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ELITE ATHLETE PROGRAM …the winning tradition continues.
MEET OUR CURRENT YEAR ROUND ATHLETES
Dan Armitage
Biography to come.
Jess Barker
Biography to come.
Megan Biging
Hometown: Santa Monica, CA
College: University of Southern California
Megan is now in her 8th year of rowing. She rowed at University of Southern California with a varsity letter for all four years, and was captain her senior year. She rowed at Vesper for four summers. The past two years have gone undefeated at Canadian Henley, winning gold in the senior8, champ8, senior 4-, senior 2- and dash for cash as well as this year’s dash 8.
Carey Brezler
Hometown: Waynesboro, PA
College: University of Pittsburgh
Carey Brezler grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. She danced and swam her way through her childhood years and did not begin rowing until she discovered and fell in love with it during her sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh. She medaled in several regattas, including the Dad Vails. In her senior year at college she trained in the single at Steel City Rowing Club and began to search for the perfect place to train and grow with the sport. All arrows pointed to Vesper and the Schuylkill River, in Philadelphia. Carey ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 2004, and soon after moved here to continue her rowing training.
Plagued by a shoulder injury for 3 years, Carey finally had surgery and is now training with consistency and passion. Her goals have never waivered: to improve each day, continue to challenge herself and follow her dreams.
She and her Vesper doubles partner, Hanna Moore, were victorious at the Pan American Games selection trials, held in Princeton and will represent the United States as the lightweight double in Brazil in July.
Josh Brown
Hometown: Clarkston, MI
College: University of Michigan
Josh Brown played hockey in Michigan, but started rowing his freshmen year at University of Michigan. He was encouraged by a silver medal at the IRA and decided to keep rowing and quit playing hockey. He rowed at Vesper in the 2004 summer program and earned three Canadian Henley golds (in the Champ 8, Senior 8, and Senior 4.) He is a two-time ECAC Champion, one-time Dad Vail Champion, and two-time IRA medalist. After graduating, Josh was invited to the Princeton Training Center, and after a short stint in the sweep program, switched to sculling. He beat the time standard in the 2x each of the last two years, but has not yet won an NSR or Worlds Trial. He is training at Vesper to try to get back into the National Team selection camp and, ultimately, go to the Olympics in Beijing.
Nathan Carter
Hometown: Springfield, VA
College: Rutgers University
Nathan began his rowing career as a sophomore at West Springfield High School in order to keep in shape for wrestling and football. He quickly found that rowing was a great fit and decided to focus on it year round. High School highlights include two time Washington Post All-Met Athlete of the Year, and a 6th place finish at the C.R.A.S.H B’s in Boston.
After high school Nathan completed four years of rowing at Rutgers University. Highlights include 6th place at the Eastern Sprints in 2003 followed by 2nd place that summer at the Royal Henley Regatta in England. Nathan was captain of the team as a senior. After a fifth year at Rutgers to finish up a double major, Nathan realized that he was not finished with rowing. While living in the Washington DC area he joined Potomac Boat Club for summer of 2006 and moved north to Philadelphia for a more competitive program. Since joining he has raced at the Head of the Charles and looks forward to more races this summer. Nathan enjoys the small and dedicated team he has become a part of, which he feels is the perfect fit for him.
Ben Churchill
Hometown: Portland, OR
College: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Ben arrived at Vesper for the 2006 Summer Program after rowing for one year in New Zealand. He switched to sculling in fall 2006 and has set a goal to qualify for the US National Team. His most recent accomplishments: Gold2006 -- Canadian Henley Championship Eight, Senior Eight, US National Championships Senior Eight, Senior Four; New Zealand Rowing Championships Club Eight; Silver US National Championships Elite Four.
Bryn Crawford
Biography to come.
Andrew (Grzy) Grzybowski
Hometown: Philadelphia
College: Marist College
Andrew first started rowing in a Philadelphia community program in the summer of 1996, under the influence of his older brother Robert. He continued to row at LaSalle College High School and in his junior year won the Manny Flicks, the City Championships, The Stotesbury, and Scholastic National Championships in the JV4+.
The love of rowing firmly intact, he went on to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and was coached by the late Scott Sanford, and then his son Tom, where he earned a Dad Vail bronze medal in the Men’s Frosh 8, two silver’s at the ECAC regatta in the 2V8, and a bronze medal at the ECAC in the Varsity 8. During the summers he rowed at PennAC. In the 2003 USRowing National championships he won five gold medals and a silver. After graduating college in 2004, he turned to sculling under Curt Browder at Penn AC.
This past summer heI teamed up with Vesper and Dan Scholz: they won the LM2x at Canadian Henley for Vesper and look to improve upon this performance under Vesper and the guidance of coaches Michiel, Todd Craun and Frank Biller.
Michelle Hall
Biography to come.
Ann Holmes
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
College: Cornell University
Ann learned to scull after she graduated from College and in the last five years she has had top finishes in sculling events at Canadian Henley, US Nationals, Head of the Charles and Independence Day regattas. She came to Vesper two years ago to row under Coach Bartman and has since been invited to participate in its elite selection camp. Ann looks forward to continued improvement with top-notch coaching and support.
Heather Johnson
Hometown: Portland, OR
College: Portland State University
Heather began rowing with the Portland State University club team at the age of 16. In 2003 she began rowing a 1x regularly. That summer she moved to Miami to pursue her Master's degree at the University of Miami. Although unable to compete with the school's rowing team, the coaches let her train with them for two years while she studied there. After graduation Heather decided to stay in Florida, work, and continue to row. After several months of encouragement from one of the club coaches in Miami Beach she decided to go lightweight and try for the U23 World Championships. She met with success when she made the 2006 U23 National Team in the LW1x and went to Belgium to represent the USA. After taking a year off from competition to let an injury heal Heather decided it was time to join an elite program. After looking at the options she decided Vesper was the place she wanted to be.
Shannon Kaplan
Biography to come.
Joseph Krajewski
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
College: Georgetown University
Joe began his rowing career in high school at the Wilmington Youth Rowing Association. His years of swimming and soccer made him aerobically fit and a natural to the sport. He competed in Regional and National Championships in high school and attended the Junior Nationals selection Camp prior to his senior year. His rowing career in college was competitive, but in his words, never quite fast enough to compete at the top level. He stopped rowing for a while (and started eating!) After Thanksgiving, 2006, friends convinced him to return to rowing and said that Vesper was the place where he could get to the next level under head coach Bartman. According to Joe, ‘the immense support I receive from the squad, coaches and members of Vesper…not to mention my family and friends…is driving me towards dreams of gold.”
Elisabeth McIntee
Biography to come.
Hannah Moore
Hometown: Niskayuna, NY
College: Villanova University
Hannah started rowing in high school at Niskayuna High School and continued to row through college at Villanova University, where she won the IRA National Championship for the Women's Varsity Lightweight 8. Some rowing highlights: Hannah won Head of the Charles in the Lightweight 8+ in 2002 and 2003; was a spare on the U.S. World Team in 2005 in Gifu, Japan; was on the 2007 Pan American Team in the lightweight 2x in Rio, Brazil, where they placed 4th; was on the 2007 World Championship Team in the lightweight 4x, in Munich, Germany, where they placed 4th.
Julie Nichols
Hometown: Livermore, CA
College: University of California at Berkeley
Julie enjoys participating in almost every sport. In high school she won seven varsity letters after four years on cross country and track teams. She graduated Berkeley with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and two varsity letters in crew. Some of her crew highlights: 1999 NCAA Varsity W8+ (stroke) Bronze: 2000 NCAA 4th: U.S. National Team 2003 World Championships LW1x 13th: 2004 World Championships LW4x (stroke) Bronze: 2005 World Championships LW2x (stroke) Silver: 2006 World Cup (Munich) LW2x (stroke) 16th: World Cup (Lucerne) LW2x (stroke) Bronze: World Championships LW2x (stroke) 9th: Pan American Games W4x (stroke) Silver.
Libby Peters
Hometown: New Hartford, NY
College: Columbia University '06
Libby began rowing at The Gunnery, a boarding school in CT, in 2000. She rowed varsity four years at Columbia; was voted most valuable for two of those years, and co-captain senior year. She majored in US History, minored in Middle Eastern Studies, and graduated in 2006. Libby began sculling at Pocock Lightweight Development Camp in the summer of 2005 and returned for the summer of 2006. She is a member of the New York Athletic Club since summer of 2007. Highlights: stroke for three years at Columbia, winning CRASH-B's twice in the college lightweight division and the European indoor championship in the U-23 LW division; won gold in the Elite LW 2x at US Nationals in 2006; won gold in the Open 2x and placed 2nd in the Open 1x, 4x, and 8+ at Canadian Henley in 2007. She chose to train with Vesper to pursue National Team goals because of the support of Vesper Boat Club and the community on Boathouse Row, the high level of coaching, and to be pushed by the talented athletes who currently teside here.
Mike Ross
Biography to come.
Dan Scholz
Hometown: Springfield, OR
College: Oregon State University
Dan began rowing at Oregon State University after watching the success of his brother as an oarsman. His career got off to a rocky start and he did not make the novice eight. The varsity coach convinced him to ‘stick around’ and Dan came back with the burning desire to make a boat. In his sophomore year Dan stroked the 2nd varsity eight to a 9th place win at the IRA but, with his brother on the varsity team, this was not good enough for him. Dan made some changes in his training to become a viable heavyweight athlete and trained all summer. In his junior year he stroked the varsity eight to an 8th place at the IRA that sparked a dream that he would someday row for the US lightweight national team. After stoking again for the varsity team he was chosen for the all PAC 10 team and invited to a National team training camp in Philadelphia for the summer, 2006. Dan became fully committed and decided to stay and continue to train. He is now Vesper’s only lightweight male elite athlete.
Rebecca Smith
Hometown: Torrington, CT
College: College of the Holy Cross
Rebecca started her rowing career as a “walk-on” at the College of the Holy Cross. After a successful collegiate run, including an undefeated regular season record during her senior year and a gold medal in the varsity 8+ at the Avaya National championships, she decided that she wasn’t ready to stop rowing. She began sculling, made the transition to lightweight, and has been pursuing her goal of a National Team berth ever since.
After bouncing around New England for a while Rebecca finally heeded some good advice and headed to Philadelphia and Vesper. She is very excited to be training in such a positive, structured and highly-competitive environment and has no doubt that the future will be full of continued development, improvement and speed.
Adriann Spinks
Hometown: Francisco, NC
College: University of North Carolina
Adriann grew up in North Carolina playing basketball and soccer…loving sports; the challenge, the dynamic of the teams, and competing. Her first introduction to rowing was freshman year of college at the University of North Carolina. She immediately loved everything about the sport, especially being on the water and being challenged by something completely new. She graduated this past May and was not yet willing to just give up rowing. She enjoyed her first summer at Vesper; winning Gold - US Rowing Club Nationals 4+, and Canadian Henley Senior and Champ 8. The coaching staff has been very encouraging as she continues to gain speed and skill and work towards the dream of competing as a member of the national team.
Meg Walsh
Biography to come.
Michelle Williams
Biography to come.
Coach:
Michiel Bartman
Assistant Coach:
Frank Biller
Assistant Coach:
Todd Craun
Invitation Form
If you are interested in joining the Vesper Boat Club as a member of the senior athlete program please contact Michiel Bartman at michielbartman@gmail.com for our application form which will allow us to get to know more about your rowing background.
Contact Information
For questions regarding the senior athlete program: Michiel Bartman at michielbartman@gmail.com
For questions about Vesper Boat Club: vespermanager@hotmail.com
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