By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA
NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Monday the state-by-state winners of its second annual High School Coach of the Year award for track & field.
One boys coach and one girls coach from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia - as seen in the lists below - were honored for their successes during the 2015 track & field season, as selected by a committee of experts from around the nation.
State-by-state winners were selected based on their teams’ performances throughout the 2015 track & field season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, the number of different events in which student-athletes were qualified, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years (ex. First title in school history, consecutive titles, etc.).
Each honoree will receive a trophy from the USTFCCCA recognizing his or her achievements.
The winners from each state are in consideration for the association’s National High School Track & Field Coach of the Year award. One boys coach and one girls coach from among all the states will be selected by a panel of experts and be announced later this month as the national winners.
In addition to earning a trophy as the national winner, the two 2015 track & field honorees will be recognized alongside the two 2014 National High School Cross Country Coaches of the Year, Bill Aris (Fayetteville Manlius HS/New York) and Bill Miles (Wayzata HS/Minnesota).
The full lists can be seen below.
2015 USTFCCCA Boys High School Track & Field Coaches of the Year | ||
| State | Coach Name | School |
| Alabama | Steve Reaves | Winfield City High School |
| Alaska | Marcus Dunbar | Kodiak High School |
| Arizona | Chris Hanson | Desert Vista High School |
| Arkansas | Kyle Jackson | Gurdon High School |
| California | Coley Candaele | Vista Murrieta High School |
| Colorado | Ben Montoya | Fountain-Ft. Carson High School |
| Connecticut | Kelvin Kearse | Windsor High School |
| Delaware | James H. Solomon | Dover High School |
| District of Columbia | Anthony Belber | Georgetown Day School |
| Florida | Jorge Fleitas | Dr. Phillips High School |
| Georgia | Napoleon Cobb | Southwest Dekalb High School |
| Hawaii | Harvey McInerny | Kamehameha Kapalama High School |
| Idaho | Bryan Stith | Capital High School |
| Illinois | Chad Lakatos | Edwardsville High School |
| Indiana | Ken Browner | Carmel High School |
| Iowa | Corey Lamm | West Burlington Notre Dame High School |
| Kansas | Greg Smarsh | Andale High School |
| Kentucky | Demetrius Gay | Henry Clay High School |
| Louisiana | Pete Boudreaux | Catholic High School |
| Maine | Paul Soracco | Lewiston High School |
| Maryland | Tony Griner | Century High School |
| Massachusetts | Peter Comeau | Andover High School |
| Michigan | Al Leslie | Saline High School |
| Minnesota | Aaron Berndt | Wayzata High School |
| Mississippi | Chris Bush | Oxford High School |
| Missouri | Dean Hays | Hardin-Central High School |
| Montana | Tony Arntson | Helena High School |
| Nebraska | Dan Tietjen | Creighton Preparatory School |
| Nevada | Dan Kober | Faith Lutheran High School |
| New Hampshire | Mike Lyford | Portsmouth High School |
| New Jersey | Jeff Dzuranin | Rancocas Valley High School |
| New Mexico | Joe Giglia | Cimarron High School |
| New York | James Jackson | Boy’s and Girl’s High School |
| North Carolina | Londell McClary | Mallard Creek High School |
| North Dakota | Tim Jacobsen | Bismarck Century High School |
| Ohio | Sidney Booker | Dunbar High School |
| Oklahoma | Stefan Seifried | Moore High School |
| Oregon | Brad Smith | Henley High School |
| Pennsylvania | Dr. Robert Beale | Cheltenham High School |
| Rhode Island | Vincent McGinn | La Salle Academy |
| South Carolina | David Pratt | Hanahan High School |
| South Dakota | Jason Wagoner | Roosevelt High School |
| Tennessee | Brad Perry | Brentwood Academy |
| Texas | Lloyd Banks | Thurgood Marshall High School |
| Utah | Dace Goulding | Desert Hills High School |
| Vermont | Geoff Bennett | South Burlington |
| Virginia | Claude Toukene | Western Branch High School |
| Washington | Neil Holford | Lummi Nation School |
| West Virginia | Rick Haught | Ritchie County High School |
| Wisconsin | Mike Jameson | Bay Port High School |
| Wyoming | Roosevelt Brown | Natrona County High School |