With June approaching, Penn AC Rowing Association prepares to gear up for another season of competitive summer racing. Penn AC takes this opportunity to formally announce its 2011 coaching staff whose experience stems from an extensive range of scholastic, collegiate, and elite rowing programs.
Director of Summer Programs, Patrick Rufo, states, "Our coaches have been selected based upon their strong track records both as coaches and athletes. They will do an excellent job of honoring the history and integrity of Penn AC while continuing to move the club forward. We are confident that they that will help our athletes reach the next level of their development."
Khaled Sanad will return as the Penn AC U23 and Intermediate/Senior Head Coach. In 2008 and 2010, Sanad coached the winning Penn AC U23 Men's Coxed Four at the US Rowing U23 World Championship Trials. Coach Sanad has worked with hundreds of Penn AC athletes over the last 15 years. Currently, he is the Head Men's Rowing Coach at Colgate University. Sanad's athletic accomplishments include seven Egyptian National Titles. He also qualified for the 1992 Olympics in both rowing and boxing and has coached elite rowers all over the world.
Penn AC's U23 Lightweight Development Coach is Chris Pucella. Pucella is in his 6th year as the Head Coach for Marietta College's Men's Rowing Program. Pucella's Varsity 8+ won gold at the 2006 Dad Vail Championship. Coach Pucella has coached athletes from all over the country. Pucella served as the Senior and Lightweight Men's Head Coach of the US Rowing Senior Development Camp for West Side Rowing Club in 2009. Pucella's Lightweight 4+ took the Gold Medal at the US Rowing Club Nationals. As a rower, Pucella also found personal success by winning gold medals at the 1995 Dad Vail Regatta, 1996 and 2000 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and the 2002 U.S. National Championships. He has also received recognition for his hard work as a teacher in 2004 when he was nominated for the Edgewater High School Teacher of the Year award.
Robert Weber will serve as Penn AC's U23 Women's Development Coach. Coach Weber served as an Assistant Coach for Penn AC's U23 Women's Development Program in 2010. Weber was an integral part of the coaching staff that allowed the Penn AC Women's Program to finish 2nd in the Women's Team standings at the US Club National Championships. He also worked with Penn AC crews that medaled at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. He is currently the Head Men and Women's Coach at Franklin & Marshall College. For 2011, Weber coached his Women's Varsity 8 to a Bronze Medal at the Murphy Cup in Philadelphia, PA. In 2010, he coached the Men's Varsity 8 to a 5th place finish at the Head of the Schuylkill and the Women's Varsity 8 to a 2nd place finish at the Murphy Cup. Weber worked as the Assistant Coach with Franklin in Marshall since 2008, before being named the Head Coach in 2010.
Penn AC has appointed Dameon Engblom to the position of the Penn AC U23 Men's Development Coach. Engblom has been coaching since 2006. He currently serves as the Co-Head Varsity Boys' Coach for Oakland Strokes Junior Crew. From 2009 to 2010, Engblom worked as a Volunteer Assistant at the University of California, Berkley. In addition to years of coaching, Engblom competed in the Southwest Junior Regional Championship and US Rowing Youth National Invitational every year since 2007. Over those four years, Engblom placed top three in the V8+, Light 8+, JV 8+, Light 2x, V2-, and V4+. In addition to his many rowing accomplishments, Engblom received his Bachelors of Arts, Biological Science and a minor in Spanish in 2006 from Sac State University.
Stephen McKiernan joins the Penn AC coaching staff as the U23 Women's Development Assistant Coach. McKiernan is no stranger to Penn AC, as he served as the Penn AC Junior Men's Coach from 2006 to 2007, winning medals at the US Rowing National Championships. McKiernan is currently the Head Coach at Boston College High School, which is a program he helped create in 2008. Last summer, Coach McKiernan coached at Union Boat Club for their summer sculling program. McKiernan has coached for Wayland-Weston Crew, and helped the team win four gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 Massachusetts State Championships, and a silver medal at the 2007 US Rowing Northeast Regional Championships and US Rowing Youth National Championships. As a rower, McKiernan is a three time Head of the Charles Regatta Gold Medalist in the Club Men's 4+. In 2005, he won silver at the US Rowing National Championships in the Men's 2-, 2x, 4x and 8+.
Nicholas Zinter joins the Penn AC coaching staff as the U23 Men's Development Assistant Coach. Coach Zinter currently serves as the Men's Freshmen Coach at the College of the Holy Cross. During the summer of 2010, Zinter coached for the West Side Rowing Club Juniors and led them to a 2nd and 3rd place finish at the Royal Canadian Henley in the Men's Junior 8+. Before coaching for Holy Cross, Coach Zinter coached for Canisius High School, working with the freshmen and the lightweights. In 2009, his lightweight four won a Bronze Medal at the US Rowing Youth National Championships. Zinter was also a lightweight oarsman and then a coxswain for Holy Cross, and coxed the Varsity Eight to Silver Medals at the New England Rowing Championships in 2003 and 2005.
Penn AC Gold is one of the premier Junior Summer Rowing Programs in the United States. This will be the first year the Penn AC Gold Program will expand to Junior Women. Penn AC has hired notable coaching staff to oversee this program as well.
Returning for his third summer with the Penn AC Gold Program, Colin Regan will serve as the Junior Men's Head Coach. In 2010, Regan's Penn AC Juniors swept the Junior Men's 8+ and 4+ at the Independence Day Regatta. Penn AC and Penn AC Gold won the Mariner's Points Trophy for the second consecutive year at IDR. At the 2010 US Rowing Club National Championships, Penn AC Gold won the Junior Men's 4+, Junior B 2x, and Junior B 4+. The team also earned a silver medal in the Junior Men's 2-. Coach Regan served as the Assistant Coach for Penn AC Gold in 2009. In 2009, Regan also worked as an Assistant Coach for the US Rowing Jr. Men's Development Camp. Currently, Regan serves as the Men's Assistant Coach for Williams College where his freshmen crew recently earned the Bronze Medal at the 2011 New England Rowing Championships. Regan has been the Assistant Coach since 2008. Regan also has both experience as an oarsman and coxswain. During the summer of 2005, Coach Regan rowed out of Penn AC for the Penn AC Lightweight Team. Regan was a coxswain for the University of Connecticut from 2001-2003.
Rebecca Smith returns to the Schuylkill and Penn AC, as the Junior Women's Head Coach. Smith has represented Vesper Boat Club, Penn AC and Undine Barge Club as an elite lightweight women's sculler. In 2008, she won a Bronze Medal in the LW4X for the United States at the World Rowing Championships. Smith has competed at the national level in both rowing events and sculling events. She has won gold medals at the Head of the Charles, Head of the Schuylkill, and U.S. Elite National Championships. She also earned numerous other awards based on her performances most notably the Vesper Boat Club Athlete of the Year Award and the John P. Cooney Memorial Award. Smith is a graduate of the College of Holy Cross, and served as an Assistant Coach before pursuing rowing on a national level. Coach Smith is currently serving as an Assistant Coach at Bucknell University, and works with the Varsity Lightweight Women. Smith's Varsity Lightweights recently won the Dad Vail Regatta, and finished 4th at Eastern Sprints.
In addition to each of the Head Coaches, the Penn AC Coaching Staff will also be compromised of Assistant Coaches and Coaching Interns:
Name of Coach Penn AC Position/Program University or School
Khaled Sanad U23 and Intermediate/Senior Head Coach Colgate University
Chris Pucella U23 Lightweight Development Coach Marietta College
Robert Weber U23 Women's Development Coach Franklin & Marshal College
Dameon Engblom U23 Men's Development Coach Oakland Strokes
Stephen McKiernan U23 Women's Development Assistant Coach Boston College High School
Nicholas Zinter U23 Men's Development Assistant Coach College of the Holy Cross
Penn AC Gold Program
Colin Regan Junior Men's Head Coach Williams College
Rebecca Smith Junior Women's Head Coach Bucknell University
Steve Ciraolo Junior Men's Associate Head Coach Tabor Academy
Beth Redfearn Junior Women's Associate Coach Mt. Holyoke College
Faust Petkovich Junior Men's Assistant Coach Williams College
Carole Shoenecker Junior Women's Assistant Coach Bucknell University
Erika Jorgensen Junior Women's Dormitory Manager Owen J. Roberts High School
Coaching Interns
Jake Schuppe Penn AC Gold Junior Men's Intern Mercyhurst College
Justin Jones Penn AC Gold Junior Men's Intern Northeastern University
Taylor Freeman Penn AC Gold Junior Men's Intern Princeton University
Sarah McGovern Penn AC Gold Coxswain Coach Northeastern University
To learn more about Penn AC Rowing Association, please visit the Penn AC website: www.pennac.org
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