Friday afternoon, Duke rowing head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno announced her decision to leave the Blue Devils following the conclusion of this season, per a team release. She has been with the program since the 2015-16 season; she cites her reason for leaving as a desire to spend more time with her family.
"I would like to thank all of the amazing students, parents and coaching staff who have been so instrumental to the program's success and have made my time at Duke so special," Cooke Carcagno said. "We have a great group of students this year who have really worked hard to get to where they are now, and I'm excited to see how they finish out the season."
In her nine years at Duke, Carcagno has taken the rowing team to five national championship races and been named ACC Coach of the Year twice. This season, the Blue Devils have seen increasing success — at the Lake Wheeler Invitational last weekend, they won second overall in the regatta, with a slew of first-place victories in individual races.
Carcagno was a Division I rower herself at the University of California Berkeley, and a member of the U.S. Rowing national team between 2004 and 2007. She took over the Blue Devil team as just the second head coach in the program’s history.
"We thank Coach Cooke Carcagno for her commitment to Duke over the past nine years, as she has lifted our rowing program to unprecedented success on the water," Athletic Director Nina King said. "We wish her all the best in her future endeavors."
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Sophie Levenson is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.