Penn AC Gold Coaches
Paul Coomes - Director of Penn AC Gold
Paul's journey in rowing started 35 years ago, where he and 14 other students helped start up a small club rowing program at the University of Dayton. His 3+ years of rowing at Dayton could be termed forgettable in terms of results on the water, but his biggest victory came in helping to build a sustainable rowing program that was both competitive and respected not only within the rowing community but also by the University. When he graduated, he volunteered to coach Dayton’s men’s team and discovered his true passion in life – coaching. For three years, he led a Dayton men’s rowing team that experienced significant growth and improved results.
A move to Philadelphia in the fall of 1998 and a chance encounter led to Paul being hired as the Head Coach for Conestoga High School’s yet-to-be-started rowing team. While he had no experience coaching junior athletes, he was excited to have the opportunity to build a new program in what he considers to be rowing nirvana, Philadelphia and Boathouse Row. During his 18 years coaching Conestoga, he built the Club into one of the most respected rowing organizations in the region and the team into a scholastic sculling powerhouse, coaching crews to 21 Stotesbury Cup titles, 25 Scholastic National Championships and multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals at the USRowing Youth National Championships. He was named the 2007 Schuylkill Navy Coach of the Year, the 2014 American Junior Coaching Conference Girls Sculling Coach of the Year, and in what he considers to be the highlight of his coaching career, his girls 4x won the Schools/Junior 4x at the 2006 Women’s Henley Regatta.
His summers and falls as Conestoga’s coach were spent helping his wife start and grow PA Rowing Camps, a summer program dedicated to teaching adults and juniors to row, as well as coaching crews of various levels for several clubs along Boathouse Row, including Penn AC, Undine Barge Club, Bachelors Barge Club, and Crescent Boat Club. Numerous crews under his guidance found success at the junior, intermediate, senior, and elite level. He served as the coach for the US Lightweight Men’s 1x at the 2009 World Championships in Poland. While at Undine, the Club won the Colgan Cup and the Marion D. Ventura Women’s Points Trophy in 2001. His crews also won the Head of the Charles in 2000, 2001, and 2003, the Canadian Henley in 2002 and multiple Club National Championships between 2000 and 2003.
Recently, Paul has taken on a new role as Penn AC’s High Performance Junior Head Coach and the Director of Junior Programs. He is excited about the opportunity to start up the first, year-round high performance junior program in the city of Philadelphia.
Paul is a degreed engineer and when not involved in the sport of rowing has worked in various professional roles, including project management, product development and innovation management. Paul resides in the East Falls section of Philadelphia with his wife, Amy Giddings, and their three children.
Will Scully - Junior Men’s Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Coach Scully returns to Penn AC Gold for his sixth summer on the coaching staff and his fourth summer leading the men’s squad. In his three years as head coach, the Penn AC Gold men have brought home a lot of hardware but most importantly, he helped the team secure three consecutive team points trophies at the Independence Day Regatta and two consecutive Colgan Cup team points trophies at USRowing "RowFest" National Championship Regatta.
Will began his rowing career in 2008 as a junior at Simsbury High School, in Simsbury, CT. Will continued his rowing career at Trinity College, in Hartford CT, where he won two New England Championships and one ECAC Championship. He helped Trinity secure the New England’s Points Trophy for three consecutive years.
Following his graduation, Will went to Philadelphia to continue rowing for the U23 program at Penn AC, and represented the club at U23 Trials, Club Nationals, and Canadian Henley. In search of more rowing and adventure, Will moved to Sydney, Australia, where he joined Mosman Rowing Club and trained with members of the Australian U23 and senior national teams. He competed at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta, earning a spots in the open 4x and open 2x finals.
Upon returning home, Will took on some brief coaching stints in Connecticut before moving to The Hill School in 2016. Under Will's guidance, the Hill School boys won the 2018 Stotesbury Cup Junior 4+ event and finished 4th in the 2019 Senior 4+.
In 2025, Coach Scully moved to the St. Andrew’s School in Delaware where he serves as the boy's Head Rowing Coach and a physics teacher.
Adam Sanin – Junior Men’s Assistant Coach/Manager of Telemetry/Data
Adam Sanin returns to Penn AC Gold as an assistant coach, bringing a wealth of experience developing elite junior rowers. With a background spanning collegiate, high school, and club-level coaching, he looks forward to continuing Penn AC's tradition of excellence.
Sanin currently serves as the Assistant Coach for Georgetown University Lightweights. In his first season with the squad the Hoyas saw signature wins in the 2V and 3V over top ranked Ivy league opponents during the duel season and capped off the season with an IRA gold in the LWT4+.
His coaching career includes time at Boston University, where he helped guide the varsity heavyweight 4+ to an Eastern Sprints Championship. His junior's coaching experience spans time with Princeton National Rowing Association, Community Rowing Inc, and his alma mater, Gonzaga College High School.
During his time at CRI, he graduated from the Institute of Rowing Leadership and earned a Level 5 coaching accreditation recognized by the United States Center for Coaching Education
Sanin is committed to fostering a high-performance environment at Penn AC Gold and preparing athletes for success at the Independence Day Regatta, USRowing Summer National Championship, and beyond. He aims to help athletes refine their approach, maximize physiological development, and prepare for the next level of their rowing careers.
Sierra Williams - Junior Women's Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Sierra Williams returns to Boathouse Row for her third summer with Penn AC Gold.
Sierra began rowing in 2012 at Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center in Seattle, WA. After graduating from high school, Sierra continued rowing at the University of Washington, earning spots on the 2019 Pac-12 and NCAA championship women’s team.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in Geography and Urban Planning, she began coaching for Seattle Preparatory School in the fall of 2022. In her first two years, the program sent 15 boats to the USRowing Youth National Championships, setting a program record in the spring of 2024 by sending nine boats.
Since January of 2025, she has been the girl's Head Coach at Sammamish Rowing Association. During her first spring season with Sammamish, the SRA junior girls claimed the Northwest Regional Women’s Team Points Trophy for the first time since 2018. SRA then took a varsity 4+ and U17 4+ to the Youth National Championships, where they placed 16th and 12th respectively, making it through to the A/B semis, the first SRA girls' boats to do so since 2019.
In the summer of 2025, her second year with Penn AC Gold, she returned as the junior girl's Head Coach. At the Independence Day Regatta, the team claimed the Team Points Trophy for the third consecutive year. At USRowing's RowFest National Championships, Penn AC swept the men’s, women’s, and Overall Team Points Trophies, marking the first time in program history that the women of Penn AC Gold brought home the Women's Team Points title.
When Sierra is not coaching or rowing semi-recreationally, she enjoys skiing in the Pacific Northwest or lounging with her cats Gustav and Petunia.
Mackenna Cameron – Junior Women’s Assistant Coach
Mackenna began rowing for Green Lake Crew, in Seattle, WA. After two successful years with GLC, she was recruited to row for the University of Washington. During her time at UW, she earned seats in the varsity 4+ that won at Head of the Charles, and in the second varsity 8+ that won the PAC-12 and NCAA championships.
Upon graduating with a bachelor’s in sociology, she began coaching juniors for Green Lake Crew. Working alongside some of her former coaches, she focused on building a strong novice program that included Green Lake’s largest novice boy’s class. She was also essential in leading them to medal winning positions every year at Northwest Youth Championships. After three years with the novice program, she took a position within GLC as an experienced boy’s coach.
For the past year she has been working with Sammamish Rowing Association as their U17 boy’s coach. This has been a fun change of pace, but Mackenna is thrilled to get back on the Schuylkill for her second summer with Penn AC Gold as an assistant coach for the junior women’s team!
Alex Natale – Junior Women’s Assistant Coach
No stranger to Boathouse Row, Alex Natale joins the Penn AC Gold coaching staff for her first summer on the Schuylkill. The Philadelphia native began her rowing career at Mount St. Joseph Academy before competing at the Division I level for the University of Tennessee and Drexel University. At Drexel, Alex served as team captain, earned All-Conference honors, and won a CAA Championship and Dad Vail Gold in the Varsity 8+.
Her elite competitive trajectory also included setting all-time school erg records and receiving an invitation to the 2021 U.S. U23 Selection Camp.
Following her collegiate career, Alex moved to the UK to earn a Master of Science in Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Oxford Brookes University while training with their world-renowned rowing program. She was awarded the Polar UK Prize for the most outstanding graduate research in her field.
As a coach, Alex has a proven track record of championship results. She served as girl's crew coach at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in 2023–2024, guiding the program to its first-ever Manny Flick Points Trophy in women’s sculling and first medals at both the Stotesbury Regatta and SRAA Nationals.
In 2025, during her first season coaching at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School, her crews claimed two golds at the Philadelphia City Championships, a gold and silver at Stotesbury Regatta, and the varsity 4+ title at SRAA Nationals. The season concluded with a trip to the Henley Women’s Regatta to compete for the prestigious Groton School Challenge Cup—marking the strongest season in the young program’s history.
Alex is currently an Assistant Coach at the University of Iowa.
Addison DerGarabedian – Women’s Team Program Leader
A Penn AC Gold Alum, Addi DerGarabedian is thrilled to return to the Schuylkill this summer as the women’s team Program Leader.
Addi currently coxes under Head Coach Adrienne Martelli, at Clemson University, in their Division I women’s rowing team while pursuing her B.A. in communication with minors in political science and athletic leadership. Competing in the ACC, she plays an active role in building boat speed and strengthening Clemson’s position within one of the most competitive conferences in collegiate rowing. During the preseason, she was ranked the #1 freshman coxswain in the class of 2029 by For Stars Network.
Her rowing journey began at Sammamish Rowing Association in Redmond, Washington, where she coxed the varsity 8+ and varsity 4+ for the men’s team. In addition to becoming a back-to-back Northwest Regional Champion, she raced at premier regattas including Head of the Charles, Windermere Cup, and Head of the Hooch. She concluded her high school career by driving the varsity 4+ to an A-Final appearance at USRowing Youth National Championships, the program’s first A-Final appearance in a decade.
In the summer of 2024, Addi raced with Penn AC Gold, contributing to podium finishes in the women’s first 8+ and first 4+. She credits that summer with deepening her love for high-performance training and the culture of excellence that defines Boathouse Row, and she is excited to give back to a program that shaped her competitive mindset and passion for the sport.
Addi credits her goals of coaching to the incredible mentors and coaches who shaped her both on and off the water. Their leadership and belief in her sparked her desire to give back to the sport that has given her so much. She hopes to create the same kind of positive, competitive, and empowering environment for the next generation of athletes.
When not at practice, Addi enjoys hiking, running, cooking, yoga, and spending time with friends and family outdoors.
Coxswain Coach/Assistant Coach
Michael Harris returns to Penn AC as the coxswain and assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s team for the second year. Michael competed as a coxswain with Syracuse University competing in the varsity eight and earned sixth place finishes at the 2024 Eastern Sprints and IRA Regattas.
Following his collegiate career, he joined Penn AC Gold as a program leader for the 2024 season helping the men’s U17 8+ win at the USRowing Summer National Championships ("RowFest").
He then briefly returned to his home program, Winter Park Crew, to briefly serve as the men’s freshman coach before returning to the Schuylkill to help the men’s U17 8+ earn silver at the 2025 RowFest. Following that, he moved to coach at Los Gatos Rowing Club where his U17 4+ broke the course record by five seconds at Head of the Charles.