National Coaches of the Year for NCAA DII Outdoor T&F Announced

NEW ORLEANS – Following the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Allendale, Michigan, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Wednesday the 2015 class of NCAA Division II National Coaches of the Year, as voted on by the coaches.

National champion head coaches George Williams of the Saint Augustine’s men and the duo of Kip Janvrin and Kirk Pedersen of the Central Missouri women were named Head Coaches of the Year.

A pair of throws coaches in Findlay’s Derrick Vicars and Central Missouri’s Tucker Woolsey were named the men’s and women’s Assistant Coaches of the Year, respectively.

Williams, who has been coaching at Saint Augustine’s since 1976, led the Falcons to their third consecutive outdoor national team title, outlasting runner-up Findlay, 53-50. The title is the 14th of the outdoor variety during his legendary tenure at SAU.

His athletes won two national titles, with Omar Johnson claiming the title at 400 meters and David Shaw winning the triple jump. His 4×100 relay team finished runner-up and he got a pair of bronze medal finishes from Burkeart Ellis, Jr., at 200 meters and Khari Herbert at 400 meters. Overall, his athletes scored points nine times.

While Williams increased an already substantial collection of team titles, Janvrin and Pedersen won the program’s first outdoor track & field national team title to go along with the indoor title they won earlier this winter. Their Jennies survived a late-meet charge from 2014 national champion Lincoln (Mo.) to win, 59-50. Janvrin and Pedersen have been co-head coaches in Warrensburg for nearly two decades.

Janvrin and Pedersen’s Jennies claimed three individual national titles, with DII hammer throw record holder Heavin Warner claiming that event, Erika Kinsey taking the high jump and Brittany Kallenberger winning the pole vault. Kinsey also finished runner-up in the triple jump. In total, the Jennies scored nine times throughout the meet, more than any other women’s team.

Vicars, who is in his second year coaching at Findlay after his own standout career as an Oiler, is excelling at passing down his knowledge to the next class of Oiler throwers. His athletes accounted for exactly half of Findlay’s runner-up 50 team points, led by two-time national hammer throw champion Justin Welch, who also finished seventh in the discus.

His throwers performed especially well in the shot put, as Taylor Miller finished runner-up, Ben Hahler took fifth and Mathieu Marcoccia was eighth.

Woolsey, in his 13th year coaching the throwers at Central Missouri, guided hammer thrower Heavin Warner to one of the most historic seasons in NCAA Division II history. Not only did she defend her national title in her signature event, but she also shattered the all-time DII record during the regular season with a heave of 220-7 (67.24m). That toppled the previous record by nearly eight feet.

Woolsey also coached Brooke Swearingin to a sixth-place finish in the discus.