Coaches

Boys' Coaching Staff

Laura Butterfield, Ph.D., Head Boys Coach - Laura rowed novice thru varsity, including stroke seat, at WPI for 3 years. She has completed the USRowing level 1 and 2 coaching certification programs. In addition to coaching FHS Crew for two decades, she has also taught science at FHS for more than 25 years. As the head coach for 4 years, she managed all aspects of the program, and in that time was responsible for increased recruitment and retention (from 35 participants to nearly 100) and improvements in competition. She is currently the Head Boys and Varsity Coach, taking all varsity boats to silver and gold medals in the CT State Championships in Spring 2007, 2008, 2012, and 2019, and first boat to the petit finals at NERIA in Spring of 2008. 

Adam Askham, Junior Varsity Boy's Coach - Coach Askham has been rowing or coaching for the past 27 years. He rowed at Simsbury High School and then rowed for four years at Washington College. 

He started coaching in fall 2007 as the Head Coach of Glastonbury Girl's Crew at Glastonbury High School, where the 1st and 2nd boat won gold during his tenure. He was Farmington Girl's Head Coach from 2012 - 2013, where the girls swept states and the team won the team point trophy. He then coached at the collegiate level first as an assistant and then a head coach for five years. His teams medaled at the Head of the Charles, won New Englands, and won a Dad Vail Championship. Coach Askham moved back to coach at Simsbury in fall 2018 and in the spring took over the boy's team. In 2022 and 2023 his first varsity won the state championship and in 2022 his 1V was the 9th ranked crew in New England. 

Coach Askham is excited to be back in Farmington and is looking forward to working with the great athletes and coaching staff. Coach Askham lives in Simsbury with his dog Patton and is a Special Education Paraprofessional at Simsbury High School. 

Hannah McCallum, Novice Boys Coach - This is Hannah's second year coaching with Farmington Crew. Previously, Hannah coached at Lewis S. Mills High School. She is a graduate of Farmington High School and was a coxswain on the team.

Girls' Coaching Staff

Kirsten Preskenis, Head Girls Coach - This is Kirsten's sixth year as Head Girls Coach, and her eighth year with the team. In addition to Farmington, she is also the Head Women's Coach at Riverfront Recapture in Hartford. Kirsten oversees summer recreational programming for middle and high school students in Farmington, and facilitates the River Hawk Rowing Girl's Leadership Program for aspiring captains and student leaders.

Kirsten has coached at Trinity College, Central Connecticut Rowing, Farmington Valley Rowing Association, and Power10 Indoor Rowing Center in Avon. She started her coaching career in 2012 at her alma mater, Stony Brook University, where she held both novice and head coach roles. This past summer, in her first season with Riverfront, Kirsten led the Women's Development Team to historic program success at regattas in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Delaware.

Aside from coaching, Kirsten has more than twenty years of rowing experience at the high school, collegiate, and master levels. She learned to row and compete at Simsbury High School, then continued the sport for four more years at Stony Brook University in New York. Currently, she competes with Riverfront Recapture at regattas across the northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Most recently, Kirsten raced at the USRowing RowFest National Championships in Oklahoma, bringing home two gold medals and a bronze medal in sculling, sweeping, and coxing events.

Kirsten is a USRowing Level II Certified Coach and a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, with specializations in high performance training, behavior change, and women's fitness.

Erin Kolcharno, Assistant Girls Coach - Erin rowed at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania for 4 years, serving as captain for 2 of those years. She then was assistant coach for the women’s team for 3 years. Now that she is back in CT, she can be found running, sailing and hanging out with her husband and goldendoodle! She currently works as nurse practitioner in endocrinology and is excited to be joining the Farmington Crew coaching staff!

Jennifer Wagner,  Novice Girls Coach - Jennifer is in her sixth year coaching with Farmington Crew. She rowed for Marietta College, and spent her summer breaks rowing for Vesper on Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. While at Marietta, she competed in 4's and pairs at several large regattas. After college, Jennifer rowed at the masters level until she moved to Brazil to teach. She runs marathons and triathlons, but hopes to get back into a boat soon!

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