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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>

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