Caroline Rusinoff was a club volleyball player before she joined the rowing team last spring.
Rocket Spotlight on Caroline Rusinoff
11/11/2025 8:36:00 AM | Women's Rowing
On balancing her Nursing major with rowing, her experience as a club volleyball player, and learning to do the “Dead Mosquito”
Caroline Rusinoff is a junior on the women's rowing team. A nursing major, Caroline transferred from Albion College, where she played volleyball. She was on the club volleyball team at Toledo for a year before joining the rowing team last spring.
On her family
I grew up in Stow, Ohio. It's like in the backyard of Kent so I literally grew up right next to Kent State. I have an older sister and a younger brother. We're very family-oriented. We do everything together. I live within 10 minutes of both sides of my family, so we have really big family functions all the time, which is really nice. My family is very athletic, so we love to do competitions, friendly games, and stuff like that. My cousin, Kayla Flory, plays on the soccer team at Toledo.
On when she first started rowing
I actually started rowing about two months ago. I was playing on the club volleyball team when I saw the stuff about the rowing team and I was like, oh, this kind of looks interesting. So I had a meeting with Coach Chris about what was going on, what he was thinking, how the program was going to go, and I got really interested in it. But I didn't actually start rowing until I came back to school this fall.
On her first time in a boat
It was insane. It was cool, though. When I told people that I'm going to try rowing, they said, oh that's so hard. So I think I had it in my brain that this is not going to be easy. That kind of helped me with my expectations. But you just don't think about all the things that have to go into rowing when you see it happening. It looks so graceful. It looks like you're just synced up and off you go. But the first time we were in the boat, I was like, oh my goodness, are we going topple over? There were just so many more components I had never even thought about, like all the different gear, all the different terminology that you need to learn. Our coaches are great with teaching all of us and having to bring it down to like a three-year-old's language because the first couple of practices, I was like, what am I doing? How am I doing that? And they're really good with just like adapting to everybody's learning rate.
On playing other sports before rowing
I had played a lot of sports growing up. I tried everything. In high school, I was mainly playing basketball and volleyball, but then I shifted more to volleyball. And I actually played volleyball for two years at Albion College.
On why she transferred to Toledo
I ended up switching majors and that led me to transferring to Toledo. Albion doesn't have a nursing program, unfortunately. Plus, I wanted to be a little bit closer to home. Four hours is a little far for me. So Toledo was perfect balance between Albion and home. I can still go and visit my friends in Albion and support them and all of their athletic journeys. Then I can also be closer to home. Toledo was the best option as far as transferring. Dale Pelz, who works in the College of Nursing, he was so helpful in the transfer process from the very beginning, making sure my classes at Albion transferred to Toledo. I had no clue what I was doing. Dale said, "We're going to figure this out," and he did.
On playing club volleyball at Toledo
It was so much fun. We played at the ROTC building. We practiced twice a week and then we traveled all over the country playing in tournaments. We went to nationals in Arizona. We played some big schools like Ohio State and Michigan. It was a great experience. I loved it, loved the girls there. It's really cool to still having that intensity of playing at a higher level, higher than high school. It's very similar to travel volleyball. Most of the girls played travel volleyball or they played at some other college and ended up transferring to Toledo.
On how she found out about the rowing program
There was an email and then a lot of emails, but I didn't really pay attention to them. Then someone on the club volleyball team said, hey I'm going to this rowing meeting. I was kind of back and forth if I wanted to try it so I said I'll just go and just see what happens. And immediately, Coach Chris was just so nice. He's a great guy. I told him I'm a nursing major and that's my priority. He said, if you're willing to put in the work, we're willing to watch you try. So he sent me workouts to do during the summer. When we got on campus this fall, all the coaches were very welcoming. They said, you guys don't know what you're doing, but we're going to teach you. Most of the girls had never touched a boat in their lives. Honestly, it's been one of the best college athletic experiences I've ever had.
On learning rowing terminology
There's definitely been times when Chris tells us something and we are all like, what is he saying? Sometimes I have no idea what that means. I think the best moments are when our assistant coaches have those moments. Coach Chris will say, let's do the "Dead Mosquito" drill. And our other two coaches are like, what is that?
On early morning practices
Practice starts at 6:00 a.m, so I usually get up around 4:45, 5:00 o'clockish, depending if I hit snooze or not. We normally try to get down to the boathouse around 5:30 because we have to get all the oars out, check the boats. Then we have to stretch and be ready to row by 6:00. I was not a morning person, but I'm definitely becoming more of a morning person. My roommates say I'm the grandma of the group because I go to bed at like 9 o'clock every night because I have to get up early. But honestly, I do like the mornings. I like seeing the sunrise. I used to be, "Sunrise, whatever." Now I'm like, oh, it's actually so pretty. So I do enjoy mornings now. It's quiet and no one's on the road.
On balancing rowing with her Nursing major
It's definitely challenging. Nursing is very difficult, very time-consuming. Rowing is also very difficult and very time-consuming. But the coaches are so understanding that "student" comes before "athlete," which is something that really matters to me. My professors are also very understanding about it as well. We don't have many conflicts because we don't have regattas during the week, so I'm not ever missing classes during the week like some sports. But sometimes we have to leave for a regatta on a Friday and I have to miss class, and my professors have been very accommodating.
On the importance of being part of a team as part of her education
I love athletics. I've been an athlete my whole life. Regardless of your experience or your knowledge about a sport or the level of athleticism of the sport, just having that constant support, having someone always having your back from day one, has been amazing. I was happy to come to Toledo to study nursing. But I was sad to give up on sports and the team atmosphere. So when I found out I could join a team, I thought, this could be so cool to have that team experience again with the girls. It's kind of like, I got your back, you got mine. I love that kind of stuff. I also love working towards goals, like getting in the weight room and going to practice and just pushing each other to be better on and off the river. It's something that I was missing and I am so happy to have found it at Toledo. Now I can have the education and the athletics. It's a perfect match and I'm so happy that I'm able to do it here.
On what she plans to do with her nursing degree
I'm not very like set on stone yet with a specific specialty, but definitely something in pediatrics. I love kids. So hopefully something with that. But I'll have to see once I get in the clinicals and explore more in the nursing field.
On her family
I grew up in Stow, Ohio. It's like in the backyard of Kent so I literally grew up right next to Kent State. I have an older sister and a younger brother. We're very family-oriented. We do everything together. I live within 10 minutes of both sides of my family, so we have really big family functions all the time, which is really nice. My family is very athletic, so we love to do competitions, friendly games, and stuff like that. My cousin, Kayla Flory, plays on the soccer team at Toledo.
On when she first started rowing
I actually started rowing about two months ago. I was playing on the club volleyball team when I saw the stuff about the rowing team and I was like, oh, this kind of looks interesting. So I had a meeting with Coach Chris about what was going on, what he was thinking, how the program was going to go, and I got really interested in it. But I didn't actually start rowing until I came back to school this fall.
On her first time in a boat
It was insane. It was cool, though. When I told people that I'm going to try rowing, they said, oh that's so hard. So I think I had it in my brain that this is not going to be easy. That kind of helped me with my expectations. But you just don't think about all the things that have to go into rowing when you see it happening. It looks so graceful. It looks like you're just synced up and off you go. But the first time we were in the boat, I was like, oh my goodness, are we going topple over? There were just so many more components I had never even thought about, like all the different gear, all the different terminology that you need to learn. Our coaches are great with teaching all of us and having to bring it down to like a three-year-old's language because the first couple of practices, I was like, what am I doing? How am I doing that? And they're really good with just like adapting to everybody's learning rate.
On playing other sports before rowing
I had played a lot of sports growing up. I tried everything. In high school, I was mainly playing basketball and volleyball, but then I shifted more to volleyball. And I actually played volleyball for two years at Albion College.
On why she transferred to Toledo
I ended up switching majors and that led me to transferring to Toledo. Albion doesn't have a nursing program, unfortunately. Plus, I wanted to be a little bit closer to home. Four hours is a little far for me. So Toledo was perfect balance between Albion and home. I can still go and visit my friends in Albion and support them and all of their athletic journeys. Then I can also be closer to home. Toledo was the best option as far as transferring. Dale Pelz, who works in the College of Nursing, he was so helpful in the transfer process from the very beginning, making sure my classes at Albion transferred to Toledo. I had no clue what I was doing. Dale said, "We're going to figure this out," and he did.
On playing club volleyball at Toledo
It was so much fun. We played at the ROTC building. We practiced twice a week and then we traveled all over the country playing in tournaments. We went to nationals in Arizona. We played some big schools like Ohio State and Michigan. It was a great experience. I loved it, loved the girls there. It's really cool to still having that intensity of playing at a higher level, higher than high school. It's very similar to travel volleyball. Most of the girls played travel volleyball or they played at some other college and ended up transferring to Toledo.
On how she found out about the rowing program
There was an email and then a lot of emails, but I didn't really pay attention to them. Then someone on the club volleyball team said, hey I'm going to this rowing meeting. I was kind of back and forth if I wanted to try it so I said I'll just go and just see what happens. And immediately, Coach Chris was just so nice. He's a great guy. I told him I'm a nursing major and that's my priority. He said, if you're willing to put in the work, we're willing to watch you try. So he sent me workouts to do during the summer. When we got on campus this fall, all the coaches were very welcoming. They said, you guys don't know what you're doing, but we're going to teach you. Most of the girls had never touched a boat in their lives. Honestly, it's been one of the best college athletic experiences I've ever had.
On learning rowing terminology
There's definitely been times when Chris tells us something and we are all like, what is he saying? Sometimes I have no idea what that means. I think the best moments are when our assistant coaches have those moments. Coach Chris will say, let's do the "Dead Mosquito" drill. And our other two coaches are like, what is that?
On early morning practices
Practice starts at 6:00 a.m, so I usually get up around 4:45, 5:00 o'clockish, depending if I hit snooze or not. We normally try to get down to the boathouse around 5:30 because we have to get all the oars out, check the boats. Then we have to stretch and be ready to row by 6:00. I was not a morning person, but I'm definitely becoming more of a morning person. My roommates say I'm the grandma of the group because I go to bed at like 9 o'clock every night because I have to get up early. But honestly, I do like the mornings. I like seeing the sunrise. I used to be, "Sunrise, whatever." Now I'm like, oh, it's actually so pretty. So I do enjoy mornings now. It's quiet and no one's on the road.
On balancing rowing with her Nursing major
It's definitely challenging. Nursing is very difficult, very time-consuming. Rowing is also very difficult and very time-consuming. But the coaches are so understanding that "student" comes before "athlete," which is something that really matters to me. My professors are also very understanding about it as well. We don't have many conflicts because we don't have regattas during the week, so I'm not ever missing classes during the week like some sports. But sometimes we have to leave for a regatta on a Friday and I have to miss class, and my professors have been very accommodating.
On the importance of being part of a team as part of her education
I love athletics. I've been an athlete my whole life. Regardless of your experience or your knowledge about a sport or the level of athleticism of the sport, just having that constant support, having someone always having your back from day one, has been amazing. I was happy to come to Toledo to study nursing. But I was sad to give up on sports and the team atmosphere. So when I found out I could join a team, I thought, this could be so cool to have that team experience again with the girls. It's kind of like, I got your back, you got mine. I love that kind of stuff. I also love working towards goals, like getting in the weight room and going to practice and just pushing each other to be better on and off the river. It's something that I was missing and I am so happy to have found it at Toledo. Now I can have the education and the athletics. It's a perfect match and I'm so happy that I'm able to do it here.
On what she plans to do with her nursing degree
I'm not very like set on stone yet with a specific specialty, but definitely something in pediatrics. I love kids. So hopefully something with that. But I'll have to see once I get in the clinicals and explore more in the nursing field.
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/ Women's Rowing
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