Coaches

Our coaches have a variety of backgrounds and experience to draw upon with some having coached for decades, others having built programs from scratch, and more. Our coaches have rowed in everything from high school to international levels and bring a desire to share the amazing experiences and lessons that rowing gave them. We strive to maintain a welcoming and open team with positive coaching, team building, and helping athletes achieve their athletic goals.

Coaches are SafeSport trained, have WA boating licenses, and have to maintain a current CPR & First Aid certification.

RoleCoach Name (USRowing cert) & emailCurrently
Coaching
Head Coach
Lead High School Girls Team Coach
Davis Colwell (L2, L3)
Head.Coach@OlympiaAreaRowing.org
Adults
High School
Assistant Team CoachGretchen Van Dusen
Coach.Gretchen@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
Middle School
Assistant Team CoachKathryn Reith
Coach.Kathryn@OlympiaAreaRowing.org
High School
Assistant Team CoachClaire Gudenkauf (L1)
Coach.Claire@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
Individual Lessons
Assistant Team CoachEdith Abbenhaus
Coach.Edith@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
High School
Middle School
Assistant Team CoachFranklin Polk
Coach.Franklin@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
High School
Middle School
Assistant Team CoachHelen Kramer
Coach.Helen@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
Assistant Team CoachKiirsten Flynn
Coach.Kiirsten@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
High School
Middle School
Assistant Team CoachLydia Blackwood (L2)
Coach.Lydia@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
High School
Assistant Team CoachStephanie Krupp
Coach.Steph@OlympiaAreaRowing.org 
Adults
Assistant Team CoachJim Bertolini (L2, L3)
Coach.Jim@OlympiaAreaRowing.org
Individual Lessons
High School

Team Captains
Team captains are leaders on each of the coached teams, who are selected from the team at large and serve as extensions of the coaches and advocates of athletes.

TeamSelection ProcessIndividuals
Adult– under development –-vacant-
YouthApplications are under reviewed and will be
selected in the next few weeks