22 June 2022

In a press release, Trinity College, Hartford, announces that Peter Graves has been appointed the college’s women Head Coach.

Trinity College Athletic Director Drew Galbraith has announced the hiring of Peter Graves as the head coach of the Bantams’ women’s rowing program. Graves served as the interim head coach of women’s rowing at Trinity this past year, leading the team to a sixth-place finish in the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC) Regatta. 

“We are thrilled to have Peter in this role,” said Galbraith. “His work leading the program this past year was a wonderful example of his ability to build a strong community of rowers and help boats go fast. It’s rare to find someone with the passion he holds for Trinity and our students, along with his own exceptional rowing and coaching experience at Trinity and around the world.”

Graves has extensive experience both as a rowing coach and an elite rower, including his previous stint with the Bantams as men’s novice coach and recruiting coordinator in 2009-10. During his first season as interim head coach of the women’s program, the Bantams boasted three all-conference performers with Summer Dow and Zoe Tiffin earning first team honors and Hannah Michelson earning a spot on the second team.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to build off last year’s momentum,” said Graves. “Trinity Women’s Rowing is an amazing family of alums, parents, and of course the current team. I feel honored to be the steward of this great program. This past year reminded me of how well-suited Trinity College is to provide the quintessential collegiate rowing experience. I am incredibly excited and motivated to develop our student-athletes into well-rounded rowers and accelerate the future growth of this program one stroke at a time.”

Graves is one of the most accomplished oarsman in Trinity history, having powered Trinity crews to as high as a No. 10 nationally among all collegiate divisions, four New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) titles, and the program’s first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship during his career. He owns six gold medals in the Head of the Charles Regatta and he stroked the Trinity varsity eight to a Henley Royal Regatta victory in 2005. Graves is a six-time member of Team USA in the double and quadruple sculls and competed for the USA in the 2012 London Olympics. He fell one second short of qualifying to compete in both the Beijing and Rio Olympic Games and has coached for Team USA in the single sculls and double sculls.

A 2007 graduate of Trinity with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Graves has coached with Long Beach Junior Crew in California since 2010 and has served as that team’s head women’s rowing coach and program manager for the last five years. As head men’s novice coach at Trinity, Graves helped the Bantams win both the New England Rowing Championship (NERC) and ECAC National Invitational Championship (NIRC) titles in 2010. He has volunteered as an assistant with Trinity’s men’s program and locally in Connecticut at the high school level over the last couple of years as well. Graves received Trinity’s George Sheldon McCook Trophy as the college’s senior male athlete of the year in 2007 and was the first male rower inducted into the Trinity Athletics Hall of Fame last fall.