1997

Heather Smith Head Coach
Women’s Lightweight Crew
Heather Smith was named the first coach of women’s lightweight crew at Princeton in April of 1997. She has led the Tigers to a 12-2 record and two first-place finishes at Eastern Sprints. Smith led the Tigers to the program’s first national championship in 1999 with a first-place finish at the IRA championship. Her team repeated as national champions in 2000 in only her third year as coach.
Smith came to Princeton from Columbia, where she served as novice coach and a physical education instructor. Prior to her year at Columbia, Smith was an intern coach at Princeton under former women’s coach Dan Roock and current women’s open coach Lori Dauphiny. She has also coached at Wisconsin, where she was active in the development of the lightweight program.
A 1992 graduate of Trinity, Smith was a three-year varsity rower and two-time captain before earning a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Soviet studies and the school’s outstanding scholar-athlete award. She also holds a master’s in public policy from Trinity.