Steele Tabbed West Regional Men's Track Sprint Coach of Year
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? At a year-end U.S. Track Coaches Association banquet Tuesday evening, University of Oregon men’s assistant coach Dan Steele was tabbed the West Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for Men’s Sprints and Hurdles after he guided his corps to a host of indoor and outdoor honors this season.
In recent outdoor postseason action, the men’s 4x100 and men’s 4x400 relays broke outdoor school records en route to Pac-10 Championships runner-up finishes (39.29 / 3:03.27), in UO’s convincing team win three weeks ago in Los Angeles. The same quartets also rank top-10 heading into the NCAA Championships this week in Sacramento, Calif., (ninth / fifth), and recently took fourth and second, respectively, in the West Regional Championships in Eugene 1 1/2 weeks ago.
This week in Sacramento, Steele will also mentor four Ducks that netted NCAA individual invites. In the 400, senior Kedar Inico and junior Matt Scherer rank 11th and 12th nationally and third and fourth all-time for UO, respectively, with their personal bests (45.61 / 45.75) from May. Inico upset form charts to win Pac-10 and West Regional titles in the 400 (45.61 / 46.14), and Scherer added fourth in both races (46.11 / 46.52). Junior and 110 hurdle school record holder Eric Mitchum defended his Pac-10 and West Regional Championships (13.59 / 13.65) titles in May, and ranks fourth nationally with his season best of 13.56. Junior A.K. Ikwuakor will make his second NCAA appearance in the 110 hurdles after he took third in the Pac-10 and West Regional finales (13.96 / 13.65), and ranks 17th nationally and fifth all-time for UO. Ikwuakor also earned an automatic invite in the 400 hurdles based on his fifth-place regional finish (51.92), but declined the invite to focus on the 110 hurdles and 4x400 relay.
In March, the UO sprint crew were equally on pace with four All-America honors in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., courtesy of Inico and Scherer in the 400 (sixth, 46.62 / ninth, 47.15), Mitchum in the 60 hurdles (fourth, 7.73), and the 4x400 relay (fifth, 3:05.26). Earlier in the indoor slate, the 4x400 ranked second on the pre-NCAA qualifying list with their school record (3:04.17), Scherer and Inico ranked first and second in school history in the 400 (45.95 / 46.41), and Mitchum’s season best of 7.74 ranked him fifth nationally and was only .05 seconds off his school record of 7.69 from 2004.
Other assistant men’s coaches honored from the West Region included James Li of Arizona (distances), Jeremy Fischer of Cal State Northridge (jumps) and John Frazier (throws). Regional assistant women’s coaches picked for similar awards included Tina Fernandes of USC (sprints/hurdles), Patrick Shane of BYU (distances), Kris Grimes of WSU (jumps/multi-events) and David Dumble of Arizona State (throws).
Looking ahead to NCAA Outdoor Championships action this week at Cal State Sacramento’s Hornet Stadium, Wed.-Sat., June 8-11, the Duck men will chase their third top-10 finish in five years ? something they last achieved in a stretch from 1990-92 ? and sport 15 entries (including both relays). Leading the charge, returning NCAA runner-up Mitchum is one of five returning outdoor All-Americans for the ?Men of Oregon’ who have combined for 12 previous trips the past two outdoor campaigns. The UO women will send eight individual qualifiers, including a pair of two-time javelin All-Americans in Sarah Malone and Roslyn Lundeen.
More NCAA meet info is located at the www.NCAAsports.com and www.HornetSports.com websites.
U.S. TRACK COACHES ASSOCIATION - REGIONAL ASSISTANT COACHES OF THE YEAR
WEST REGION
SPRINTS/HURDLES
WOMEN: Tina Fernandes - University of Southern California
MEN: Dan Steele - University of Oregon
JUMPS/MULTI EVENTS
WOMEN: Kris Grimes - Washington State University
MEN: Jeremy Fisher - Cal State Northridge
DISTANCE
WOMEN: Patrick Shane - Brigham Young University
MEN: James Li - University of Arizona
THROWS
WOMEN: David Dumble - Arizona State University
MEN: John Frazier - University of Arizona
EAST REGION
SPRINTS/HURDLES
WOMEN: James Robinson - Rutgers
MEN: Ken Harden - Florida State University
JUMPS/MULTI EVENTS
WOMEN: Barry Shumpert - University of Miami
MEN: Jarrett Foster - Clemson University
DISTANCE
WOMEN: Kevin Jermyn - Duke University
MEN: Jeff Pig - University of Florida
THROWS
WOMEN: Dayna Holston - Penn State
MEN: Harlis Medders - Florida State University
MIDEAST REGION
SPRINTS/HURDLES
WOMEN: Caryl Smith - University of Tennessee
MEN: Lance Brauman - University of Arkansas
JUMPS/MULTI EVENTS
WOMEN: Byran Compton University of Arkansas
MEN: Wayne Pate - University of Indiana
DISTANCE
WOMEN: Mike McGuire - University of Michigan
MEN: Robert Chapman - University of Indiana
THROWS
WOMEN: John Smith - University of Southern Illinois
MEN: Jerry Clayton - Auburn University
MIDWEST REGION
SPRINTS/HURDLES
WOMEN: Michael Ford - Baylor University
MEN: Billy Maxwell - University of Nebraska
JUMPS/MULTI EVENTS
WOMEN: Milan Donley - University of Kansas
MEN: Jim VanHootegen Texas A&M University
DISTANCE
WOMEN: Rodney Rothoff - University of Oklahoma
MEN: Jason Vigilante - University of Texas
THROWS
WOMEN: Brian Bedard - Colorado State University
MEN: Juan De La Garza - Texas A&M University
