Preya Nixon started coxing at the Northfield Mount Hermon School (MA) during the fall of her sophomore year.
From then on, she was hooked, and by her senior year she was accepted to the U.S. Junior Women's Selection Camp in 2004.
During her high school career she coxed in 2 Head of the Charles. She continued coxing at Mount Holyoke College for
4 years (majoring in Sociology and Organizational Studies), leading her novice boat to 3rd place finish at the
New England Rowing Championships in 2005. During her senior year her boat placed 10th at Head of the Charles.
Throughout her time at Mount Holyoke, she was awarded the Seven Sisters All-Regatta Team (2004) and the
New England Men's and Women's (NEWMAC) all conference varsity crew team. She also coxed for Thompson's Boat Club
in the summer of 2005, where the women won the overall points trophy. She is currently pursuing her Masters in
Public Administration at Cleveland State University and has had a wonderful experience working with the Case Spartans so far.
Patty Wolford MA'07, MSN'09 - Head Coach
Patty Wolford transitioned from rowing with to coaching Case crew following her fall graduation in December 2008.
While relatively new to the sport, Patty makes up for it in enthusiasm and perseverance. Starting with the Case
novice women? team as a graduate student in Fall 2006, Patty quickly caught on to the sport and as they say, the
rest is history. She is an accomplished rower earning medals both at the collegiate level as well as the master?
level competing with WRRA during the summer season and SARA during the winter season. Patty is an USRowing certified
level 1 coach and plans on continuing her coach training. Originally a native of Maryland, Patty moved to Cleveland
Heights in 2004 from the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky area where she completed her BS at NKU. Currently, she is also
the co-leader of her daughter? Girl Scout troop and works on the near Westside as an Adult/ Gerontological Nurse Practitioner.
Jim Mack - Men's Novice Coach
Jim started coaching the novice men's team in 2006. He started rowing for the first time in 1998 here in
Cleveland. Since that time he's traveled to the Florida Rowing Center and the Craftsbury Rowing Camp for
sculling coaching and instruction. This is Coach Jim's first coaching experience, but he is not new
to Case. Coach Mack is an emeritus assistant professor from the department of Psychiatry at
Case's Medical School. He first moved to Cleveland when he joined the Case faculty in 1970.
Although he's been retired since 2003, he still continues his research in neuropsychology at Case.
Miranda Cullins - Assistant Coach
Miranda is currently a graduate student at Case. After being a stalwart of the women's team for a number of years she picked up
the coaching reigns in the fall of 2008. She primarily fills in for the head coaches and helps coach the small boats. She was selected
for the USRowing national team pre-elite camp in summer 2009.
Past Coaches
Dan Bachmann BA'97, MD'02
Dan rowed on Case Crew for four years during his undergrad experience. He was extremely involved with the
team as club president for two years. Dan stepped up and helped coach the novices after he graduated until
he went to Med school also at Case.
Kristine Baggett BA'86, MBA'92
Kristine served as the club's faculty advisor for a number of years and volunteer coach on a few occasions
until she moved west in 1997.
She is currently the executive director of the Beaverton Education Foundation in Oregon.
Karen Glowacki
Karen began her rowing career while attending CWRU in the early 1990's. After graduation, she began coaching
the club's novice crews and eventually became the school's head men's and women's coach. Glowacki left CWRU
in 1999 to become the varsity men's coach, boatwright, facilities manager and program coordinator for the
Niskayuna High School Crew in upstate New York. In 2000, Glowacki arrived at Hamilton College (N.Y.), where
she was the assistant rowing coach. Her primary responsibility was the novice program. Coach Glowacki
returned to Ohio in the fall of 2001 and served as a volunteer assistant coach for the varsity women's
rowing program at The Ohio State University. She then went on to coach for five years at Marietta College
as the Head Varsity Women's Coach, but stepped down from this position in 2007.
Fraser Hewson MS'02
After completing his Masters degree at Case, decided to continue his involvement with Case Crew by
moving from a seat behind an oar to a seat in the coaching launch. Fraser began rowing at
Mendota Rowing Club (Madison, WI) as a freshman in high school. In college, he joined the Badger
Team at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. After a post college hiatus, he returned to rowing with
Case Crew.
Tim Marcovy LAW'77
Coach Tim has coached Case Crew from 1993 till 1996 and from 2002 until 2008 and was one of the five
founders of the Western Reserve Rowing Association. He has been on the SARA Board of Directors since the
organization's inception. Coach Tim is a Case alumnus (LAW '77) and a partner
in the law firm of Willacy, LoPresti & Marcovy in Cleveland. He has competed as a rower and a sculler in
over 150 regattas, including seven Masters' Nationals Regattas and seven Head of the Charles regattas.
His daughter is a former high school rower and former rowing coach. His son, an IRA medal-winning oarsman
for Columbia University and 2008 Boat Race winner for Oxford University, as well as an adult and junior rowing coach.
At the 2009 spring alumni regatta the team named a recently purchased Resolute 8+ in his honor (photos
here).
Arkadiy "Ark" Osinovskiy
Coach Ark from the Ukraine was the first coach for Case Crew in the fall of 1992. He was hired by WRRA for
the masters program, but also helped out Case that fall.
Chris Pfahl MS'97 (left)
Chris made his way to Cleveland and CWRU all the way from Duluth, MN where he attended the University
of Minnesota - Duluth. He obtained his graduate degree from Case in the Master of Engineering program
and rowed for Case Crew during his two-year program. After graduation, Chris and his room mate, Eric Gerber,
picked up the coaching reigns for a few seasons after Coach Marcovy took a hiatus.
He is now a sales engineer living in Vermillion, OH.
Eric Gerber (right)
Eric graduated from Cleveland State and now lives in Denver. The latest rumor is that he's running his
own IT business and was in Nursing School in Denver (not sure if he finished Nursing School yet).
He rowed for WRRA's Summer Rowing League for a few years prior to coaching and had a sub 7-minute
2000M erg score the year he moved away from Cleveland.
Nancy Richter MS'93, PHD'00
Nancy has been a member of WRRA since 1990 and has rowed and sculled in countless regattas, including the Head of the Charles
twice and the Marathon Rowing Championships twice. Nancy has volunteered as an assistant coach of Case Crew for a few seasons in the mid-1990's
as well as Summer Rowing League. Nancy still sculls and works in Cleveland as a Medical Science Liaison for Roche/Genentech.
Both of her graduate degrees from Case are in Biochemistry.
Chris Sheridan - Women's Coach
Chris Sheridan was Case Crew's head women's coach for nearly seven years. Her most successful campaign was the
2005-2006 season, where the varsity men and women won medals at every regatta they entered,
including golds in the varsity women's 8+ at the Head of the Cuyahoga, Frogtown, Home Schools and
Governor's Cup regattas. The varsity women's 4+ was even more successful, medaling at all of the above
regattas as well as finishing third in the semi-finals of the 2006 Dad Vail regatta.
Before joining Case Crew, Chris spent two years coaching a regional girls scholastic rowing program,
and five years coaching swimming at a local high school. She is an accomplished masters rower, winning
medals at many regional regattas and Masters Nationals. A graduate of Yale University, Chris worked as
an editorial writer for The Plain Dealer newspaper for a number of years, now teaches in Case's SAGES
program, and is currently on staff in the president's office at CWRU. Chris' last season coaching
Case Crew was the Spring of 2008. At the 2009 spring alumni regatta the team named a Vespoli 8+ (formerly the Red Stripe) in her honor (photos
here).
Ellen Zienta BS'01
Ellen began rowing during her freshman year, and throughout her tenure her roles expanded to coach and rigger.
She helped coach the team during her senior.
