Dunlap Girls Head Cross Country coach Chris Friedman (bottom, second) guilded his Eagles their first state championship in November. Dunlap completed an undefeated IHSA season that culminated with the 2A team title.
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Official press release-
NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Thursday the state-by-state winners of its fourth annual High School Coach of the Year award for cross country.
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 fall of 2017, as selected by a committee of experts from around the nation.
State-by-state winners were selected based on their teams' performances throughout the 2017 cross country season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, margin of victory, performance against rankings if available, individual championships, and how their teams' performances stacked up to previous years (e.g. 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 Cross Country 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.
The full lists can be seen below.
2017 USTFCCCA HIGH SCHOOL BOYS CROSS COUNTRY COACHES OF THE YEAR | ||
State | Coach Name | Institution |
Alabama | Luke Robinson | Scottsboro High School |
Alaska | Ruth Barndt | West High School |
Arizona | Missy Acker | Northland Preparatory Academy |
Arkansas | Karl Koonce | Lake Hamilton High School |
California | Doug Soles | Great Oak High School |
Colorado | Mark Roberts | Lyons Senior High School |
Connecticut | Chris Stonier | Xavier High School |
Delaware | Michael LoSapio | Salesianum School |
District of Columbia | John Ausema | Gonzaga College High School |
Florida | Mike Rivera | The Bolles School |
Georgia | Andy Carr | Milton High School |
Hawaii | Shane Hedani | 'Iolani School |
Idaho | Jeff Howard | Rocky Mountain High School |
Illinois | John Sipple | Downers Grove North High School |
Indiana | Colin Altevogt | Carmel High School |
Iowa | Erik Belby | Pleasant Valley High School |
Kansas | Gary Wartick | Circle High School |
Kentucky | Chuck Medley | Saint Xavier High School |
Louisiana | Claney Duplechin | Episcopal School of Baton Rouge |
Maine | Garrett Martin | Lincoln Academy |
Maryland | Josh Alcombright | Severna Park High School |
Massachusetts | Mark Murray | St. John's High School |
Michigan | Don Sleeman | Pioneer High School |
Minnesota | Mark Popp | Wayzata High School |
Mississippi | Kevin Bower | Brookhaven High School |
Missouri | Frank Gallick | Blue Springs High School |
Montana | Casey Jermyn | Bozeman High School |
Nebraska | Stephanie Fuehrer | Holdrege High School |
Nevada | Rhonda Beadell | Spanish Springs High School |
New Hampshire | Tristan Black-Ingersoll | Concord High School |
New Jersey | Sean McCafferty | Christian Brothers Academy |
New Mexico | Kenny Henry | V. Sue Cleveland High School |
New York | Ray Lawson | Corning-Painted Post High School |
North Carolina | Michael Miragliuolo | Green Hope High School |
North Dakota | Brian Anderson | New Town High School |
Ohio | Lee Sternberg | East Canton High School |
Oklahoma | Frezer Legesse | Mount St. Mary Catholic High School |
Oregon | Justin Loftus | Crater High School |
Pennsylvania | Greg Bielecki | La Salle College High School |
Rhode Island | Jim Doyle | Bishop Hendricken High School |
South Carolina | Jeff Buys | Dorman High School |
South Dakota | Kendra Benedetto | West Central High School |
Tennessee | Phil Young | Siegel High School |
Texas | Greg Christensen | Lovejoy High School |
Utah | Randy Quarez | Stansbury High School |
Vermont | Eric Langevin | Essex High School |
Virginia | Marc Hunter | Loudoun Valley High School |
Washington | Michael Lee | Lewis and Clark High School |
West Virginia | Mike Ryan | Morgantown High School |
Wisconsin | Brian Finnel | Middleton High School |
Wyoming | Ty Draney | Star Valley High School |