UVRF Coaches

Rowan Carroll

Rowan began her rowing career at Mount Holyoke College in 1989 with Head Coach Fred Cressman. She went on to captain the rowing team at the University of Nottingham, England before competing for England in 1994 and 1995 rowing for Notts County Rowing Association. She moved to Sydney, Australia in 1995 to row with elite coach Tim McLaren, where she competed in the inaugural race at the Olympic rowing course in Penrith. Following her return to England she rowed for the British National team from 1998 to 2001 in both sweep and sculling events. She competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Regatta; 1998 to 2001 World Cup events; the 1998 World Championships; 2000 Olympic Games; 1997 and 1998 Royal Henley Regatta and many other national and international events. Rowan moved to Hanover in 2003 where she is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Redpath. She has been rowing and coaching with UVRF since 2004, and coached at Hanover High from 2004 to 2006.

Brian Conley

Brian began rowing for St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia posting a 33-5 record and was commodore and captain of the lightweight rowing team at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000 - 2002. During the summers of 2001 - 2003, Brian rowed at a club called Penn AC and during his three summers won 10 medals at the US Rowing National Championships including 2 gold. After graduating from college, Brian went on to become the head coach at Lower Merion High school turning the team around from finishing last in most regattas to his varsity lightweight 4+ winning the Scholastic National Championship and his women's varsity 4+ taking the bronze in 2006. He has also coached the Penn AC teams to victories at the US Rowing National Championships and Canadian Henley. Brian is currently the Freshmen Lightweight Coach at Dartmouh College and is excited to work with UVRF for the first time.

Buzz Congram

Buzz Congram is a professional rowing coach with 45 years of sweep and sculling coaching experience. He has coached men and women at the high school, club, masters, collegiate and national team levels. Buzz began rowing at Columbia where he then went on to begin a his career as a coach. After Columbia he went on to Rutgers and Yale, finishing with 23 seasons at Northeastern University. He also coached in the World Championships where is crews won bronze and silver. At UVRF Buzz is available for private sculling lessons.

Fred Cressman

Fred began rowing in 1972 at South Kent School and was captain of the Wesleyan University Crew 1977-78. His summers, from 1974 - 1982, were spent with the Dartmouth Rowing Club. His coaching resume includes: Head Coach Rutgers Lightweight Men 1980-82; Coach of Princeton University Novice Women, Eastern Sprint and National Champions in 1983; Freshman Coach at Cornell 1983-85; Head Coach at Mount Holyoke from 1986-1992; Head Coach at Colgate University 1995-2003. Fred has been coaching with UVRF since 2001.

Katie Curtis

Katie graduated from Colby College in 2006 and is currently working on her Masters Degree in the Earth Sciences at Dartmouth. Katie began her rowing career at Colby where she was a member of crews that competed in the Henley Women's Regatta in England in 2004 and two NCAA Championships in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Katie was named a Division III First Team All-American and spent the summer rowing at a USRowing Development Camp. Katie began her coaching career in spring of 2007 when she began assisting Carin Reynolds with the HHS novices. She coached intermediates last summer, is currently coaching HHS again this spring, and she will be joining UVRF again this summer as an intermediate/advanced coach.

Jessica Fritz

Jessica began rowing at the Newport Aquatic Center in Newport Beach, California. She competed in the US Rowing Youth National Championship Regatta in 2003, and was voted Most Valuable Rower as a Novice and Team Captain as a Varsity rower. Continuing her rowing career at UCLA, Jessica was a freshman in the Varsity 8 which competed in the grand finals at the Pac-10 championships. After competing in three NCAA championships, Jessica was voted Most Inspirational Rower in her senior year. Jessica has coached at the Newport Aquatic Center and Marin Rowing Association. She is passionate about the sport of rowing, and also loves running, music, history, and writing. As a seventh generation Californian, she is looking forward to a new experience in New England. She will be coaching the competitive womens program this summer.

Carin Reynolds

Carin Reynolds began her rowing career in 1982 during her sophomore summer at Dartmouth in the precursor to the UVRF Learn to Row program. After two successful years rowing for the Dartmouth Crew, including an undefeated varsity season and medaling at the Women's Sprints and Head of the Charles, she moved on to the United States Lightweight Women's National Rowing Team, and won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1984. She has competed and medaled nationally and internationally in both sweep and sculling boats at Nationals, Worlds, the Goodwill Games, the World University Games and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Carin took a 10 year hiatus from rowing during the 1990s to go to law school and live and work in New York City, but came to her senses in 1999 and returned with her family to the Upper Valley where she has been rowing, training and competing in both sweeps and sculls ever since. Carin's passion is introducing non-rowers to crew, and coaching novices.

Carin's coaching resume includes: Dartmouth College - Women's Novice Coach 1986-88; Hanover High School - Girls Novice Coach 1999-present. She's been coaching the UVRF Learn to Row Sweep program and Sculling Clinics since 2002.

Mike van Beuren

Mike van Beuren first rowed at St. Mark's School in 1969. Following an appearance as stroke of the USA's straight four at Junior World's (1970) he rowed for a short time at Penn. For the last 10 springs Mike has assisted with the St. John's College, Annapolis Crew program where he has taught sweep and sculling, primarily for novices. Mike and (wife) Mary live in Hartland, VT and now commute to the Connecticut River where they continue to train as scullers. More recently, the van Beurens have competed at head races and at the CRASH-B's where Mike took the hammer for 55-59 lightweights in February, 2008.