NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion rowing head coach, Dan Garbutt added three new members to the rowing coaching staff Garbutt announced Thursday morning. Joining the Monarchs are Stephen Chilmaid and Alyssa Armstrong as assistant coaches, while former ODU rower Colleen Rennie returns as a graduate assistant coach.
“I am very eager to begin this season with the new staff,” said Garbutt. “The cumulative experience of the group has already pushed the team in new ways and I feel that great things are ahead for the program."
Chilmaid has spent the last 30 years working in the corporate world as a supervisor in the General Electric Company. A native of the United Kingdom, Chilmaid received his masters in business administration from the University of Kingston in 2000. He was a former member of the British National Team, as well as an organizational member of US Rowing, British Rowing and the London Rowing Club.
He has held various coaching roles in both the UK and USA with crews of all levels across both sweep and sculling. Chilmaid was a part-time coach at North Moreland (Va.) Rowing from 2007-09 where he helped start the high school program. While at North Moreland the team achieved a silver medal with Men’s 1X at the Virginia State Championships.
Most recently Chilmaid acted as the Masters Coordinator for Virginia Boat Club Men’s Master’s Program; he handled coaching responsibilities along with regatta and event coordinator roles.
Armstrong was named assistant coach after serving last season as a graduate assistant for the Lady Monarchs.
In 2015-16, Armstrong helped lead the Lady Monarchs to a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The sixth-place finish was a two-spot improvement on the 2015 conference finish. The 2015-16 season also saw the 1V8 earn Big 12 Boat of the Week honors in late March after a dominant performance at the UNC Invite, which marked the first time an ODU boat earned that accolade.
Off the water, the Lady Monarchs also excelled in the classroom in 2015-16, as a total of 22 rowers earned Academic All-Big 12 honors, including 19 first team selections.
Prior to joining the Monarchs, Armstrong was a Hawkeye at the University of Iowa. While at Iowa she picked up consecutive All-Big Ten Academic Team honors (2013-15) and competed in every regatta during her two-year stint. In the 2013-14 season she was a member of the 1V4+ helping the team take home a sixth place finish in the Big-10 Championship and finishing fifth in the 1V4+.
In 2014-15 she joined the 2V8+ for all 10 regattas during the season helping the team finish second at the B1G/Big 12 Challenge. She also helped the team to a sixth place finish, the second highest scoring performance at the Big Ten Championships in program history, and the highest since 2003.
Rennie rowed for the Lady Monarchs from 2012-15 and earned back-to-back All-Big 12 team selections as a key member of the ODU 1V8. She is a former two-time team MVP as well as served as team captain of the Lady Monarchs.
The Lady Monarchs start competitive fall action on October 22nd at the Head of the Charles Regatta.