Distance

Scott Christensen, Stillwater HS

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 8:30am
Topic: The Lactate Dilemma in Middle Distance Training

Scott Christensen has been the boys head cross country and head track coach at Stillwater High School in Minnesota since 1981. During that period Stillwater has won eleven state titles and has been ranked by The Harrier five different years in the National Top 10 High School Rankings. In 1997 Stillwater was named the National High School Champions in cross country.

In 2011, his team was a Nike Team Nationals finalist claiming 10th place in that event. Since 1995, five different Stillwater milers have captured Minnesota State 1600 meter titles. Since 2003, four different Stillwater alumni have run sub four minutes for the mile. That list includes: Luke Watson, Sean Graham, Jake Watson, and Ben Blankenship.

Christensen worked 13 years as an instructor in the USATF Level II Endurance Schools from 1997-2010 and is currently serving as the lead instructor of the Specialist Certification Course of the USTFCCCA Track & Field Academy. He is the co-author of the Endurance Curriculum of the Track & Field Academy program. He was USATF Chairman of Endurance Education from 1999-2010. In 2003 he served as the USA Junior Team Leader to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland and in 2008 served as the USA Senior Team Leader to the IAAF Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Joe Franklin – New Mexico

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 10:10am
Topic: Planning the Training Year

Closing in on a decade as the head track & field and cross country coach at New Mexico – he’s entering his eighth season in Albuquerque, to be precise – following a 13-year run in the same role at Butler, Joe Franklin is one of the country’s most knowledgeable and successful distance coaches.

His Lobo women have won six consecutive Mountain West Conference titles on the cross country course, while his men have claimed five in a row. Between both the cross country and track & field seasons, his New Mexico program has claimed 14 total conference team titles since the 2009-10 academic year – far and away the most in the league.

Since coming to New Mexico, his program has produced 19 student-athletes who have combined for 32 All-America awards. His women’s cross country teams have finished in the top 10 nationally three times – highlighted by a program-best fifth-place showing in 2010 – and his men have made it to the NCAA Championships in each of the past four seasons, finishing eighth in 2009.

During his time at Butler he developed a program that sent eight teams (six women’s, two men’s) to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing a then-program-best fourth in 2004 to earn him National Coach of the Year honors. His athletes won 128 conference titles and earned nine All-America honors.

Chick Hislop – Weber State (Retired)

When: Monday, December 15 at 2:15pm
Topic: Training for the Steeplechase

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 9:45am
Topic: Distance Hurdling Technique for Steeplechase

A USTFCCCA Hall of Fame after a 38-year career at Weber State, Chick Hislop has long been one of the country’s leading authorities on distance running.

His historic career included 21 Big Sky team titles, including seven in cross country. He was a National Coach of the Year in cross country during the 1991 season when his Wildcat men finished fourth at nationals. His squads finished among the top 20 teams at NCAAs nine times during his tenure.

Specializing in the distance events with a particular expertise on the steeplechase, he has presented on technique and training to international audiences on multiple occasions and was the assistant coach for distance events at the 1996 Olympics.

He coached 1984 NCAA steeplechase champion Farley Gerber among 26 Wildcats who earned 46 All-America honors.

Andrea Grove-McDonough – Iowa State

When: Monday, December 15 at 4:45pm
Topic: The Anatomy of a Cross Country Season

Now in her second season as the head women’s cross country coach at Iowa State and an assistant coach for distances during the track & field season, Grove-McDonough has built on an already successful Cyclones distance running program.

Her women won the Big 12 Championships in cross country with a meager score of 35 points, going on to win their fourth regional title in a row with an equally impressive score of 39. At Nationals, she coached underclassmen Crystal Nelson and Bethanie Brown both to All-America honors.

On the track, her women accounted for more than half of the Cyclones total point totals at both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Championships with five conference titles. She also coached two All-Americans in Ejiro Okoro and Katy Moen.

Prior to coming to Ames, Iowa, she served for five years as the assistant track & field coach at UConn, including two as the head women’s cross country coach. Her 2011 XC women achieved the first national ranking in school history and finished eighth at NCAAs. She also coached five All-Americans on the track.

She was a professional runner prior to coaching at UConn, with two Canadian titles including a 10,000 meters win at the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials.

John Gondak – Penn State

When: Monday, December 15 at 1pm
Topic: Training Middle Distance Runners

Named the interim head coach at Penn State this summer, Gondak earned the position in his ninth year after working with one of the top distance squads in the country in Happy Valley.

During his time in charge of the Nittany Lions’ distance and cross country programs, Gondak has coached 18 first-team All-Americans, 18 Big Ten Champions, 17 Penn State records, and three sub-4:00 milers.

In 2013, he coached Casimir Loxsom and Brannon Kidder to a second-third finish at 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming the first program since Michigan in 1945 with two top-three finishers for that event. Loxsom, the American collegiate record holder at 600 meters, had a particularly prolific career under Gondak’s watch. He won six Big Ten titles and earned six All-America honors.

His women’s cross country teams have qualified for the NCAA Championships each of the past five  years – finishing in the top 15 three times – and his men qualified in both 2008 and 2010.

Prior to Penn State, he spent eight years at Kentucky overseeing 25 All-America finishes and 19 All-SEC honors, as well as tenures at Georgia Tech and Toledo.

Dr. Iñigo San Millán – Anschutz Wellness (Colorado)

When: Monday, December 15 at 3:30pm
Topic: The Scientific Preparation and Monitoring of the Elite Athlete

Iñigo San Millán, PhD, is the director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center and a faculty member of family medicine and sports medicine at the University of Colorado.

Dr. San Millán applies the latest tests, methodologies and approaches in applied exercise physiology and metabolism to help optimize the performance of athletes of all levels and sports. With more than 14 years of experience as an exercise physiologist and sports medicine advisor for many professional teams and elite athletes worldwide, Dr. San Millán is considered one of the top and most experienced applied physiologists in the world, and has worked with many elite and world class athletes and teams in sports including track and field, running, cycling, triathlon, rowing and basketball, including six pro tour cycling teams, a Tour de France winner and 16 Grand Tours podium finishers.

His areas of research and interest include exercise metabolism, fat and carbohydrate utilization during exercise, nutrition, sports performance and overtraining. A competitive cyclist and former professional cyclist, San Millán holds a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and a doctorate from the University of the Basque Country in Spain.

Paul Spangler – Florida

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 8:30am
Topic: Power and its Role in Distance Training

Now in his fourth season as an assistant coach for distance and cross country at Florida, Paul Spangler has coached some of the SEC’s and nation’s top middle-distance and distance runners.

Among his pupils over the course of the past few seasons has been Cory McGee, who finished runner-up in both the 2013 and 2014 NCAA outdoor 1500 meters races and fourth in the the 2014 indoor mile championship. She also finished third at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 2013 to qualify for the IAAF World Championships.

McGee and two other women combined for five All-America honors between the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2014.

For the men, he most recently guided Ryan Schnulle to a national runner-up finish at 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Schnulle, along with three other men, earned All-America honors for the indoor season.

Prior to coming to Gainesville, Spangler was an assistant for 10 years at VMI, along with several years at Florida State. He competed in cross country and track & field at Alabama.

Jumps

Moose Akanno, Connecticut

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 10:10am
Topic: Balancing Combined Event Training

Following four successful seasons as the jumps and multi-events assistant coach at Dartmouth, this year Moose Akanno returns in the same role to his alma mater UConn with significant accomplishments now to his name.

For each of his four years in Hanover, he had a student-athlete win the Ivy League Heptagonal indoor pentathlon championship – Janae Dunchack. He guided her to a career sweep of the Ivy indoor pentathlon championship, plus two outdoor Ivy heptathlon titles and another runner-up showing.

Overall he coached his women’s athletes to school records in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, pentathlon and sprint hurdles during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

 Between his graduation from UConn in 2009 and his tenure at Dartmouth, he served as an assistant at Fairleigh Dickinson for one season. During that time, he also worked as a sports performance specialist for The Annex Sports Performance, where he developed and coordinated speed and agility workout plans for NFL, MLB and pro soccer players.

Chris Beene – South Plains College

When: Monday, December 15 at 2:15pm
Topic: Arranging Practices for Multiple Events

Entering his 12th season at the helm of the Texan Lady Texan track and field program is Chris Beene.  Since his arrival, Beene has led the Texans and Lady Texans to a combined 25 NJCAA Championships in men’s and women’s cross country, half marathon, indoor and outdoor track, all of which have flooded in since 2006.

With NJCAA outdoor team championship titles in 2014 is Texans and Lady Texans have swept the team crowns at nationals in five of the past six seasons. His men have won eight outdoor team titles in a row, just one shy of tying the all-time record of nine straight held by Blinn College.

Beene has coached athletes that currently hold nine NJCAA meet or national records.  His athletes have won more than 100 individual and relay national championships and countless All-American awards.

Beene came to South Plains College from Wayland Baptist University, where he was named Women’s NAIA Region 5 and 6 Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2004.  He also earned Men’s Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004 and led his men’s team to a Sooner Athletic Conference championship in 2003.

Tom Hays – Kansas

When: Monday, December 15 at 4:45pm
Topic: The Art of Coaching the Pole Vault

Tom Hays is entering his 10th season as the vertical jumps coach at Kansas, where he has developed a several of the nation’s top collegiate pole vaulters.

Most recently he guided Natalya Bartnovskaya to the 2013 NCAA Indoor women’s pole vault title with a school-record mark of 14-7¼ (4.45m) and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at 14-5¼ (4.40m). She also set an outdoor school record of 14-7¼ (4.45m) earlier in the season.

Before Bartnovskaya he coached Jordan Scott to the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships men’s pole vault title after he won both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 titles in the event, and Amy Linnen to the 2002 and 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships women’s pole vault titles.

Prior to coming to Kansas he built an Arizona pole vault program that produced 15 All-Americans, two national champions, two national runners-up and two collegiate record holders.

Dave Kerin – Middlebury (Retired)

When: Monday, December 15 at 1pm
Topic: Curve Radius in the High Jump

Dave Kerin has long been an expert in the jumps events, and is now applying his expertise as USA Track & Field’s Men’s Development Chair and the event chair for the men’s and women’s high jump.

He has been at the forefront of research into the biomechanics of jumping events, particularly relating to eccentric-specific training over such traditional methods as weights and plyometrics.

During his 14 years as an assistant coach at Middlebury, Kerin turned Kristy Laramee into one of Division III’s all-time best high jumpers. She is a two-time outdoor national champion in the event in 1999 and 2001, winning in 1999 with a tie for the meet record at 5-11¼ (1.81m) – a record that still stands today.

She also holds the indoor national championships record with her 5-10¾ (1.80m) jump to win in 2000.

He also coached at the high school level for more than a decade.

Boo Schexnayder – Track & Field Academy

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 8:30am
Topic: Peaking the Jumper

Most noted for the 12 years he spent as a member of the Track and Field coaching staff at LSU, Boo Schexnayder, who coached collegiately at Louisiana-Lafayette and Blinn Junior College prior to arriving at LSU, placed quite an imprint on the collegiate track and field scene. Regarded as one of the world’s premier field event coaches, he was the guiding hand behind 19 NCAA Champions during his collegiate coaching career. He was a key component of 12 NCAA Championship teams and a pair of JUCO National titles, as well as developing a host of conference champions and All-Americans.

Schexnayder has also been a prominent figure on the international scene, having coached triple jumper Walter Davis to multiple World Championships, and long jumper John Moffitt to a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He has coached 10 Olympians, and has served on coaching staffs for Team USA to the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, and was the Jumps Coach for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

A truly gifted clinician, Schexnayder currently serves as the Chair of the USTFCCCA Track & Field Academy Advisory Board and has been instrumental in the development of the curriculum and instruction of the TFA since its inception in late 2010.

Berry Shumpert – Tennessee

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 9:45am
Topic: Triple Jump Development from the Ground Up

One of the inaugural members of new director of track & field and cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan’s staff at Tennessee, Berry Shumpert has made a name for himself in the coaching industry since his four-year stint as volunteer coach for the Volunteers from 2001-04.

He served as the associate head coach at Coastal Carolina from 2006-2012, helping lead the team to eight Big South team titles, before coaching jumps and multi-events at Southern California and Purdue in each of the past two seasons, respectively.

This past year he guided Southern Cal’s Viktor Fajoyomi to a seventh-place decathlon finish at the NCAA Championships, while in 2013 he mentored Purdue’s Geoff Davis to third- and fifth-place finishes in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor and Indoor championships, respectively.

During his first tenure in Knoxville more than a decade ago, he helped coach an NCAA Champion, 13 All-Americans and nine all-SEC performers. He also worked with Tianna Madison, who would go on to sweep the 2005 indoor and outdoor championships in the long jump, as well as win the 2005 IAAF World Championships title.

He has also coached at Miami (Fla.), where he was named the 2005 and 2006 National Assistant Coach of the Year, and at Radford. He was an all-conference long jumper and triple jumper at Alabama A&M, and he went on to coach Blount High School and J.O. Johnson High School to state titles in 1994 and 1996

Terry VanLaningham – Sacramento State

When: Monday, December 15 at 3:30pm
Topic: The High Jump

In the decade since Terry VanLaningham became Sacramento State’s Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, the Hornet jumps, vault, and multis have experienced much success.

In his 10 seasons he has coached three NCAA All-Americans and two USATF Junior All-Americans, and his athletes have claimed 45 conference championships, qualified 44 times to the NCAA championship meets, earned 100 all-Big Sky accolades and have set 32 school records.

His athletes have won at least one and most often multiple Big Sky individual titles in the jumps events in each of his seasons in Sacramento.

Prior to arriving in Sacramento in 2005, he served as the assistant coach for jumps and multi-events at Wichita State. During his four years there he coached seven All-Americans, two NCAA runner-ups, 27 Missouri Valley Conference champions, nine school record holders, two MVC all-time record holders, six MVC Championship Meet record holders, and seven MVC Most Outstanding Field Athletes.

At Wichita State he also coached Randy Lewis to the 2004 Athens Olympics in the triple jump as the Grenadian national record-holder in the event.

Shawn Wilbourn – Duke

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 8:30am
Topic: Speed Training for the Combined Event

Shawn Wilbourn is entering his seventh season in charge of Dukes combined event athletes, pole vaulters, sprinters and hurdlers.

Combined events have been particularly strong in Durham under Wilbourn’s tutelage, personified by decathlete/heptathlete Curtis Beach. Beach won NCAA indoor heptathlon national titles in both this past 2014 season and in 2012, and finished as an All-American several times outdoors.

During his Duke tenure, Wilbourn has coached two NCAA Champions, nine All-Americas, six ACC Champions, 18 All-ACC honors.  At the conclusion of the 2013 season, his athletes combined to own 21 school records.

Prior to working at Duke, Wilbourn held a similar position at Georgia after spending four years at Cortland State University, the last two as Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country. He was honored with numerous Atlantic Region and New York State Coach of the Year honors for his mentoring at Cortland State, while coaching 18 All-Americans and two national champions.

He was a 1996 Olympic Trials finalist in the decathlon and competed at the World Championships for Team USA in 1997.

Sprints, Hurdles and Relays

Andy Eggerth – Kennesaw State

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 9:45am
Topic: Restoration in the Speed / Power Events

Going into his fifth year as director of track & field and cross country at Kennesaw State, Andy Eggerth has become one of the most successful coaches in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The past four years have seen Eggert’s Owls claim three A-Sun indoor team titles in a row and three of the past four A-Sun outdoor team titles. During that time he has coached 63 individual men’s champions of the Atlantic Sun with an additional 34 women claiming A-Sun crowns.

Among the three school records his athletes set this past year was the 400 meters, and his women’s 4×100 relay team qualified for the NCAA Championships.

He has also coached at Kansas State and UAB, as well as serving as the track & field director at the National Sports Center.

Erik Jenkins, Western Kentucky

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 8:30am
Topic: 400 Training

Erik Jenkins has continued WKU’s storied track and field/cross country success, leading the programs to a combined 25 Sun Belt Conference Championships since 2008. Jenkins and his staff have developed a knack for producing All-Americans, leading athletes to a combined 48 All-America selections. Seventeen of those All-American performances came in WKU’s historic 2014 outdoor season in which seven athletes combined for 10 First Team All-American performances.

Jenkins has racked up 16 Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors from the league, including back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Women’s Coach of the Year honors in 2014 after guiding the Lady Toppers to indoor and outdoor championships. In 2014, Jenkins was named the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Southeast Region Men’s Coach of the Year while leading the Hilltoppers to a 18th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. 

Lawrence Johnson

When: Monday, December 15 at 3:30pm
Topic: Sprint Hurdle Training

Formerly the Director of Track & Field at Clemson and currently the coach of a pair of past winners of The Bowerman Trophy – Brianna Rollins and Queen Harrison – Lawrence Johnson is one of the world’s preeminent hurdles coaches.

He was named USA Track & Field’s Nike Coach of the Year for 2013 after guiding Rollins, Harrison and Kristi Castlin to standout 2013 campaigns.

Rollins – whom Johnson coached at Clemson – was especially impressive, as the 2013 The Bowerman winner won the USA Outdoor title in the 100-meter hurdles in an American-record 12.26 before ultimately winning the IAAF World Title in the event.

Harrison finished fifth in that World Championships race in 2013. While an assistant at Virginia Tech, Johnson coached her to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the 400-meter hurdles.

During his collegiate coaching career – which has included stops at Clemson, Virginia Tech, Southern Illinois and Arkansas – he has coached a pair of IAAF World Junior Champions, three USA Junior & Pan-Am Junior Champions, four Olympians, five NCAA Championships and 34 Clemson event record-holders.

Marc Mangiacotti – Harvard

When: Monday, December 15 at 1pm
Topic: Hurdle Rhythm: The Search for the Holy Grail

Entering his third year as the Harvard assistant coach overseeing the men’s sprinters and hurdlers, Marc Mangiacotti has helped the Crimson to some of the best performances in their history.

His men were part of a squad in 2013-14 that scored the most points by a Harvard team at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships since 1983 in a third-place finish. The year prior, his athletes recorded five all-time Harvard top-10 marks on the indoor list, and three more on the outdoor list.

He came to Harvard after a successful tenure at Brown with five Ivy League Champions who combined for nine Heps titles. Even before Brown, he was guiding the nationally prominent Division III Wheaton (Mass.) sprinters. His Lyons won eight NCAA individual championships and earned 53 All-America accolades.

Mangiacotti also spent three years at Houston serving as an assistant under former 100-meter record holder and head coach Leroy Burrell.

Dan Pfaff – World Athletics Center

When: Monday, December 15 at 4:45pm
Topic: Current Trends in Sprint Mechanics

The World Athletics Center’s Education Director since 2013, Dan Pfaff has tutored 49 Olympians including nine medalists, 51 World Championship competitors (also nine medalists), and five world- record holders. Most recently he guided UK Athletics’ long jumper Greg Rutherford to the Olympic gold medal in 2012.

Through NCAA posts as the head coach at UTEP and as an assistant at Texas and LSU, he coached 29 individual national champions and 150 All-Americans, and has been on the coaching staffs of 17 NCAA team champions.

Dan has served on five Olympic Games coaching staffs in five different countries and nine World Championships staffs for six different countries. He has lectured in 27 countries and is published in over 20 countries.

Dan is the primary Mentor Coach for the Apprentice Coach Program, and is currently mentoring hundreds of coaches around the world. He is respected as perhaps the finest teacher of coaches in the track & field world, and is highly sought after by many professional organizations for his unique abilities to determine the correct course of action for often-injured athletes, or extremely difficult cases.

Caryl Smith Gilbert – Southern California

When: Monday, December 15 at 2:15pm
Topic: Periodization & Practice Planning 

Just one year into her tenure as the Director of Track & Field at Southern California after taking over for recent USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame inductee Ron Allice, Caryl Smith Gilbert has maintained the program’s prestigious tradition.

Her men’s team finished tied for fourth at the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships with 29 points, while her women’s squad was tied for 16th with 15 points.

Smith Gilbert’s initial success in Los Angeles came on the heels of building a UCF women’s track & field program that finished fifth at both the 2013 indoor and outdoor NCAA Division I Championships behind the strength of numerous All-American sprinters and hurdlers.

At during her six years at UCF, her team won six Conference USA track & field team titles, and more than 100 times her student-athletes were named All-Americans.

Among the professionals she has coached is DeeDee Trotter, who won an individual bronze medal at 400 meters and a 4×400 relay gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

She was a three-time All-American sprinter at UCLA, where she won Pac-10 titles at 100 meters and in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Curtis Taylor – Oregon

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 10:10am
Topic: Task Specificity in Testing and Training Max Velocity

Curtis Taylor recently completed his first season as the sprints, hurdles and relays coach for the women’s team at Oregon. He helped Oregon’s women to win their fifth indoor national title in a row.

He assisted in coaching Phyllis Francis to the indoor American and collegiate records at 400 meters this year en route to an NCAA indoor title, as well as the collegaite-record 4×400 relay team that won its title at the line and clinched the Ducks’ overall team title.

Outdoors he helped guide high-point scorer Jenna Prandini to a runner-up finish at 200 meters and a third-place showing at 100 meters at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.

Prior to Oregon he served as the head coach of the women’s program at Laney College. His squads won California State Junior College Championships in both 2010 and 2012, and finished top-three five total times.

He has coached more than 50 high school and collegiate All-Americans.

Kebba Tolbert – Harvard

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 8:30am
Topic: Training the 400m Hurdler

In just three seasons guiding the women sprinters, hurdlers and horizontal jumps at Harvard, associate head coach Kebba Tolbert has already taken the program to a new level with two Ivy League indoor titles and another outdoors.

In 2014 his athletes scored 83 of Harvard’s 162 points at the outdoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships two of his athletes went to the NCAA Championships and two more set Ivy and school records. This came one year after his sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers helped carry Harvard to its first indoors Heps title since 2000.

That 2012-13 season also included a pair of All-Americans under his tutelage. One of those All-Americans was Mary Hirst, who was named the Co-Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet at outdoor Heps.

Before coming to Harvard, Tolbert mentored 21 All-Americans and a national champion at Iowa Wesleyan, then helped McKendree to three national team titles while coaching 18 national champions. He also coached at Syracuse, Portland State and UTEP. At UTEP, his athletes won four NCAA titles.

Throws

John Baumann – Oklahoma State

When: Monday, December 15 at 2:15pm
Topic: Weight Training for the Hammer

Under 10th-year throws coach John Baumann, Oklahoma State’s throws program has moved to the next level.

No Oklahoma State thrower had ever earned All-America honors outdoors prior to 2013 when Nick Miller earned the award in the hammer throw, a feat he duplicated in 2014. In winning two Big 12 hammer throw titles in a row, Miller also became the first Cowboy to claim the event since 1901. He also set school records in the hammer throw and the indoor weight throw.

He has also coached Oklahoma State’s women’s throwers to great success, as two-thirds of the top-10 marks in school history in the indoor shot put and weight throw, and outdoor shot put, hammer throw, discus and javelin have been achieved under his tutelage.

Prior to arriving in Stillwater, Baumann coached Illinois’ field event athletes to school records in the hammer throw, discus and weight throw. He also coached at George Mason, and was a member of the staff that helped the Patriots win the 1996 NCAA men’s indoor title and finish runner-up outdoors.

He was a 10-time NAIA All-American in the shot put and discus at Doane (Neb.).

Craig Carter – Arizona

When: Monday, December 15 at 1pm
Topic: The Rotational Shot Put

Since taking over the throws program at Arizona eight years ago, Craig Carter has produced numerous national and conference contenders in each of the throwing events.

Chief among his recent college charges are the duo of Julie Labonte and Alyssa Hasslen. Labonte had a particularly standout year in 2011 with national titles both indoors and outdoors in the shot put to go along with Canadian records in both.

She would later go on to rack up several more All-America honors, and to represent Canada at the 2012 Olympics in the shot put, while Hasslen finished sixth at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the shot put.

Professionally, he has also coached Jill Camarena-Williams, a two-time Olympian and the first-ever American woman to medal in the shot put at the IAAF World Championships in 2011. She broke the American indoor shot put record in 2011 with a heave of 65-3¼ (19.89m).

Carter was a two-time NCAA All-American at Utah State in the weight throw and the hammer throw. He would eventually finish as high at the U.S. Outdoor Championships as seventh in the hammer throw in 1996 during the Olympic Trials.

Dave Dumble – Arizona State

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 8:30am
Topic: Preparing Throwers for Championship Meets

No coach has produced more Division I throws champions in recent times as has Dave Dumble of Arizona State, now a decade-and-a-half into his tenure in Tempe.

 His throwers have won 16 national titles since he began at Arizona State, including six national titles in the discus and shot put by 2010 The Bowerman Finalist Ryan Whiting and four more by shot putter Jordan Clarke. He also coached Sarah Stevens and Jessica Pressley to two NCAA titles each.

Whiting won both the shot put and discus outdoors in 2010 under Dumble’s tutelage, nearly toppling the collegiate outdoor shot put record after successfully taking down the indoor record earlier in the year en route to an NCAA crown.

In 2013 he coached Clarke to an outdoor men’s NCAA shot put title and Anna Jelmini to the women’s discus NCAA title.

He also coached combined-event athlete Jacquelyn Johnson to seven NCAA titles before she ultimately went on to represent Team USA at the 2008 Olympics.

Dumble himself was a two-time All-American in the discus at UCLA in the mid-1990s.

Kurt Dunkel – Shippensburg

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 10:10am
Topic: Form Follows Function

For more than 15 years, Kurt Dunkel has been contributing to Shippensburg’s domination of the PSAC track & field scene with top-notch performances by his throwers.

Since 1998, Kurt has coached 29 conference champions, 77 NCAA provisional qualifiers, 18 All-Americans, 18 school record holders, eight PSAC Championship record holders, one Academic All-American, and an NCAA National Champion.

Each of those accolades has helped Shippensburg win 34 PSAC titles or runner-up team efforts since 1999.

Dunkel has not only developed his own student-athletes, but has taken an active role in the education of throws coaches. He has written technical articles on the topics of javelin training, development and mechanics, and is a regular contributed to the throws-based publication "The Long and Strong Throwers Journal."

He himself was a standout javelin competitor during his collegiate career at Shippensburg, twice earning Division II All-America accolades with a pair of runner-up finishes in 1997 and 1998.

Pat Ebel – Penn State

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 8:30am
Topic: Javelin Training

Pat Ebel has made an immediate impact on the Nittany Lions’ throws program in his three seasons.

He guided javelin throwers Laura Loht and Lauren Kenney to multiple first-team All-America selections and Big Ten titles, and Will Barr to first-team All-America honors and a school record in the weight throw.

Even before arriving in Happy Valley, Ebel made his name as the throws coach at Division III power UW-Oshkosh. As the leader of the Titans’ throws program for more than a decade, he mentored 34 NCAA Division III individual champions and 150 total All-Americans.

His athletes at UW-Oshkosh recorded 24 all-time top-10 marks in Division III history in throwing events, and broke UW-Oshkosh school records 43 times. They also won 66 WIAC conference titles under his watch and set 14 WIAC records.

He served as the head coach at UW-Oshkosh from 2009 through 2012.

John Frazier – UCLA

When: Monday, December 15 at 4:45pm
Topic: The Spin Shotput Technique: An Evaluation of a few Top Collegiate Throwers

After a decorated collegiate career at UCLA in the mid-1980s, John Frazier returned in 2014 to his alma mater as its men’s head coach and one of the country’s premier throws specialists.

He has already coached freshman Braheme Days, Jr., to a U.S. Junior record in the shot put, a USA Junior title in the shot put and a bronze medal finish at the IAAF World Junior Championships in the shot put.

At the NCAA level this year, he guided Julian Wruck as the senior earned All-America honors as the runner-up in the discus at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.

With 25 years of coaching experience now under his belt after tenures at Florida, Arizona and, most recently, Tennessee, Frazier has produced more than 45 All-Americans in the throws events. He also has coached four individual NCAA Division II champions from his time at Humboldt State and Cal State Los Angeles.

He served as the women’s throws coach at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and has coached several U.S. Junior Champions and Olympic Trials qualifiers. Among the Trials qualifiers was Emily Carlsten, who finished third in the javelin at the 2000 edition under his tutelage.

Janine Kuestner – Hillsdale

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 9:45am
Topic: Training for the Discus

A recent addition to the Hillsdale coaching staff after two years at Walsh, Janine Kuestner is in charge of coaching the Chargers’ throwers.

During her time in North Canton, she guided student-athletes to school records in the weight throw and hammer throw events, with several others who have scored at the GLIAC Championships.

She coached one year at CCNY, where she guided her student-athletes to CUNYAC titles in the women’s shot put, discus, hammer and javelin; and the men’s hammer throw.

Prior to her time at CCNY, she spent four seasons with Knoxville Youth Athletics.

She was the former school record-holder in the hammer throw at Tennessee, where she finished third in the discus at the SEC Championships. She competed one year at Ashland, where she finished third in the discus at the Division II Championships.

Dan Pfaff – World Athletics Center

When: Monday, December 15 at 3:30pm
Topic: Common Technical Components for the Throws

The World Athletics Center’s Education Director since 2013, Dan Pfaff has tutored 49 Olympians including nine medalists, 51 World Championship competitors (also nine medalists), and five world- record holders. Most recently he guided UK Athletics’ long jumper Greg Rutherford to the Olympic gold medal in 2012.

Through NCAA posts as the head coach at UTEP and as an assistant at Texas and LSU, he coached 29 individual national champions and 150 All-Americans, and has been on the coaching staffs of 17 NCAA team champions.

Dan has served on five Olympic Games coaching staffs in five different countries and nine World Championships staffs for six different countries. He has lectured in 27 countries and is published in over 20 countries.

Dan is the primary Mentor Coach for the Apprentice Coach Program, and is currently mentoring hundreds of coaches around the world. He is respected as perhaps the finest teacher of coaches in the track & field world, and is highly sought after by many professional organizations for his unique abilities to determine the correct course of action for often-injured athletes, or extremely difficult cases.

Assistant Coach Seminars

Dr. Brenda Buffington – Air Force Human Performance Laboratory

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 1:15pm
Topic: Nutrition Essentials

Dr. Brenda Buffington is an exercise physiologist who serves as the assistant director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the United State Air Force Academy.

A former collegiate student-athlete at Pittsburg who also coached at Otterbein and the high school level, Dr. Buffington now works at the Human Performance Laboratory to apply sport science principles to improve the performance of Air Force’s teams and athletes.

She has made numerous presentations to coaches, athletes and parents on such topics as energy management and sports psychology.

Fred Harvey – Arizona

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 4:15pm
Topic: Being All You Can Be As a Coach: A Philosophical Approach to Successful Coaching

A mainstay at a program he has helped build into a perennial national contender over the course of nearly three decades.

Entering his 13th season as the head coach in Tucson after serving the previous 15 as an assistant and associate head coach, he has established a tradition of excellence at Arizona that has produced numerous national and conference accolades.

His men have finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships nine years in a row, while his women have recorded eight top-25 finishes in a row.

Individually, his student-athletes have combined for 23 individual NCAA titles and 25 men have combined for nearly 100 All-America honors, while 25 women have earned nearly 70 All-America certificates.

He has coached numerous Olympians and world-class athletes, including hurdler Georganne Moline, who competed in the 2012 Olympics 400-meter hurdles final.

Dan Tudor – Tudor Collegiate Strategies

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 3pm
Topic: How to Build Your Program’s Brand Through Recruiting

Dan Tudor is the founder of Tudor Collegiate Strategies, a, organization focused on training college coaches how to recruit more effectively based on the latest national research.

Tudor hosts on-campus workshops, and presents at and hosts conferences nationwide designed to make collegiate coaches more effective recruiters.

His website DanTudor.com not only has information about his workshops and conferences, but also an ongoing blog addressing the latest news and strategies in recruiting and resources available for purchase to help coaches develop and hone their recruiting technique.

Director of Operations Seminars

Jess Riden – Washington

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 1:30pm
Topic: Communicating With Your Team, Department and University

Jess Riden is in her second year as Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Operations at the University of Washington after a seven-year stint in a similar capacity at Penn State University. She is the Meet Director for all events at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle for the upcoming track and field season. While at Penn State, Riden served as the Meet Director for all home competitions at the world-class Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track, and assisted in the running of multiple Big Ten Conference Championships, as well as several NCAA regional cross country events. 

Dave Svoboda – USTFCCCA

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 3pm
Topic: Technology Tutorials for Directors of Operations

After working as a computer technician for 8 years and track and field coach for 12 years, Dave came to work as the Director of Operations for the USTFCCCA the summer of 2012.  He will bring together his coaching and technology experience to offer ways to streamline your work. 

Dan Tudor – Tudor Collegiate Strategies

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 10:10am
Topic: Five Ways to Help Your Coaching Staff be GREAT Recruiters

Dan Tudor is the founder of Tudor Collegiate Strategies, a, organization focused on training college coaches how to recruit more effectively based on the latest national research.

Tudor hosts on-campus workshops, and presents at and hosts conferences nationwide designed to make collegiate coaches more effective recruiters.

His website DanTudor.com not only has information about his workshops and conferences, but also an ongoing blog addressing the latest news and strategies in recruiting and resources available for purchase to help coaches develop and hone their recruiting technique.

Brian Bancroft – Army

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 1:30pm
Topic: Increasing Your Productivity on Team Travel

Brian Bancroft comes to West Point from Texas A&M where he spent the past eight seasons as a team administrator. With the Aggies, the 1993 A&M graduate was responsible for a number of administrative duties, including scheduling, team travel, recruiting logistics and event management responsibilities. Additionally, from the 2005 through the 2008 season, Bancroft aided in weight room instruction as well as coaching of throws, jumps, sprints and distance groups.

The Aggies enjoyed unprecedented success during Bancroft’s era, making history by becoming the first school to win dual national championship titles three consecutive years. A&M won both men’s and women’s NCAA outdoor track titles 2009-11, capped off with the men’s program capturing the 2013 outdoor crown.

Andrea Tepe – LSU

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 2:45pm
Topic: Director of Ops Roundtable/Creating an Operations Manual

Andrea Tepe serves as the Director of Track and Field Operations for the Louisiana State University.  This is her second season in Baton Rouge. Tepe is charged with the responsibility of organizing all administrative and logistical aspects of the nation’s most prestigious combined collegiate track and field programs.  Previously, Andrea served in the same capacity at the University of Akron.  She wrote the article “The Evolving Position of Director of Track & Field Operations” for the August 2013 edition of Techniques Magazine.

High School Seminars

Don Babbitt – Georgia

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 1:30pm
Topic: Coaching the Throwing Events

With the arrival of his 19th year in red and black and in his 31st year overall coaching, Don Babbitt has transformed the Georgia throws program into arguably the most talented group in the country. Under Babbitt’s guidance since 1996, Georgia’s throwers have reached a high level of success including 12 NCAA titles, 74 All-American certificates and 47 SEC titles. He has been named the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2003 and twice the East Region Assistant coach of the year. He has also coached Olympic shot put champion Adam Nelson and multiple time indoor shot put World champion Reese Hoffa, as well as American javelin record holder Breaux Greer.

Rick McGuire – Missouri (Retired)

When: Tuesday, December 16 at 4:15pm
Topic: Positive Coaching

Now retired, Rick McGuire’s Tigers certainly established an exceptional record of success in the athletic arena, in the classroom and, most importantly, in their lives beyond the University. And it is this success that fueled Coach McGuire’s enthusiasm and excitement about his athletes on his teams.

Dave Turnbull – Summit High School (Oregon)

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 12:45pm
Topic: Triple Jump

For inaugural USTFCCCA National High School Girls Track & Field Coach of the Year Dave Turnbull and his Summit girls, winning the Oregon (OSAA) 5A state title has become something of an expectation. The Storm made history with their eighth state track & field title in a row – the longest such streak by any Oregon high school at any classification for either gender – in Turnbull’s 13th year and they did it in equally historic fashion.

His largely underclassmen girls scored an all-divisions meet-record 125 points to claim the team crown, surpassing by nearly five points the previous all-time best score of 120½ by St. Mary’s of Medford in 2007.

Mark Maas – Whitewater High School (Wisconsin) (Retired)

When: Wednesday, December 17 at 2pm
Topic: One Team, One Family: Winning is a Lifestyle

A recent inductee into the Wisconsin WISTCA Hall of Fame, Maas’ teams claimed 15 Southern Lakes Conference championships in a row and a pair of WIAA State titles in girls’ competition. In boys’ competition, his squads earned an additional 13 conference titles and five top-five State finishes. He has coached athletes to state titles in 17 individual and relay events

Assistant Coach Roundtables