LOWELL, Mass. -- Junior Sabrina Belozerova (Newton, Mass.) and sophomore Samantha Kelsey (Salt Lake City, Utah) won the gold medal in the women's club double race to lead the Simmons University crew team today at the 2018 Textile River Regatta on the Merrimack River in Lowell, Mass.

The Sharks' novice eight also won gold at the regatta in the first race of the year for the team's novice shells.

Belozerova and Kelsey turned in a time of 18:34.633 to finish first ahead of Bowdoin College's mark of 19:25.110.

First year Maggie O'Byrne (Boston, Mass./Boston Latin School) sat in the stroke seat for the Simmons novice team's gold-medal win followed by first years Emily Niemi (Santa Clarita, Calif.) in the seven seat and Lexi Witherell (Harpswell, Maine) in the six seat, sophomore April Miller (Newton, N.H.), first years Amy Grace Thissell (Hamilton, Mass.), Michaela Hayes (Concord, N.H.), Jen-Li Barry (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and first year Mackenzie Gondek in the bow seat behind first year coxswain Audrey Pappadia (Woodstock, Md.). The eight posted a winning time of time of 18:41.639. The Sharks also took the silver ahead of University of Massachusetts Lowell in the collegiate novice race with a time of 21:52.539, despite mechanical issues within the shell. First year Catherine Bernard (Amesbury, Mass.) sat in the stroke seat for the squad followed by classmates Kathryn Armour (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Maralee Mitchell, Ruby Weldon (Plymouth, N.H.), Taylor Barnes (Underhill, Vt.), Anna Boyles (Ridgeland, Miss.), Katie Hilty (Barrington, R.I.) and first year stroke Alaina Karcher with first year coxswain Virginia Strasser directing the unit.

Simmons placed fifth in the women's open four race, finishing ahead of UMass Lowell and Bryant University and less than seven seconds behind Bryant's "A" entry. Junior coxswain Ally Fecteau (Burlington, Conn.) guided the quartet of junior stroke Hannah Dike (Leominster, Mass.) in the stroke seat, followed by sophomore Steffi Gaehde (Brookline, Mass.), senior Peizhu Pam Qian (Beijing, China/Developing Virtue Secondary Girls School (Calif.)) and senior bow Eleanor Pullan (Northampton, Mass.) to a time of 17:51.859. The Sharks also had a four place 10th in the race on a time of 19:24.507 with senior Nicole Lee (North Reading, Mass.) in the stroke seat ahead of classmate Christine Yu (Plainville, Mass.), junior Lily Pennington (Watertown, Mass.) and junior bow Chloe Feuerstein (Winchester, Mass.) with senior Melissa Morton (Somers, Conn.) making the calls from the coxswain seat.

Simmons returns to the water on Saturday, October 13 when it competes in the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.