Women’s Varsity
Derek Byrnes | Head Coach, Women’s Varsity Coach
Derek Byrnes began rowing for Pacific Rowing Club when he was 15. He rowed openweight and lightweight at UCSB and after graduation continued to row for Riverside Boat Club’s competitive Lightweight Development Program. Since 1999, Derek has coached at St. Ignatius, the Oakland Strokes, and LGRC. During his tenure as a head coach, his crews have won seven National Championships, three Peabody Cup Championships at the Henley Regatta, and three silver medals at Youth Nationals. He is excited to be coaching again at the Strokes and is looking forward to the new season.
Teresa Oja | Women’s Varsity Assistant Coach
Teresa began rowing in high school for Oregon Rowing Unlimited in 1997. She was a member of the 2000 Junior National Team that raced in Zagreb, Croatia and in Fall of 2000 she began rowing at UC Berkeley, competing in three NCAA Championships and winning Pac-10’s in 2004. She graduated in 2004 with a BA in Geography and currently works for the Oakland Unified School District.
Cassandra Cunningham | Women’s Varsity Assistant Coach
Cassandra started rowing at Sac State, earning 3 championship titles and “most outstanding athlete of 1995”. She trained for 3 years with the U.S. National Team, earning 5 medals at the National Elite Championships and silver medals at both the World Championships and the 1999 Pan American Games. While earning her Masters in Education Administration at UMass, she led the varsity women lightweights to win 4 gold medals at the Atlantic 10 Championships, a gold and silver at Dad Vail, and the petite final at the Nationals. Cassandra joins us after 7 years with Junipero Serra.
Men’s Varsity
Ivan Smiljanic | Men’s Varsity Coach
Ivan rowed for Cal and served as their team captain before graduating recently with a degree in Economics and Political Science. While at Cal he won two Gold medals as well as a Bronze at Nationals on top of the two Gold and Silvers he won at PAC-10s. Ivan also rowed in the 2000 Olympic Games as a member of the Serbian National Team and won two gold, two Silver and a Bronze at the World Championships.
Rich Wendling | Men’s Varsity Assistant Coach, Outreach Coord.
Rich started rowing on the St. Mary’s College Lightweight Team. After graduation, he stayed on at St. Mary’s to coach the novice men for 3 years, then Head Coach of the women’s program for 5 years. After St. Mary’s, Rich took the helm at Cal, spending 7 years as Head Coach for the Women’s Lightweight Program, where his team was consistently ranked as one of the top lightweight teams in the country, winning gold medals two years in a row at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships, and a Varsity 8 silver and Novice 8 gold at Dad Vails. Rich was 2002 club coach of the year.
Women’s Novice
Beth Anderson | Director of Rowing and Women’s Novice Coach
Beth rowed for Pacific and the Oakland Strokes in high school, then went on to row for four years at UCLA, winning a national championship. After college Beth coached at Pacific and then Purdue University where she received a Masters in Sports Management. She coached at UC Davis and even served as an assistant coach with the US Junior Men’s team. She has served as a member of US Rowing’s Board of Directors for over four years and has been the glue holding together the Strokes over the years.
Hannah Gallup | Women’s Novice Assistant Coach
Hannah Gallup rowed for Oakland Strokes from 2001-2004. In 2008, she graduated from William Smith College with a BA in Economics. During her time at William Smith, she rowed on varsity crew and earned All-American honors in 2007 and 2008. Hannah continues to row for a master’s team in Oakland. She is currently studying Mandarin and enjoys traveling.
Men’s Novice
Jason Hilton | Men’s Novice Coach
Jason rowed for four years at Capital in Sacramento during High School. On graduation he rowed for two and a half years at the University of Washington and finished fifth at IRAs in a straight four with fellow coach Dave Adams. He then played rugby for UW, placing first in their division two years running. Jason began assistant coaching for the Novice Mens team in 2005 and now coaches the entire Mens Novice team.
Dave Adams | Men’s Novice Assistant Coach, Assistant Rigger
Dave rowed for the Oakland Strokes during high school and went on to row for the University of Washington in Seattle.
Middle School
Dameon Engblom | Middle School Coach
Dameon comes to us from near by Lake Natoma where he spent the last four years coaching the varsity men for a very successful Capital Crew. He graduated from Sac State in the spring of 06 with a BA in biology and a minor in spanish. Dameon rowed for four years in high school and three years in college he has a level I and II US Rowing Coach certification.
