Kelly Harris begins her sixth year as the Head Women’s Rowing Coach at Marietta College in 2012-13.
Under the leadership of Harris, the 2011 and 2012 spring seasons proved to be Marietta’s most successful to date, with many “firsts” to highlight. The Varsity 8+ won back-to-back Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference (MARC) Championships, placing them as the top boat in the conference. This win in 2011 afforded the crew their first bid in 12 years to the NCAA DIII National Rowing Championships held in Sacramento, CA (Marietta College attended the championship in 1999 before the split of divisions occurred in 2002). In 2012, the team won their first team championship at the MARC, and a first-ever team bid (Varsity 8+ and 2nd Varsity 8+) to the NCAA Championships, where the Varsity 8+ finished 5th in the nation and the team finished 6th overall.
The women also won back-to-back gold medals at the 2011 and 2012 Dad Vail Regatta in the DIII Varsity 8+ event. The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) named captain Kelli Barnette ‘12 to the Pocock All-America first team in 2011 and 2012. Barnette became the eighth Pioneer to be named an All-American since 1999 and the first first-team selection since Lindsay Letterle in 2006. Barnette, as well as teammates Abigail Klicker ‘13, Alyse McNeill ‘13, Trisha Wendel ‘13, and Katherine Tedesco ‘14 were also named CRCA National Scholar-Athletes in 2011 and 2012.
Harris has been named three-time Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
"We are a young team, but the work ethic, leadership and team dynamic among these women is unmatched," Harris said. "They take great pride in our team motto, O.A.R.S., which stands for Ownership, Accountability, Responsibility and Self-integrity. The Pioneer women demonstrate these qualities in their daily lives, on the water, and in the classroom."
Before coming to Marietta, Harris spent two years at Marist College, a Division I rowing program, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where she oversaw all aspects of the freshman and varsity programs. The two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach of the Year led the Red Foxes to back-to-back MAAC championships in 2006 and 2007. Marist's Varsity Lightweight 8+ and Varsity 4+ finished runners-up at the 2006 ECAC Metro Regatta. The Varsity 8+ took third in the event in 2007. In addition to its success on the water, Marist had seven women named CRCA National Scholar-Athletes.
Prior to her time at Marist, Harris served as the assistant men and women’s rowing coach at Vassar College from 2002-2005. Under her direction, the Brewer women's Freshmen 8+ placed fifth at the 2005 N.Y. State Championships, the highest ranking at the event in Vassar history. In her first season at Vassar, Harris also led the women’s 2nd Varsity 8+ to its first ever qualification and a 10th place finish in the 2003 ECAC Collegiate Championships.
Before beginning her full-time coaching career at Vassar, Harris served as a graduate assistant from 2001-02 at New Hampshire. Harris was primarily responsible for assisting with both the varsity and freshmen women's squads, where she helped lead the 2nd Varsity 8+ to a first place finish in the Petite Final at the 2002 New England Championships. Harris also coached two seasons of scholastic rowing at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., upon graduating from UNH. This opportunity has afforded Harris the invitation to serve as Director of the Crew Program for the Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School since 2003, where she has more recently also undertaken the position of Associate Dean of Students.
A 2001 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Harris was a four-year member and two-year co-captain of the team. During her rowing career at UNH, Harris rowed to a gold medal in the Varsity 8+ at the 1999 New England Championships and helped UNH win the All-Around Women's Points Trophy at the ECAC’s that same year.
Harris participated in the 2001 East Coast Lightweight National Team Development Camp at Riverside Boat Club in Boston, Mass., and the 2000 Mid-west Lightweight Development Camp at the University of Wisconsin. Harris also won the bronze medal in the collegiate lightweight category at the world-renowned CRASH-B Indoor Rowing Championships and was named an All-American Athlete by the National Strength and Conditioning Association in 2001.
A 1997 graduate of F.D. Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park, N.Y., Harris got her start as a coxswain in eighth grade. She coxed for three years before beginning to row her junior year at FDR, where she won the bronze medal in the Junior 8+ event at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa.
"I look forward to continuing to lead the Marietta women's rowing program to a new and greater phase of achievement," Harris said. "We place much emphasis on the recruitment and retention of new student-athletes, as well as the development of the experienced upperclassmen. We are committed to the student-athlete as a whole person, and academic success is paramount in their career at Marietta College. The tools and resources are available. It is my goal to tap those resources and utilize my D-I and D-III experience to catapult Marietta women's rowing to a bid for the NCAA D-III Championship year after year."
