Three Olympians Join Wolverine Coaching Staff
9/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Sept. 22, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Fresh off the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Amanda Elmore, Felice Mueller and Ellen Tomek have joined the University of Michigan rowing staff as volunteer assistants.
"They are all really knowledgeable and are wonderful fits for our coaching staff," said head coach Mark Rothstein.
In August, Elmore won a gold medal with the U.S. women's eight. Mueller just missed out on an Olympic medal with a fourth place finish in the pair. She has three medals, including a gold and two bronze, from the World Rowing Championships. Tomek competed at her second Olympics. She placed sixth in the double sculls to go with a fifth-place finish in 2008 at Beijing.
"It is going to be really beneficial for our team," said sophomore Caroline Hendershot. "Over the course of a week I feel like I have already started to row the boat better and feel the boat better because of their tutelage and knowledge."
The new coaches have jumped right in and have been rowing in the boats with the student-athletes to give constant feedback. Through rowing side-by-side with elite rowers, the Michigan student-athletes are learning and developing throughout practices.
All three volunteer assistants rowed for Michigan as well and can relate to the current members of the team and life on campus at the University of Michigan.
Elmore transferred her senior year and was a second team All-American in 2014. After graduating she enrolled in the biomedical sciences graduate program in the department of microbiology and immunology and is now a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical sciences. A first team All-American and three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Mueller graduated with a degree in art and design in 2012 and is looking into graduate school. Tomek is from nearby Flint, Michigan, and graduated in 2006 with an economics degree.
"You tend to hold Olympians in awe, but you realize they have just worked really hard for a long time towards a goal." said Rothstein. "Not everyone will be an Olympian but everyone can improve a vast amount. Ellen (Tomek) didn't make our varsity eight until her senior year and is now a two-time Olympian. It gives our team an aspirational goal of being great at the sport, even if they aren't great yet."
