USTFCCCA News & Notes
2014 Convention Update: Throws Symposiums
By USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA October 10, 2014   

2014 Convention Update: Throws Symposiums

NEW ORLEANS – The 2014 USTFCCCA Convention from December 15-18 at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona, will serve as an opportunity for throws coaches to attend Symposium presentations from some of the nation’s premier coaches.

As with the other Symposium disciplines—endurance, sprints/hurdles/relays, and jumps—eight prominent throws coaches will give hour-long presentations on specific aspects of their areas of expertise, available to all attendees registered for the convention.

Leading these technical sessions at the convention will be:

  • As John Baumann finishes his first decade as the Oklahoma State throws coach, his charges have re-written two-thirds of the OSU women’s top ten lists.  Before 2013, no Cowboy thrower had ever been named All-America outdoors; hammer thrower Nick Miller has taken second in the event the last two years.  Miller, the school record holder in the hammer, is the first OSU athlete to win a conference title in the hammer since 1901. Before Oklahoma State, Baumann led Illinois throwers to school records in the hammer, discus, and weight.
  • Arizona’s Craig Carter has built a stellar résumé in eight short years as the Wildcats’ throws coach, with 2011 as the banner year.  That season, Julie Labonte won indoor and outdoor NCAA shot put titles, breaking both Canadian national records.  In the same year, he coached professional Jill Camarena-Williams to the American indoor record in the shot (19.89m) and to the first-ever American medal at the outdoor world championships.  As an athlete, Carter was an All-American at Utah State and took seventh in the 1996 Olympic Trials in the hammer.
  • Dave Dumble’s 15 years coaching throwers at Arizona State have produced 16 national championships.  Under his tutelage, Ryan Whiting and Jordan Clarke combined for ten of those titles in the shot put and discus.  Whiting is on a very short list of athletes who won the shot and disc in a single outdoor NCAAs; he broke the indoor college record and was just centimeters shy of breaking the outdoor mark.  Dumble’s own throwing career was highlighted by two All-American honors in the discus at UCLA.
  • Kurt Dunkel has been an integral part of Shippensburg’s dominance of the PSAC for the last two decades.  Before graduating in 1998, Dunkel was twice the Division II runner-up in the javelin.  He then immediately transition to a coaching role at Ship, where his fifteen seasons as the throws coach have produced 18 All-Americans, eight school record holders, and a national champion.  He was a regular contributor to the Long & Strong Throwers Journal, writing technical articles about the javelin and other topics.
  • After a dominant stretch at UW-Oshkosh, where his coaching led to 34 Division III national championships in just twelve seasons, Pat Ebel enters his third season as the throws coach at Penn State.  For the Nittany Lions, Ebel has mentored Laura Loht and Lauren Kenney to All-American status and Big Ten wins in the javelin.  At Oshkosh, Ebel’s athletes re-wrote the record books, establishing 24 all-time DIII top ten marks.
  • John Frazier has had a lengthy and decorated career as a college throws coach, with stops at Cal State Los Angeles, Humboldt State, Florida, Arizona, and Tennessee before his current post as the head men’s coach at UCLA.  In his first year mentoring the Bruin throwers, Frazier took Braheme Days, Jr. to an apt American junior record in the shot and a world juniors bronze in the event.  He was the women’s throws coach for Team USA at the Osaka world championships in 2007, and coached Emily Carlsten to a javelin third-place finish at the 2000 Olympic Trials.
  • After helping throwers establish school records in the weight and hammer at Walsh, Janine Kuestner takes over as the throws coach at Hillsdale this season.  In her lone season at CCNY, Kuestner’s charges won conference titles in the women’s shot, disc, hammer, and javelin in addition to the men’s hammer.  As an athlete, she broke the Tennessee school record in the hammer and took third place in the discus at the SEC championship.
  • Dan Pfaff may be the world’s foremost expert in the biomechanics of track & field.  Now the director of the World Athletics Center’s Education program, Pfaff has coached 49 Olympians and 51 world championship qualifers, with his athletes earning nine medals at both.  The most recent Olympic gold medal by a Pfaff-tutored athlete is Greg Rutherford’s in the long jump for the United Kingdom in 2012. In the NCAA, Pfaff coached at UTEP, Texas, and LSU, garnering 29 individual national championships and 17 team titles.  In addition to his technical expertise, Pfaff is regarded by many as the finest teacher of coaches in the track & field world.

Convention-goers can attend one-hour presentations from these coaches beginning Monday, December 15, at 1:00 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 10:10 a.m. The full schedule is available here.

Registration for the 2014 USTFCCCA Convention is now open.