For further information, please contact us via email at:
info (at) themountainlakescrewclub (dot) com
Head Coach – Aleksandra Bucan
Ms. Bucan has a Masters Degree in Coaching from Dowling College in New York, and is an international rower with more than 20 years experience. As a competitor, Coach Bucan won medals at the US national collegiate level, the Serbian national level, as well as, at several international regattas including the Balkan Championships. Her coaching credentials include leading both men’s and women’s teams to success at the high school and junior level both in the US and in Serbia. More...
Assistant Coach – Liz Ponder
Assistant Coach Liz Ponder joins The Mountain Lakes Crew Club for another year. Before coming to Mountain Lakes she was the head novice coach of the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club. She also had the chance to coach at the US Junior National Team Development camp this past summer. Liz has also earned her certification as a Level II Rowing Coach by US Rowing.
Liz is a 2007 graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physiology. She is now working towards her doctorate in Physical Therapy at Long Island University, Brooklyn campus.
Rowing Highlights: Liz started rowing for the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club (CJRC) as a freshman in high school. During her time there, she placed first every year at the Midwest Regional Championships and won the 2002 and 2003 national championships in the team's first eight. In 2002, she was invited to attend the US Rowing Junior National Team Development camp during the summer. Liz was recruited to the University of Minnesota where she had a full athletic scholarship. She rowed for another four years, finishing second place at the Big Ten Championships her freshman year, earning Big Ten Championship titles her junior and senior year, and a Big Ten Championship team win her senior year with a record total of 150 points.
Assistant Coach – Tanya Lubansky
Tanya Lubansky has also returned to the Mountain Lakes Crew Club this year as Assistant Coach. Having always had a passion for water sports and physical exercise, Tanya tried out for crew as a naive freshmen at Wheaton College. Rowing soon became a passion and she continued to push herself harder each year, successfully competing at large events such as Dad Vail and Head of the Charles. After graduating in 2006 with a BS in Environmental Studies, Tanya moved to DC and rowed for TBCRacing's Open Womens Team. There she gained experience rowing in 8+, 4+, 4-, 2-, 4X, and 2X shells, training with a USRowing Development Camp, and further competition both locally and nationally.
Tanya is excited to return MLCC and to be able to use her passion for rowing to help motivate students. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Ecology at Rutgers/NJIT and working on multiple projects including the development of an automated identification system for coral reef fish and quantifying distribution shifts of baleen whales in the Gulf of Maine.
