Veronika Platzer has been named the director of the Bellegarde Boathouse.

Veronika Platzer has been named head coach of the River Hawks women’s rowing program and director of the Bellegarde Boathouse.

Platzer, who led the University of Virginia rowing team’s women’s four to the 2004 NCAA Championship, has an extensive background in the sport. She has spent the last two years at the University of Michigan, which following four years at the University of Virginia and stints at the University of Wisconsin and Mercyhurst College.

Platzer has also been a U.S. Junior National Team coach for the last three years.

“The search committee’s goal was to identify the candidate best suited to develop a thriving rowing program and create a vibrant boathouse environment, and we’ve done that with Veronika Platzer,” says Director of Athletics Dana Skinner. “Veronika’s extraordinary background as an athlete, her passion for rowing, and her sense of optimism about future possibilities made her the ideal candidate.”

The goal is for UMass Lowell’s women’s rowing program to return to varsity status, ending a six-year hiatus as a club sport.

In November of 2007, the University received $1 million from the state for improvements to the Bellegarde Boathouse. With the grant, Skinner says, reinstating women’s crew was a natural progression.

“This is another positive step in the University’s efforts to attract high-quality students,” Skinner says. “Elevating women’s rowing to NCAA Division II status will provide our students with another exciting varsity sport and enable the University to take full advantage of the Merrimack River and the newly renovated Bellegarde Boathouse.”

Platzer is a 1987 graduate of Grinnell College where she was a three-time NCAA Division III champion in the discus. She was inducted into the college’s Hall of Fame in 1991 and voted the NCAA’s Female Track and Field Athlete of the Decade (1980-90).

Last May, Platzer was among five men and women inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame.

- Kristen_OReilly