USRowing Announces Jury Nominations for 2025 USRowing National Championship Regattas

USRowing and the Referee Committee are thrilled to announce the jury nominations for the 2025 USRowing National Championship regattas scheduled for this summer.  

"We are proud to announce our national championship juries, composed of the most experienced and dedicated officials in the country. I am confident that we have the best of the best to ensure a gold-level racing experience for all competitors," said Sarah McAuliffe, Director of Competition at USRowing. 

New to 2025, USRowing will be hosting the 2025 USRowing Youth Beach Sprint National Championships, a kickoff to the excitement of Beach Sprints being a newly added sport to the 2028 LA Olympics.  

"I’m pleased with the quality and experience of the referees who have been chosen to participate in this year’s USRowing’s National Championships," said Letcher Ross, the Chair of the Referee Committee. "The wealth of expertise they will bring to these events will be invaluable in assuring these Championships will provide an excellent experience for all who participate."

Referees marked (a) are alternate selections for each event. 

2025 USRowing Youth National Championships

Nathan Benderson Park – Sarasota, FL 

June 12-15 
  
Chief Referee: Doug Jones 

Doug Jones has been a USRowing Referee for 24 years. He is the Referee Trials Coordinator for the LA Olympic cycle, has been a World Rowing Umpire since 2013, and was the Deputy Chief Referee for the 2023 & 2024 USRowing Youth National Championships.

Deputy Chief: Mariah Foster

Mariah Foster has been active in the sport of rowing for over 25 years. She began her rowing career as a junior athlete with Green Lake Crew in Seattle, WA, and continued rowing at the University of Texas at Austin. Mariah’s experience extends beyond competitive junior and collegiate rowing—she also contributed as a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) member for several local regattas in Seattle, including the Green Lake Summer Extravaganza, and served as the volunteer coordinator for a national championship, the 2006 USRowing Masters Nationals.

While rowing in college, Mariah suffered an injury that unfortunately prevented her from continuing as an athlete. However, she successfully transitioned her passion from being in the boat to supporting those in it by becoming a rowing referee. As a referee, she dedicated time to officiating a variety of regattas at different levels, across multiple days, and in various regions of the U.S. This experience provided her the opportunity to work at international regattas, including events in British Columbia, Canada, as part of the U.S.-Canadian Umpire Exchange Program. Additionally, she has served as a National Technical Official (NTO) for several World Championships.

Outside of rowing, Mariah has a background in international education. She worked for eight years at an international school as a Health, Wellness, and Technology educator. Following her time in education, she transitioned into corporate training as a change manager. These diverse career paths have given her extensive experience interacting with different cultures, learners, peers, and language barriers.

These experiences have also motivated Mariah to expand her knowledge of sign language beyond American Sign Language to include basic signs from various countries. She has found sign language to be an invaluable tool for communicating with athletes at regattas, both nationally and internationally.

Mariah currently works as a change manager at Salesforce and is the proud mother of a one-year-old son.
  
Mid-Atlantic: Gudrun (Gudi) Bigga, C Duncan Hudson, Ellen Macnamara, Ruth Macnamara, Cindy Whitehead, Paul Phillips (a), Alexander Hasslacher (a), Michael Hryshchyshyn (a) 
Midwest: Eric Chiang, Bruce Binnig, Kym Reynolds, Rebecca Thompson 

Northeast: James Murray, Sally Ruderman, Susan Schmidt, Dennis Streebel, Robin Kenny  Margaret Demopoulos (a), Scott Meade (a)
Northwest: Nancy Johnston, Dee McComb, Bob Willenbring, Scott Woodworth (a), Jeannine Axelson (a), Dave Miller (a)
Southeast: Sue Farabaugh, Jon Gibbs, Brice Crossley, Elaine Roden , Debbie Grossman,  Ed Harris (a), Glen Harrison (a)
Southwest: Sheila Parker Tolle, Jean Reilly, Amir Meraban, Sara Moore (a), Howard Wolf-Rodda (a), Bill Eldon (a)

2025 USRowing Youth Beach Sprint National Championships

South Lido Key Beach, Sarasota FL 

June 17-18, 2025 

Chief Referee: Doug Jones  

Jury: Andy Cooke (Midwest), Bob Willenbring (Northwest), Debbie Grossman (Southeast), Duncan Hudson (Mid-Atlantic), Ellen Macnamara (Mid-Atlantic), Jon Gibbs (Southeast), Sue Farabaugh (Southeast), Jean Reilly (Southwest), Elaine Roden (Southeast) 

Alternates: Ruth Macnamara (Mid-Atlantic), Mariah Foster (Northwest) 

2025 USRowing RowFest National Championships (U23/Open/Youth/U17 Racing) 

Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti, MI 

July 12-15 
 
Chief Referee: June Harper 

June Harper has been a dedicated USRowing referee since 2002, officiating at all levels of competition—from middle school novices to elite athletes at the Olympic Trials. Based in the Mid-Atlantic region, she has played an integral role in supporting the explosive growth of scholastic rowing over the past two decades.

June’s journey in rowing began as a parent, but her passion for the sport led her to learn to row herself in order to become a more knowledgeable and effective official. Since then, she has served as a chief and deputy referee at numerous prestigious regattas, including state championships, USRowing Regional Championships, and USRowing Nationals.

In addition to her on-water officiating, June was the longtime chief referee of the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints and served as the chief referee of the first international indoor rowing regatta in Alexandria, VA. She further honed her leadership skills by attending Referee Chief College in Chula Vista in 2006.

Now in her 21st year on the Nationals jury, June remains deeply committed to upholding fairness, safety, and the integrity of the sport at every level of competition.

Deputy Chief: Blake Ebright-Jones 

Blake Ebright-Jones is a clinician based in the Midwest. Originally from Michigan, he began rowing in high school and continued competing in college. During his college years, Blake started refereeing various sports—including soccer, softball, basketball, and football—to help cover his rowing dues. Eventually, he expanded his officiating experience to include rowing.

As a rowing referee, Blake officiates regattas at all levels, from small local head races featuring athletes new to the sport to large Nationally Recognized Regattas (NRRs) and trials events. He serves as a Trials Chief and the Midwest Regional Coordinator on the USRowing Referee Committee. Additionally, he leads an NRR in the Midwest, where he prioritizes training as a key component of the experience for his jury members. 
  
Mid-Atlantic: Bruce Doak, Tony Denofa, Paul Caputo, Hal Johnson, Emily Eng (a), Edward Fagan (a), Kalyan Padhi (a) 

Midwest: Andrew Hauser, Jeremy Kelley, Kim Shilling, Xander Price, Andy Cooke, Betsy Binnig (a), Katherine Hauser (a), Kevin Kiser (a) 
Northeast: Kristin San Bento, Lorraine Baltzer, Steve Bohler, John Rhee (a), Xander Price (a)
Northwest: Sarah Lewins, Kathleen Crowe, Rachel Le Mieux, Letcher Ross, Dave Miller (a), Tone Lawver (a) 

Southeast: Heather Obora, John Housley, Mike Miller, Brian Haas (a), SuJean Lacy (a), Teresa Wright (a)

Southwest: Christopher Kerr, Michelle McCormack Kerr, Bridget Guccione, Howard Wolf-Rodda, Sara Moore (a), Amir Meraban (a)

2025 USRowing RowFest National Championships (Masters Racing) 

Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti, MI 

July 17-20 
  
Chief Referee: Rebecca Thompson   

Rebecca Thompson grew up in the Midwest before eventually settling in Louisiana, where she earned her undergraduate degree from LSU. She earned an MBA and JD from Oklahoma City University and took up rowing.

Rebecca began her referee journey as a Candidate in OKC, becoming an Assistant Referee in 2008, a Full Referee in 2012, and a Clinician in 2016. Over the years, she has officiated a wide variety of regattas and served as Chief for the Central Youth Regionals, BIG 10 Women's Rowing Championships, and Head of the Oklahoma. She also acted as Deputy for the Masters National Head Race under Eric Weir and for the 2023 and 2024 Masters National Championships under Cindy Whitehead. Throughout her journey, Rebecca has been grateful for the mentorship of many stellar referees.

Rebecca lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, with her husband, Bill Hobbs, and their dog, Rocky. She works as a regulatory compliance consultant for a large financial institution. An avid curler and Level II rowing coach, she also enjoys yoga and hiking.

Rebecca is honored to have been selected as Chief for the masters racing portion of the 2025 USRowing RowFest National Championships and looks forward to working with Deputy Marc Angelillo, USRowing, the Ann Arbor LOC, and the referee jury. 

Deputy Chief: Marc Angelillo  

Marc Angelillio began refereeing in 2017 at the conclusion of his son’s youth rowing career as a way to “give something back” to the sport. He earned his full referee license in 2019 and now officiates both local regattas in the Northwest region and national events, with the occasional regatta in British Columbia. Marc has been fortunate to serve on juries for multiple USRowing national championships, the IRA series/championships, University of Washington regattas, and USRowing Trials. He has also had the honor of acting as chief and/or deputy chief for numerous local regattas, including the USRowing Northwest Youth Championships in 2023, 2024, and 2025. This will be Marc’s first time serving as deputy chief or chief for RowFest.

On a personal level, Marc rows (not well, he admits) in a single out of College Club in Seattle, though he no longer competes. He owns and manages Stream Real Estate, a Seattle-based real estate development company focused on multifamily and hospitality projects in Washington State. He and his wife, Kim, live in Seattle with their two dogs, Finn and Jake. Their children are grown and living in Seattle and Victoria, BC, where their son Nick is a coach for the University of Victoria Women’s Crew team.
   
Mid-Atlantic: Rick Malstrom, John "Jay" O'Brien, Frank McClintick, Matthew Fortino, Jennifer Bryant, Larry Edwards,Diane Klein Region,  Dennis Fronheiser (a), Sharon Collins (a),  Jean-Claude Martin (a), Bernadette Murphy (a) , Croxton Gordon (a), Peter Hanlon (a)

Midwest: Bob Florka, Terry Friel Portell, Gena Terrill, Gregg Harris, Kathryn Slezak, Dan Smith, Seth Ahlborn (a)  
Northeast: Jennifer Palermo, John Jones, Kim Degutis, Leo Zhelnin (a)

Northwest: Laura McArdle, Dorothy Kim, Stephanie Fuller, Jeannine Axelson, Scott Woodworth (a), Patty Hyatt (a) 

Southeast: Robert Hart (a)  

Southwest: Eric Weir, Melanie Salter, Bill Eldon, Trinath Goteti, Rachel Yates, Sam Chang  
   
Additional selections for the above-mentioned regattas are to be named by the Chief Referees.