USTFCCCA News & Notes
2013 USTFCCCA Convention Update: Endurance Symposiums
By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA October 13, 2013   

2013 USTFCCCA Convention Update: Endurance Symposiums

NEW ORLEANS – Continuing last week’s overview of the Symposiums at the 2013 USTFCCCA Convention, the attention this week shifts to focus on the endurance event presentations.

Endurance events are one of the four disciplines the Symposiums will cover — jumps, throws and sprints/hurdles/relays being the other three — with eight nationally prominent and successful coaches from around the country at several levels scheduled to share their endurance expertise with attendees. Access to Symposiums is included with Convention registration.

The following coaches are scheduled to impart their knowledge to this year’s convention-goers:

  • Al Carius, Frank Gramarosso and Chris Wheaton of North Central (Ill.) are the braintrust behind the Cardinals’ legendary men’s distance program, with NCC’s current cross country squad ranked No. 1 in Division III. Head cross country coach Carius has been at the helm for 48 years and has guided his program to 15 national team titles, seven individual national championships and 105 All-America honorees. As head coach of the men’s track & field team until 2010, he led the Cardinals to six outdoor and four indoor national titles, 49 individual champions and more than 400 All-Americans. He is currently the associate head track & field coach

     

    Gramarosso, in his 31st season at North Central, took over as head coach of the men’s track & field program prior to the 2011 season. Since then he has guided the Cardinals to two NCAA indoor titles and an outdoor crown. Combining his tenures as head and assistant coach he has guided 159 All-Americans and 167 conference champions. He is also the associate head cross country coach. Wheaton is an assistant working primarily with the freshman team and the steeplers during track & field season.

 

  • 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 Champion in cross country. he is currently the lead instructor of the Specialist Certification Course of the USTFCCCA Track & Field Academy.

 

  • Tim Connelly of Notre Dame, the head women’s cross country coach and a women’s distance assistant during track season for 26 years, has built a Notre Dame women’s cross country program from the ground-up into one of the nation’s top squads on an annual basis, and has done likewise for the Irish women’s distance program on the oval. His cross country teams have been nationally ranked in each of the past 13 seasons including the current campaign, and the Irish women finished top-10 at nationals four consecutive years from 2002 to 2005, including a third-place finish in ’02 and a fourth-place showing in ’04. On the track his runners have earned more than 20 All-America accolades and nearly 100 All-BIG EAST honors, including 13 event titles.

 

  • Ryun Godfrey of North Dakota State has been the head coach of the Bison’s track & field and cross country programs for a decade and a half, during which time the Bison have won all 10 indoor and outdoor league titles since joining the Division I Summit League in 2007. The Bison have won a combined 25 conference titles in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country since Godfrey became the head coach in 1999. Since 2009 Godfrey has coached a pair of Division I All-Americans at 800 meters.

 

  • Karen Harvey, now in her seventh season as Florida State‘s head cross country coach and a distance assistant on the track, has guided FSU to six consecutive podium finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2010. Currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, FSU has made the NCAA championships in each of the past seven seasons, six of which were coached by Harvey. She has guided 16 All-American honorees, three South Region athletes of the year and four individual ACC champions.

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  • Eric Heins of Northern Arizona has been the Lumberjacks’ head cross country coach for six years and the director of track & field and cross country for three years. During that time his squads have won 12 Big Sky Championships and earned top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships six times. he guided the men’s program to a sweep of the indoor, outdoor and cross country titles in 2011-12, earning him three of his 13 Big Sky Coach of the Year awards, in addition to a Mountain Region Coach of the Year award in 2010. His Lumberjack men are currently No. 3 in the country.

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  • Damon Martin of Adams State, the head coach and director of track & field and cross country for the past 24 years, has built a perennial powerhouse program. In 24 years in charge of the women’s program, Martin has guided the Grizzlies to 18 total NCAA team championships — 17 in cross country — and in his 18 years coaching the men, his teams have won six cross country national titles and a pair of track and field national crowns. The 30-time national coach of the year has produced nearly 900 All-Americans and 91 individual national champions between men’s and women’s teams. His men’s program has earned Division II Men’s Program of the Year honors each year since it was first awarded in 2009.

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  • Dennis Newell of U-Mary is in his first year as women’s head cross country coach after four straight appearances at the NCAA championships and a national assistant coach of the year honor in 2013. Since arriving on campus in 2006 he has coached three NCAA individual/relay champions, 36 conference champions, and 24 All-Americans in cross country and track distance events. During the 2013 track & field season his student-athletes combined for three NCAA event titles: the indoor mile and indoor distance medley relay, and the outdoor 1500 meters.

 

Convention-goers can attend one-hour presentations from these coaches beginning Monday, December 16, at 1 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. Presentations will continue Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.; and Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The full schedule is available here.

Registration for the 2013 USTFCCCA Convention is now open.

This is the latest in a weekly series that each Monday morning will highlight different aspects of the 2013 USTFCCCA Convention and feature a unique facet of the convention experience.