Cooke spices up women's row staff
August 01, 2008 | Women's Rowing
Former U.S. national team and All-American rower Megan Cooke will join the Wisconsin women's openweight rowing staff as the novice coach, head coach Bebe Bryans announced today. Cooke will begin her duties on Aug. 15.
'I'm really excited to work with a program as great as Wisconsin, ' said Cooke. 'I have a lot of fun ideas and I hope I can learn as much as I can help out. I think I bring a lot of enthusiasm. I bring a lot of technical skill and hopefully I can combine the two and have a great freshman class.'
A five-time U.S. national team rower, Cooke arrives in Madison from Princeton, N.J., where she has been training with the U.S. national team. A team member since 2004, Cooke won a gold medal at the 2006 FISA World Championships in the women's eight, helping the team set a world record in the process. She also won the women's pair at the 2006 Lucerne World Cup, as well as additional medals in the women's pair at world cup events in 2006 and 2007. Cooke made her national team debut at the 2001 FISA World Under-23 Championships in the women's four without coxswain, winning a silver medal.
Cooke currently coaches master rowers for Carnegie Lake Rowing Association, USRowing 's Club of the Year. She has also been giving private instruction to rowers since 2003. A 2002 graduate of California, Cooke spent the year following graduation helping her alma mater as assistant novice coach, while also coaching at Oakland Strokes, Inc., and Marin Rowing Association for the 2002 03 academic year.
Cooke was a two-time captain while a rower at California from 1998 to 2002. A two-time First-Team All-American, two-time First-Team All-Region and two-time First-Team All-Pac-10 athlete, the Los Gatos, Calif., native was also a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic student. She graduated from Cal in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
While at Cal, she finished third in the varsity eight at the 2002 NCAA Championships and fourth in the varsity eight at the 2000 NCAA Championships. She won Cal's Bettina Bents Award for loyalty, proficiency and spirit as a senior and participated with various student groups, such as Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Student-Athlete Mentors and Captains' Council.
'Since she graduated from Cal, she has been looking forward to coaching and gearing herself to that after her competitive career was over,' said Bryans. 'I knew, based on what I knew of her and talking to people who had worked with her, that she was exactly what we wanted for this position.
'I brought her in as soon I could. She loved it and we loved her. She is going to complete what is looking to be a really strong, exciting and vibrant coaching staff. '
