If Saturday's performance at the North Shore Challenge is a preview for the spring season of women's rowing, North Park has plenty of things to be smiling about.

The women's varsity 8 crew won its race, defeating NCAA Division I opponent Northwestern University by five seconds (16:53) and third-place Augustana College by nearly a minute and a half in their first race of the fall season.

“We had a great day,” North Park head coach Ally Koubsky said. “Our girls have been training hard in the last few months and our hard work paid off. The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for the competition and I couldn't have asked for a better performance.”

North Park's varsity 4B boat also took top honors as they bested Northwestern by nearly six minutes in the race (19:29). Northwestern clocked a 20:14 and Augustana College finished third with a 22:06.

“We nearly had a perfect finish, results-wise,” Koubsky said. “With the varsity 8 and women's 4B taking first place, we were hoping our varsity 4A boat would take first, but they finished third. Still, they did a nice job in their heat.”

North Park completes the brief fall season this weekend when it competes at the Quad Cities Classic Saturday and the Head of the Rock Regatta Sunday in Rock Island.