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

NEW ORLEANS — Four coaches were honored by their NCAA Division III peers as the National Coaches of the Year for the 2015 outdoor track & field season, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Wednesday.

Josh Buchholtz (men) and Pat Healy (women) of Wisconsin-La Crosse were voted as the top head coaches, while Wisconsin-Whitewater jumps coach Eric Schueffner was named the Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year and Illinois Wesleyan multis/javelin/high jump coach Lisa Becharas won the same award for women’s coaches.

Buchholtz and Healy were honored for leading their La Crosse track & field squads to conference and national team titles.  Buchholtz’s men scored seventy-one points for the highest team score at NCAAs since the Eagles themselves scored ninety-nine in 2007, while Healy’s women’s seventy-three points delivered La Crosse’s first women’s outdoor title since 1984.

Both squads turned in their customary domination at the WIAC outdoor championships.  Buchholtz’s men won their twenty-fifth straight team conference title, and Healy’s women won their fourth straight.

Buchholtz is in his seventh season leading the La Crosse men, while Healy is in his 24th season in charge of the women’s team.

The La Crosse men won two events at the national championships: Grant Havard won the discus and Ross Denman, Alex Koenen, Zach Rothering, and Joe Koenecke won the 4×100 meter relay. Koenen, Denman, 800 meter runner Sean Royer, and the Eagle 4×400 squad all tallied runner-up finishes at the national meet.

The Eagle women matched those two national titles. Marissa Mahr won the 400 meter hurdles, and Bria Halama won the triple jump with a meet record mark.

Under fourth-year coach Schueffner, Whitewater’s jumpers racked up twenty-six points at nationals, which would have been good for sixth place as a team.  Robert Starnes won the high jump in a major upset after taking third in the long jump, and Mike Cournia turned in top-five finishes in the triple and long jumps.

Women’s Assistant COY Becharas, in her first year a full-time member of the Illinois Wesleyan staff, mentored three women to points at NCAAs, contributing to the Titans’ fourth-place finish. Heptathlete Allie Boudreau headlined the scorers with a runner-up finish in the heptathlon after posting the ninth-best score in DIII history during the regular season.