May 31, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Sarah Cannon, an assistant women's rowing coach at Syracuse for the last two years, is joining the Virginia women's rowing staff as an assistant coach. Cannon will work with UVa's novice rowers.

"Sarah will bring a tremendous amount of energy to our program," Virginia women's head rowing coach Kevin Sauer said in making the announcement of Cannon's appointment. "She is a very good coach who has had significant success working with college novices and high school age athletes. Sarah's contacts with coaches at the high school level will help our recruiting efforts and I'm excited about her joining our program."

Cannon's novice eight crew at Syracuse won the Big East Championship in that event in 2006 and 2007, and finished fourth at the Eastern Sprints this spring.

Prior to joining the coaching staff at Syracuse, Cannon was an assistant coach at Connecticut College for three years. She coached the third varsity eight to a gold medal at the 2003 New England Championships and the novice eight to the Grand Final of the ECAC Championships in 2004.

In addition to her responsibilities at the collegiate level, Cannon has coached at the junior national team level since the summer of 2003 with junior B and junior A groups. Many of her crews have won medals at the USRowing national championships.

Cannon is a 2000 graduate of Bates College with a degree in geology. She rowed at Bates for four years and was a team captain for three years.