Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics
Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics
Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics
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Seahawk Track & Field<br />
Coaching Staff<br />
Jim Sprecher<br />
Head Coach<br />
13th Season<br />
Ball State, 1985<br />
Jim Sprecher, the most successful<br />
cross country/track and<br />
field coach in <strong>UNC</strong> <strong>Wilmington</strong><br />
history, has established the<br />
<strong>UNC</strong>W program as one of the<br />
CAA’s best as he enters his 13th<br />
season in 2008-09.<br />
Sprecher, 45, guided the<br />
Seahawks to three consecutive<br />
Colonial Athletic Association<br />
men’s track and field championships<br />
from 1997-99 before<br />
accepting the top post at his<br />
alma mater, Ball State.<br />
He returned to <strong>UNC</strong>W<br />
in 2004 and has picked up<br />
where he left off, leading<br />
the Seahawks to titles once<br />
again in 2005, 2007 and 2008.<br />
The Seahawks captured their ninth overall men’s<br />
championship last spring in dramatic fashion, taking the 4x400<br />
Relay and rallying for the win. Ten Seahawks won CAA championships,<br />
18 were named All-East and nine qualified for the NCAA<br />
Regionals in Tallahassee, Fla.<br />
2007-08 was a special year for the program in addition to winning<br />
the CAA Championship. A pair of alums were honored when<br />
Michael McDuffie was inducted into the <strong>UNC</strong>W Hall-of-Fame and<br />
Anna Raynor <strong>com</strong>peted in the U.S. Olympic Trials.<br />
<strong>UNC</strong>W won its first of two straight CAA titles in 2007. On the<br />
men’s side, the Seahawks produced six CAA champions and 22<br />
All-CAA performers. Sprecher’s club then posted a best-ever fifth<br />
place finish at the IC4A Championships in Princeton, N.J., qualifying<br />
seven performers for the NCAA Regionals in Gainesville, Fla.<br />
The women’s squad, meanwhile, continues to make progress<br />
as well, highlighted by the emergence of thrower Anna Raynor.<br />
The remarkable athlete successfully defended her Championship<br />
of Americas title in the javelin at the Penn Relays and qualified for<br />
the NCAA Championships for the third straight year.<br />
Overall, the women’s team featured five All-CAA performers,<br />
17 qualifiers for the ECAC Championships and five qualifiers for<br />
the NCAA Regionals.<br />
In 2004-05, Sprecher led the Seahawks to their seventh CAA<br />
crown with a school-record 218.5 points. He was named CAA<br />
Coach-of-the-Year for the fourth time after collecting the honor in<br />
1997, 1998 and 1999.<br />
Following a brief stint at Ball State, Sprecher came back to the<br />
Port City and began rebuilding the program. In 2004-05, <strong>UNC</strong>W<br />
featured 12 conference champions, 41 All-CAA performers, 25<br />
NCAA East Regional qualifiers and set 23 school records.<br />
The 2004-05 campaign also saw the emergence of one of the<br />
top athletes in the program’s history as Raynor grabbed the national<br />
spotlight. Raynor became the school’s first national qualifier<br />
for the indoor nationals in the high jump and then collected All-<br />
American honors in the javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field<br />
Championships in<br />
Sacramento, Calif.<br />
S p r e c h e r<br />
headed up the<br />
<strong>UNC</strong>W program<br />
from 1992-99 before<br />
leaving for<br />
Muncie. In seven<br />
seasons, he led<br />
the Seahawks to<br />
three CAA titles,<br />
coached 37 individual<br />
conference<br />
champions and<br />
173 All-CAA performers.<br />
In that<br />
span, Seahawk<br />
thinclads earned<br />
All-East honors<br />
49 times and<br />
won Penn Relays<br />
events five<br />
times, four in relay<br />
events and one individual crown. He also coached two NCAA<br />
Division I national qualifiers and one Academic All-American.<br />
Sprecher was named CAA Men’s Track & Field Coach-of-the-<br />
Year in 1997 and 1998, and shared the honor with James Madison’s<br />
Bill Walton<br />
in 1999. In<br />
1994, Sprecher<br />
was selected<br />
CAA Women’s<br />
Cross Country<br />
Coach-of-the-<br />
Year.<br />
Coaching Experience (23 years):<br />
• Head Coach<br />
<strong>UNC</strong>W, 1992-99, 03-Current<br />
• Head Coach Ball State, 2000-03<br />
• Head Coach Arkansas College, 1992<br />
• Asst. Coach Louisiana Tech, 1989-91<br />
• Asst. Coach Wayland Baptist, 1988<br />
• Graduate Asst. Coach Baylor, 1987<br />
At <strong>UNC</strong>W<br />
Sprecher By the Numbers<br />
106 All-East Performers<br />
86 CAA Champions<br />
79 NCAA Regional Qualifiers<br />
22 Academic All-Americans<br />
13 Academic All-America Teams<br />
7 NCAA National Qualifiers<br />
7 CAA Coach-of-the-Year Awards<br />
5 All-East Region Honorees<br />
4 ECAC Champions<br />
4 Thomas Moseley Outstanding Athlete Awards<br />
4 Penn Relays Relay Champions<br />
3 NSCA Strength & Conditioning All-Americans<br />
3 <strong>UNC</strong>W Hall of Fame Inductees<br />
3 Chancellor’s Cup Awards<br />
3 NCAA All-Americans<br />
3 CAA Athlete-of-the-Year winners<br />
3 CAA Most Vaulable Performers<br />
3 Penn Relays Individual Champions<br />
1 USA National Team Athlete<br />
1 Olympic Trials Qualifier<br />
1 CAA Scholar/Athlete-of-the-Year Award<br />
1 NCAA Southeast Regional Athlete-of-the-Year<br />
At Ball<br />
State, Sprecher<br />
coached<br />
eight Mid-<br />
A m e r i c a n<br />
Conference champions and had five of his<br />
athletes qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships, with four<br />
earning All-American honors.<br />
Under Sprecher’s leadership, Zach Riley became the first twotime<br />
track All-American at Ball State on the NCAA Division I level<br />
with his performances in the hammer throw in 2001 and 2002.<br />
Sprecher’s teams have excelled academically as well. He has<br />
coached 13 Academic All-American teams and 21 Academic All-<br />
Americans.<br />
Sprecher and his wife, Gwenann, have two children, Alex, 18,<br />
and Trace, 13.<br />
4 • <strong><strong>UNC</strong>Wsports</strong>.<strong>com</strong>