USRowing Announces 13 New Level 3 High-Performance Coach Graduates

USRowing is excited to announce the 13 coaches who have completed the most recent Level 3 High-Performance Coach Certification Course.

Over several months, these coaches completed 11 elite coaching modules designed to advance their skills in areas such as biomechanics, advanced rigging, long-term athlete development, and rowing philosophy, to name a few. In total, the graduates completed more than 100 hours of training to earn their certification.

Please join us in congratulating the latest additions to the Level 3 coaching ranks.

Drew Combs

Drew Combs’ connection to rowing began early, growing up around the regatta scene on Lake Waramaug. His father, Chris Combs, spent 46 years as Regatta Director of the Women’s Eastern Sprints, and Drew was immersed in the sport from a young age—organizing medals, driving launches, and helping put in and take out courses.

Drew began rowing at Marist College and originally expected to pursue a career in education. That plan shifted after he joined Kent School’s admissions office, where he was introduced to coaching and began learning the craft under Eric Houston at Kent School Boat Club. What started as an opportunity quickly turned into a lasting commitment to coaching and program development—mostly because the office is much better as a coach floating on a body of water.

Throughout his career, Drew has coached at a variety of programs and levels, learning from experienced coaches including Joe Wilhelm (Northeastern Women’s Rowing), Casey Galvanek (Sarasota Crew), and Liz Trond (Connecticut Boat Club). He has also coached at SUNY Buffalo, Norwalk River Rowing, and Fairfield University, experiences that helped shape his approach as a coach and program leader.

In 2019, Drew joined Litchfield Hills Rowing Club, where he serves as Director and Head Coach. He is focused on building sustainable, athlete-centered programs that emphasize long-term development, strong team culture, and competitive excellence.

Katie Ely

Katie Ely has been the Head Rowing Coach at Bryn Mawr College for the past three years. She completed the 2025 spring season as the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Coach of the Year, having guided the Owls to consistent competitive and academic success. Under her leadership, Bryn Mawr has finished second in team points at the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championship, including the highest team points total in program history at the 2025 MARC Championships. In Fall 2023, the program captured the Head of the Schuylkill Women’s Team Points Trophy across all divisions for the first time in team history.

In addition to her Level 3 certification, Ely holds a USRowing Level II Coaching Certification and is a graduate of the NCAA WeCoach Academy, a national leadership development program for collegiate coaches. She also coaches with the Cooper River Rowing Club Competitive and Intermediate Masters Programs, contributing to athlete development across multiple competitive stages.

Prior to Bryn Mawr, Ely served as the assistant women’s rowing coach at Marietta College, where she played a central role in rebuilding the program. Arriving to a roster with one returning athlete, Ely helped guide the Pioneers to top-three conference finishes in back-to-back seasons. She also organized the 2021 and 2022 Pioneer Sculling Camp for junior development and assisted with coaching at the 2021 U23 Summer Camp at Marietta.

A New Jersey native, Ely began her coaching career at Haddon Township High School and Cooper River Rowing Club. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ithaca College in 2016 and was a four-year letterwinner and sculling captain for the Bombers, helping Ithaca place second in the Division III Grand Final at the Dad Vail Regatta and earn an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championships.

Rosanna Gramuglia

Rosanna began her rowing career at the masters level, where her passion for the sport and commitment to athlete development inspired her to pursue a career dedicated to expanding access to rowing. Her progression from novice to seasoned competitor provides a thoughtful and empathetic coaching perspective, enabling her to effectively support athletes at every stage of development.

Rosanna has founded two rowing programs that have significantly broadened opportunities in the Tampa Bay area. She established the region’s first masters rowing club, offering both sculling and sweep instruction, serving recreational and competitive athletes alike. In 2018, she launched the rowing program at Blake High School, introducing more than 40 students to the sport in its inaugural year. In 2019, the program expanded into Team Tampa Rowing to serve middle and high school athletes across the greater Tampa Bay community, reaching over 140 new athletes and continuing to grow. Rosanna currently serves as Head Coach of the Hillsborough High School Rowing Club.

Outside of rowing, Rosanna enjoys spending time with her husband, John, and their cat, Cleocatra.

Pamela Hughes

Pamela Hughes has coached scullers of all age classifications since 2013. In 2018, she joined North Bay Rowing Club (NBRC) in Petaluma, California, where she expanded her skills in both sculling and sweep disciplines as a junior's coach. In 2021, Hughes assumed the role of Junior's Head Coach, working to rebuild the youth competitive squad and coaching athletes to the 2022 Youth National Championships. She also serves as the race training coach for NBRC Masters.

Utilizing education attained through her USRowing Level 3 High-Performance Coach Certification, Hughes continues her professional mission of collaborating with rowers to help them achieve their highest possible skill level.

Hughes began rowing as an NCAA Division I student-athlete at Rutgers University. As a masters sculler, she has competed in regattas including the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Schuylkill. An avid water sports participant, she has sailed from Oahu to California (and is currently planning a return sail in 2024) and has attained a Stress and Rescue SCUBA certification. She lives on a boat in California, rows a Fluidesign, and shares companionship with a Redbone Hound alongside her husband, Bill.

Jack Impronto

Jack Impronto has coached at the collegiate level since 2023 with the Wesleyan men’s program. In his first year, he contributed to an undefeated season followed by the 2024 DIII IRA National Championship wins in both the Varsity Eight and the IRA Team Points Championship. He was nominated for the IRCA DIII Staff of the Year in 2024, followed by a second nomination in 2025 after directly coaching an undefeated season in the 3V8+ and a NIRC Championship in the same event.

Impronto began his coaching career unofficially at age 15 while volunteering with the novice program at Glastonbury High School. During his junior year of college, he returned to Glastonbury officially as an assistant coach and later served as Head Coach for the boys’ team during the 2022–2023 season. From 2022–2024, Impronto served as an assistant coach for the USRowing U19 Pathways Development Camps and, in the summer of 2025, as Lead Coach.

Impronto’s rowing career began at Glastonbury High School and continued at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He continued rowing post-collegiately with Riverfront Recapture in Hartford.

Jeffrey Kiser

Jeffrey Kiser began his coaching career in 1996 with the UCSB men’s novice team. After two seasons with the novice and varsity squads, he stepped away from rowing to raise his family. He later rejoined the sport as a member of the San Diego Crew Classic Board of Directors, helping run the annual event through 2014.

In 2016, Jeff began his current tenure as Head Boys Coach at Cathedral Catholic High School and later became Program Director. One of his greatest challenges was addressing inconsistency in coaching structure and competitiveness on the boys’ side. From day one, Jeff worked to change the team culture, a process that continues to this day. He earned his USRowing Level 2 credentials in 2021 and now utilizes lessons from the USRowing Level 3 program to elevate performance and grow the sport at the high school level in Southern California.

Over the past four years, Jeff has sent boats to the Head of the Charles annually, reached multiple semifinals at the SRAA Scholastic Nationals, and currently has six rowers and coxswains competing at the NCAA Division I level.

Jeff rowed as an NCAA Division I student-athlete at UC Irvine beginning in 1990 under Duvall Hecht and continued rowing in Heidelberg, Germany, through 1995. In his free time, Jeff enjoys erging, weightlifting, competing in a poker league, gardening, and spending time with family, his girlfriend, and soon, his new puppy, Manoa.

Evans Liolin

Evans Liolin is a motivator with more than three decades of international and domestic coaching success. A master teacher, his strengths include galvanizing teams, cultivating leadership, preparing crews for peak performance, identifying learning styles, improving rhythm, and creating more effective lineups. He has helped elite, pre-elite, collegiate, junior, masters, and para athletes fulfill their potential and has led multiple teams in overseas competition.

Coach Liolin’s underdog crews have earned victories and medals at the World Junior Championships, IRA and Eastern Sprints, Harvard–Yale, Head of the Charles, NEIRA, MPSRA, Henley Royal Regatta, Royal Canadian Henley, Independence Day Regatta, Midwest Championships, U.S. Nationals, and Senior Team Trials. In 2014, he coached the coxed pair at the Senior World Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Evans learned to row at Noble and Greenough School under the guidance of Ned Wood and Vin Broderick, where he won the Bassett Cup against Belmont Hill—Nobles’ first victory in the rivalry in over a decade. As an undergraduate, he rowed under Chris Allsopp and Sean O’Connell at the University of New Hampshire and the University of Chicago, where he discovered his calling on the coaching side of the sport.

His career has included leadership roles at Yale, Northeastern, Georgetown, Belmont Hill, BB&N, Loyola Academy, Hingham, Norwalk, CRLS, CRI, Boston Rowing Club, Riverside, Penn AC, and USRowing.

Coach Liolin is a licensed referee and board member emeritus for the C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints, and an advisory board member for the Row New Bedford Foundation. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Graham Marks

Graham Marks has been coaching in some capacity for the past 15 years and has worked at all levels of the sport. He is currently an assistant coach at Smith College, having previously served as assistant coach for men’s rowing at Williams College. In addition to his Division III experience, Graham has worked with the Craftsbury GRP and coached crews at the 2023 and 2024 U23 World Championships.

Graham brings an athlete-centered approach to coaching and views collegiate rowing as a complementary component of the student-athlete educational experience. As a rower, he began at Nichols School in Buffalo, New York, and continued his collegiate career at Boston University.

Amelia Patton 

Amelia Patton has been the Head Coach of the MIT Lightweight Women’s team since 2023, having previously served as an assistant coach since 2007. Highlights include a program-first IRA gold medal in the lightweight 4+ in 2022, IRA silver medals in the lightweight 4+ in 2023 and 2025, and an IRA bronze medal in the lightweight 2x in 2025. During her tenure, MIT lightweight women have earned over 99 CRCA Scholar-Athlete honors and six All-American selections. Along with assistant Kendall Chase, Patton was named CRCA Lightweight Coaching Staff of the Year in 2025.

Prior to MIT, Patton trained with the High Performance Group at Riverside Boat Club and spent three years coaching at Brookline High School, where her crews won state titles in 2004 and 2006.

Originally from Buffalo, New York, Patton learned to row at Nichols School and West Side Rowing Club before competing as a four-year member of Duke University’s varsity eight. At Duke, she was named to the All-South Region Team three times and won the collegiate lightweight title at the CRASH-B Sprints.

Patton holds a BA in Sociology from Duke University, an MS in Applied Anatomy and Physiology from Boston University, and an MEd in Sport Management from the University of Texas at Austin.

Antonella Schofield

Antonella Schofield has coached at the collegiate level since 2022, beginning her career with Stanford Lightweight Women’s Rowing. During her two years with the program, she contributed to a Varsity 4+ championship at the 2024 IRA National Championships. In 2024, Antonella transitioned to Stanford Women’s Rowing, where she helped the team win both the ACC and NCAA Team Championships.

Antonella brings a holistic, athlete-centered approach to coaching, with experience spanning recruiting, athlete development, and high-performance racing environments. She holds a USRowing Level 2 Coaching Certification, has completed Stanford coursework in coaching and leadership, attended multiple coaching conferences, and finished the ACC “Coaching the Whole Athlete” course.

Antonella began her rowing career as a coxswain at Brookline High School and continued at Boston University’s Lightweight Women’s Rowing program, earning bachelor’s degrees in psychology and philosophy. She began her coaching career at Austin Rowing Club with the masters program. She lives in California with her husband, Jack Schofield, and their black lab mix, Boba.

Macarena Urdiles

Macarena Urdiles has coached rowers across multiple age groups and competitive levels since beginning her coaching career at age 18. She currently serves as an Assistant Coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where she coaches the women’s team and plays a principal role in recruiting. She is also a lead coach at Rockland Rowing Association in New York, working across youth competitive, novice, U23, and masters programs with a strong emphasis on high-performance development.

In her first year at Rockland in 2024, Urdiles coached three crews to medal at the USRowing Youth National Championships—the first national championship medals in the club’s history. That same year, two of her athletes earned selection to the U.S. National Team.

As an athlete, Urdiles represented Chile internationally as a coxswain at the junior and senior levels, winning multiple national titles and becoming the first woman selected as coxswain for the Chilean Men’s National Team. Following her competitive career, she coached at Club de Remeros Centenario de Valdivia and helped organize Chilean U23 competitions. She is passionate about using rowing to teach life lessons and develop young athletes.

Chelsea Vessenes

Chelsea Vessenes learned to row at Stanford University in the early 1990s, back when “Five Foot Seven or Tough Enough to Make the Difference” was the recruiting strategy—fortunately, she made the cut. Chelsea is the Head Coach for the Varsity Girls at Bainbridge Island Rowing and a longtime masters rower.

Tolsun Waddle

Tolsun Waddle has coached rowers and scullers of all ages and classifications. He joined Yorktown Crew in 2022 and founded Sofa King CF in 2016. He serves as Program Director at Yorktown and coached winning boats at the Canadian Henley Regatta in both 2023 and 2024.

Tolsun began rowing at Oak Ridge Rowing Association in 1997, continued under Bob Espeseth at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and competed post-collegiately for Penn AC and Undine. He also coaches mountain bike racers, is an internationally ranked Connect Four player, and continues to scull recreationally on the Potomac River.