Dori Bene 2024-25 Women's Rowing Staff

Assistant Coach

Email dbene@nd.edu

Bio

While it was announced in 1996 that the University of Notre Dame would grant varsity status to the women’s rowing team, the program did not fully begin until October 29, 1997, when Martin Stone became its first and only head coach.

Five years later, Notre Dame earned its first trip to the NCAA Championship and has appeared in the national regatta nine times. The program has produced Olympic gold medal winners, world champions, Notre Dame valedictorians, doctors, scientists and engineers. It has established itself as one of the model programs in the country that embraces success on the water balanced with outstanding success in the classroom.

Stone has built the program from a simple lightweight eight victory at the 1998 Head of the Rock in Rockford, Illinois, to a power that strung together 10 consecutive BIG EAST Conference rowing championships.

The Irish announced their presence on a national level in 2002, winning the program’s first medal in the Central/South Region Championships in the Novice Eight, then earning an at-large bid for the Varsity Eight to the NCAA Championship. For his work with that 2002 crew, Stone was named Central Region Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the National Coach of the Year.

Since that first national berth, the team has returned eight additional times to the national championship regatta and boasts two ninth-place national finishes.

As the program continued to develop, the remarkable milestones and achievements began to compile into one of the most impressive lists in the country –

2003 – Ashlee Warren becomes the first Irish rower to be named BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
2004 – Notre Dame earns its first of 10 consecutive BIG EAST titles with four boats winning their respective grand finals. Stone was named the conference coach of the year.
2004 – Natalie Ladine is named as the program’s initial first-team Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-American.
2006 – Stone and his staff are named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Irish to their third straight conference title.
2006 – The United State National Team Selection Camp nabs Amanda Polk as the program’s first rower to receive an invitation to the team camp.
2006 – All three eligible boats, the Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four qualify for the NCAA Championship.
2007 – The Irish sweep through three top-10 teams to post a perfect 3-0 mark at the Windermere Classic. The Varsity Eight would climb to third in the nation according to the U.S.Rowing/CRCA national poll.
2009 – Lauren Buck is selected as a Byron V. Kanaley Award recipient, the second in program history (Katrina Ten Eyck, 2000). The award is the highest honor given to a graduating student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame.
2012 – The BIG EAST Conference title win streak reaches nine as the Irish win five of six grand finals.
2012 – Amanda Polk becomes the first Irish rower to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team as an alternate at the London Games.
2013 – Notre Dame makes it 10-for-10 in its final 10 years of competition at the BIG EAST Championship, claiming victory in five of six grand finals.
2014 – Notre Dame joins the Atlantic Coast Conference and finishes second in the championship regatta behind Virginia.
2014 – Notre Dame matches its best finish in the NCAA Championship, finishing ninth at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
2015 – The McConnell Family Boathouse is dedicated on the banks of the St. Joseph River as the new home for Notre Dame rowing. The 15,000-square foot, state-of-the-art facility quickly establishes itself as one of the best boathouses in the country.
2015 – Anna Kottkamp becomes the first student-athlete at Notre Dame to be named valedictorian of the senior class.
2016 – Amanda Polk becomes the first Notre Dame rowing alumnae to win an Olympic gold medal, helping the Women’s Eight to victory in Rio.

Martin Stone Honors and Awards –

National Coach of the Year Finalist – 2002, 2006
Central Region Coach of the Year – 2002, 2006
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013
BIG EAST Coach of the Year – 2004

CRCA First-Team All-Americans –

Erin Boxberger – 2014, 2017
Molly Bruggeman – 2012, 2013
Amanda Polk – 2006, 2007, 2008
Natalie Ladine – 2004

CRCA Second-Team All-Americans –

Ailish Sheehan – 2015
Molly Bruggeman – 2014
Erin Boxberger – 2013
Allison Marsh – 2007
Sarah Paladech – 2006
Amanda Polk – 2005
Ashlee Warren – 2002

Academic All-Americans –

2015 – Anna Kottkamp (first team)
2009 – Lauren Buck (third team)
2001 – Leah Ashe (second team)

BIG EAST/ACC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year

2018 – Treasa O’Tighearnaigh (ACC)
2003 – Ashlee Warren (BIG EAST)

By The Numbers –

99 – CRCA Scholar-Athlete awards
35 – All-ACC Academic Team selections
28 – CRCA First-Team All-Region honors
24 – All-BIG EAST Conference honors
19 – CRCA Second-Team All-Region honors
15 – U.S. Senior National Team Selections (Amanda Polk nine times, Molly Bruggeman four times, Erin Boxberger twice)
13 – ACC All-Conference honors
10 – U.S. Under-23 National Team Selections
2 – Canadian National Team Selections (Ellen Gleadow)
1 – Ireland Under-23 National Team Selection (Ailish Sheehan)

Before his hiring at Notre Dame, Stone was the women’s rowing coach at the Naval Academy from 1992 through 1996. He coached the Mids to an NCAA Division II National Championship by winning the Varsity EIght title at the Champion International Collegiate Rowing Championships, while also capturing wins in the First Novice Eight and Second Novice Eight competitions.

Stone also served as the plebe lightweight coach at the Naval Academy in 1991. He began his assistant coaching career at his alma mater, St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, in the 1990 season. As an undergraduate with the Gaels, Stone was named Most Valuable Oarsman three years and earned three varsity letters on both heavy and lightweight boats.

Born March 25, 1966, Stone and his wife, Amy, two sons, Jack and Noah. On April 21, 2017, Stone was awarded an Honorary Monogram by the Notre Dame Monogram Club at the McConnell Family Boathouse.