After two months of cautious search, Dartmouth found a new women's rowing coach in Wendy Levash, the College announced last Thursday.
"When we began canvassing coaches around the league for rising stars, Wendy's name appeared at the top of everyone's list," Athletics Director Josie Harper said. "We think she's a great fit for our women's crew program."
Levash comes to the College with seven years of coaching experiences and a desire to improve the slumping women's rowing program.
"I am excited about joining the Dartmouth community," Levash said. "In the short time I've spent with the women on the team, I've been impressed by their dedication to their sport and to their teammates and by their eagerness to succeed on a higher level. I can't wait to get started."
Upon graduating from Princeton magna cum laude in 1998 with a B.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology, Levash joined the Cornell novice crew coaching staff and helped the struggling Big Red first novice eight to an Eastern Sprints championship in 2001.
In her final season with the Cornell novice crew, she was named the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges Novice Coach of the Year.
After three successful seasons with the Big Red, Levash returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach to the Princeton novice open women's coach in the fall of 2001.
In her four years with the Princeton program, Levash and the Tigers' novice crew enjoyed two undefeated seasons and gold medals at the Eastern Sprints in 2002 and 2004. In 2002, Levash was named the EAWRC Novice Coach of the Year again.
"We are all extremely excited to have Wendy as our coach," Kate Davison '07 said. "I think that she will bring a fresh, determined, hard-working attitude to the boathouse and could really help us rowers turn Dartmouth crew around completely."
The LaGrangeville, N.Y. native began rowing as a freshman at Arlington High School and later attended U.S. Junior National camps as a junior and senior in high school. She continued to row as an undergraduate at Princeton and was a four-year crew participant.
At Princeton, Levash won a gold medal at the Eastern Sprints as a member of the first novice eight in 1995 before suffering a back injury in her sophomore season. After her back surgery, Levash recovered quickly, returned to the team and won another gold medal at the Eastern sprints as a part of the first varsity eight.
Levash was an All-Ivy First team selection in 1998 and a captain in her senior year. She also competed at the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Championships.
Levash replaced Molly McHugh, who resigned this June after four years at the helm and ongoing criticism of her coaching style, derided by one rower as "apathetic" and "uninspiring."
"I'm psyched [about Levash]," Kaelin Goulet '07 said. "About a dozen of us that are here in Hanover have been rowing together six days a week and none of us can wait to go fast -- it's about time. Under Molly there was a real disconnect between our levels of talent and training and the results on the water; hopefully Wendy can close that gap.
"Those of us who met with Wendy are convinced she'll bring much-needed vitality and energy to the women's bay in the boathouse and were impressed by her proactive plan for the future of Dartmouth women's crew. I think that we need a coach that we can trust inherently; Wendy's record of success speaks for itself. I think that the girls in the boathouse have a lot of faith in Wendy and we'd like to secure an invitation to NCAA Championships next spring," Goulet said.
