Helen Samaniego was hired as an assistant coach with the University of Pennsylvania women's rowing program in November 2021. She was already a Boathouse Row veteran, however, having coached at Lower Merion High School, Conshohocken Rowing Center, and the Vesper Masters Programs during the last few years.
Penn made history in Samaniego's first year on staff in 2022, qualifying for the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history and tying for 11th place with SMU in Sarasota, Fla. The Quakers' Varsity Eight finished ninth, the Second Varsity Eight took 11th, and the Varsity Four met its seed by finishing 17th. The program made yet another step forward in 2023, finishing third as a team at the Ivy League Championship and then sixth at NCAAs as the Varsity Eight was fourth overall, the Second Varsity Eight was ninth, and the V4A moved up one spot to 16th.
Following the 2023 spring season, Samaniego along with head coach Wesley Ng and fellow assistant Kumari Lewis were named the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Region I Staff of the Year. That staff was still in place a month later, when the Quakers made their debuts at both the Henley Women's Regatta and the Henley Royal Regatta over in the United Kingdom. Of particular note, Penn's Varsity Eight advanced all the way to the Island Challenge Cup final at the Royal Regatta, falling just short of beating British University champion Oxford Brookes for the title.
Samaniego trained as an elite rower for 11 years, qualifying for two Senior and three U-23 national teams and retiring after the 2021 Olympic Trials where she competed in the lightweight women’s double. Samaniego won a silver medal in the lightweight women’s quad at the 2013 World Rowing Championships—a boat coached by Ng. At the 2012 Olympic Trials, she placed fourth in the single sculls.
A rower since age eight in Houston, Texas, the former Helen Tompkins graduated from the University of Virginia as a double major in Foreign Affairs (concentration in Latin America) and Studio Art (concentration in painting) with a minor in Architecture. As a senior in 2010, she helped the Cavaliers win their first NCAA Championship in women’s rowing at Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif., rowing in the 7 seat for UVA’s Varsity Eight that season.
