Laura Ratz, who was a standout rower at Washington (Md.) College and coached in 2009 in Australia, was named a graduate assistant coach with the University of Delaware women’s rowing program on Nov. 19, 2009.
A native of Annapolis, Md. (Annapolis High School), Ratz is enrolled in graduate school at UD in the College of Business and Economics.
Ratz joins the UD women’s rowing coaching staff after coaching for Gippsland Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. At Gippsland she coached the varsity girls to their best season in school history. Her quad went undefeated in the regular season, and then placed fifth at the Australian national championships.
Shortly after the national championships Ratz guided her quad to another outstanding performance at the Head of the Schoolgirls Regatta, the largest female-only regatta in the world. The quad placed third of the HOSG, besting the third and fourth place crews from the national championships.
Prior to her coaching experience overseas, Ratz was a four-year varsity rower at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. She was in the winning Eights at the 2005 and 2007 Knecht Cup and Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. As a senior in 2008 she served as team captain and helped Washington College regain its title as Mid-Atlantic Champions and secure its first ever bid to the NCAA Rowing Championships.
Ratz was a Dean’s List student at Washington College and earned her degree in economics in 2008. She also was a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon National Economic Honor Society and studied abroad at the University of London, Royal Holloway in Surrey, England in 2006.
