19.10.2014 Views

Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics

Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics

Media Guide - UNCWsports.com - UNC Wilmington Athletics

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

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>

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!