By Erika Carrubba

It’s October, five months from the men’s and women’s rowing seasons, but also the month of the largest Regatta in the world.

Both teams competed at the Head of the Charles on Saturday and Sunday, and while the event will not have any effect on the season standings, how the teams finished is an indicator of how the season will go in the spring.

The women’s freshman team won the Youth Four with a time of 21:37. They were the only Northeastern team to place first in a race. The team, made up of freshmen Erin Semagin Damio, Shellane Shattuck, Francis Shafer, Anna Padilla and Gina Romano, started in fourth place but won the race by 20 seconds.

“We always finish top five but the difference between doing well and winning is navigation and rowing a clean race,” head coach Joe Wilhelm said.

The women’s junior varsity eight finished 26th out of 47 teams and the varsity finished eighth out of 47 teams.

“You can’t go to the Charles and expect to win, too many things can go wrong there, but it was a strong day for the program,” Wilhelm said. “It showed our depth and potential for the spring when it matters.”

The men’s varsity team was in sixth place when they collided with the Leander Club team, losing 25 seconds and dropping to the 15th position out of 40 teams. The team was also given a one minute interference penalty, which head coach John Pojednic is appealing.

“They were looking to pass and took the inside but their coxen made a mistake and they clipped us,” junior captain Will Miller said. “Either way the race was screwed up for us because of the collision.”

The men’s freshmen eight tied for third place in the Youth Eight Race with Princeton and Brown out of sixty teams.