Ava Cook was all set to attend Florida Atlantic or South Florida as a regular student, surrendering her dream of being a college rower.
And then Chris Bailey-Greene called.
Actually, he sent an email first, and then Cook and Bailey-Greene spoke on the phone. Soon, she was in Toledo, a city she had never heard of. Cook was the nascent University of Toledo women’s rowing team’s first out-of-state visitor.
On Saturday, she will be part of UT’s first-ever rowing event on the Maumee River.
“At first, I thought it was a joke. I was like, Toledo?