloe Feuerstein (Winchester, Mass.) and junior bow Nicole Lee (North Reading, Mass.).

The 1V8 for Simmons clocked in at 7:18.76 to place third in the morning's preliminary heat behind Pacific Lutheran University, which placed first on a time of 6:58.5, while WPI scored a second-place showing with a time of 7:04.55.

The Sharks finished just over three seconds behind Mount Holyoke in a tight Petite Final with a time of 7:22.97 to finish just shy of the Lyons' mark of 7:19.87. Simmons outdistanced Clark by a wide margin with the Cougars posting a time of 7:46.39. Senior Kaitlin Fierlit (Hamden, Conn.) set the pace for the Sharks from the coxswain seat with first year stroke Caroline Granitur (Vero Beach, Fla.) settling into the stroke seat for the second straight week. Sophomore Sabrina Belozerova(Newton, Mass.) was in the number seven seat followed by first years Samantha Kelsey (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Eleanor Thidemann (Belmont, Mass.), who was making her debut with the 1V8. Senior Ronnie Bennett (Pottstown, Pa.), sophomores Peizhu Pam Qian (Beijing, China), Emily Saunders (Hebron, Conn.) and bow Hannah Dike (Leominster, Mass.) completed the shell for Simmons.

The Sharks will compete again on Saturday, April 14 when they return to Lake Quinsigamond to race for the Barbara Donahue Cup.