Contact Conny:
Email - ckirsch@athletics.ucf.edu
Phone - 407-823-3559
Conny Kirsch joined the UCF rowing staff in August 2013. She serves as the recruiting coordinator and varsity assistant coach, working primarily with the Second Varsity Eight.
In her second season at UCF, the Knights captured the first conference title in program history. The Second Varsity Eight boat, consisting of Kristen Taylor, Ashleigh Boyd, Andrea Krebs, Jasmine Blais, Amy Compare, Alison Ponce, Julia Chase, Danielle Taylor and Abby Justinger won in the grand final. Their winning time of 6:45.762 was more than five seconds ahead of second place Tulsa.
Kirsch joined Becky Cramer, Megan Mitchell and Kristen Larson as the American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year, and would earn the honor for the second consecutive season in 2016.
Making its first team appearance at the NCAA Championships, the 2V8 finished second in the D Final and finished 20th overall in 2015.
During the 2016 season, UCF repeated as The American champion and made its second NCAA appearance. The Second Varsity Eight, consisting of Catherine Harms, Edvina Nesukaityte, Jasmine Blais, Rachael Klunder, Sarah Gordon, Dani Burton, Lauren Wasko, Danielle Taylor and Julia Chase, won its grand final for the second straight season with an open-water winning time of 6:50.3.
At the 2016 NCAA Championships, the 2V8 finished second in the D Final and 20th overall.
Kirsch joined the Knights after spending the previous five years at Indiana University. She was the recruiting coordinator and varsity assistant coach responsible for the development of the second Varsity Eight and Varsity Fours.
During the 2013 season, her first Varsity Four made school history beating Minnesota for the first time.
In 2012, IU's second Varsity Eight tallied wins over Purdue, Louisville, Tulsa, Sacramento State, Central Florida and Duke. The 2011 season saw IU's second Varsity Eight record a 15-3 overall mark, beating Alabama, Boston University, Marist, Purdue, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Gonzaga, Iowa, Rhode Island, Louisville, Bucknell, and Oklahoma before finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championships.
During the 2010 season, IU's second Varsity led the Hoosiers to their first Dale England Cup after beating Boston University, Central Florida and Dayton. Kirsch also led IU to a Grand Final win at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, defeating Oklahoma, Purdue, Tulsa, Alabama and Kansas State. The Hoosiers also won their final at the NCAA South/Central Region Sprints, beating Louisville, Duke, Oklahoma, Kansas and Tulsa.
For the last 6 years, Kirsch has also worked with the US Rowing Junior B Sculling Development in Saratoga, NY. There she developed young female athletes to refine their skills of sculling and educate and empower them to become successful athletes in the near future. She has also spent the past two winters coaching at the Orlando US Rowing Junior B Sculling Development Camp.
From the fall of 2006 to June 2008, Kirsch was an Assistant Coach at the University of Massachusetts where she was responsible for the Novices, Varsity Four and Lightweights. Her Varsity Four finished second at the Atlantic 10 Championships in 2008. Kirsch came to the United States from Germany in 1998 and was an All-American and Big Ten Athlete of the Year at Ohio State University in 2002. She led the Buckeye varsity eight to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships that year as well.
Kirsch graduated from Ohio State with a B.A. in psychology and women's studies in 2003 and went on to earn master[apos]s degree in counselor education from Ohio State in 2006.
Prior to coming to the United States, Kirsch rowed with the German National Team from 1995-98 and took first place in the quad at the Junior World Championships in 1995 and in the double in 1997. In 1996, she took second in the quad and second in the double at the 1998 Under-23 Nations Cup.
Kirsch was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in September of 2007 as the first rower in the history of OSU to be inducted.
