Former New Mexico State volunteer assistant track and field coach Rachel Dincoff reached the pinnacle of her discus event when she qualified for the Olympic games in 2020. She had punched her ticket by finishing third at the U.S. Olympic Trials, throwing 197 feet, 6 inches.
During her Olympics debut in the women’s discus competition, Dincoff unleashed a longest throw of 56.22 meters, good enough for 12th place in Group A of the prelims. Rachel did not make the finals, but had accomplished an incredible dream that had been an exhausting but incredibly gratifying journey.
Dincoff had served on the Aggies' coaching staff in a volunteer assistant role since 2017, specializing in her work with the team's throws. Under Dincoff's watch, NM State has had two student-athletes move on to the NCAA West Preliminary meet including Taniya Mitchell (hammer throw, 2019) and Yemisi Oroyinyin (shotput, 2021).
“My goals are different now,” Dincoff said. “I want to win a gold medal. That is 100% my goal. I don’t know how long it will take to get there, I don’t know if it will ever happen, but there isn’t a reason why I can’t.
She’ll be doing her training now in Tallahassee, Florida. Her coach, Doug Reynolds, is now an assistant with the Florida State track program coaching throwers. He had been at New Mexico State. “It’s great training weather and a lot closer to my family as well,” Dincoff said. “It’s going to be a great situation and I’m really excited.”
The Eiffel Tower is off in the distance, and Dincoff would like to see it up close at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. First up, however, are the World Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July. It’s the same site where she placed third in the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Anika Newell is a Highland High School graduate and is a three-time New Mexico High School state champion winning the Class 5A girls pole vault in 2009 with a mark of 9’9”, in 2010 she took top honors in the pole vault at 10’6” and in 2011, she set the Class 5A state record at 11’6”. Newell went on to vault at Texas State where she won the Sun Belt Conference pole vault title twice and set a conference record. In 2016, she made the Canadian Olympic team as her mother was born in Canada.
Newell has made two trips to the Olympic stage. She attended the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro she placed 29th in the women’s pole vault, clearing 13’7”. On the Team Canada website, Newell credits her dad, Tim, for where she is as an athlete. “I am the athlete I am because of him.”
INFORMATION CREDIT: NMAA
Larry Chavez is the 112th inductee into the NMAA Hall of Fame, with a career in education that spanned over 38 years. He devoted his entire career to serving the youth of New Mexico.
A native of Las Vegas, N.M., Chavez graduated from Las Vegas Robertson High School in 1977, where he was a three-sport student-athlete in basketball, cross country, and track & field. Following high school, Chavez attended Eastern New Mexico University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1982 and his master’s degree in 1987.
Chavez started his career in education in 1982 in Santa Rosa, as a middle school and high school PE teacher, while also assuming the roles of head cross country and track & field coach and assistant basketball coach for the Lions. In 1984, Chavez moved to Tucumcari, N.M., where he spent the next 8 years, serving as a junior high PE teacher and social studies teacher. During that time, Chavez also coached junior high football, boys’ basketball, and boys’ track, as well as high school boys’ track & field.
From 1992-97, Chavez again served the students at Santa Rosa Public Schools, this time as Athletic Director, while coaching cross country, baseball, basketball, and track. Then, in 1997, he made the move to Rio Rancho, N.M., where he served for 23 years, as a teacher, coach, athletic director and district athletic director.
During his time with Rio Rancho High School, Cleveland High School and the Rio Rancho Public Schools District Office, Chavez earned the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (NMTCCCA) Coach of the Year twice, the New Mexico High School Coaches Association (NMHSCA) Coach of the Year for Track & Field in 2008-09, the NMHSCA Region 8 Coach of the Year in 2009 and was a finalist for the NHSACA Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2010. Chavez was inducted into the NMTCCCA Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Rio Rancho High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. He also earned the 2011 New Mexico Athletic Directors Association (NMADA) Rookie AD of the Year, the 2015 NMADA Class 6A AD of the Year and the 2004 Rio Rancho Mid High Teacher of the Year.
Under his guidance, Chavez guided Cleveland High School to NMAA Director’s Cup Championships in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18 and to top-3 finishes four times.
Over his career, Chavez served on several committees, including the NMAA Commission, the NMAA Golf Sports Specific Committee, and the NMAA Cross Country Sports Specific Committee. He also served as the meet director for the State Cross Country Championships from 2006-09 and was instrumental in bringing the first NMAA Championship event to the City of Rio Rancho.
Chavez also served on the NMTCCCA Board as President and Vice President, is currently the President of the NMADA Board of Directors, also currently sits on the NMAA Foundations Board of Directors and served on the NMHSCA Board of Directors and was the District 1-6A Chairperson for 11 years.
Chavez and his wife of over 40 years, Rose, have four children, Larry, Orlando, Hilaree and Lawrence, and seven grandchildren.
The distance track and cross country programs at Antonian have made considerable leaps under Lovell. To date, the Apache men and women have garnered 15 TAPPS state cross country championships. To top it off, Antonian graduates Marcos Munoz, John Matthew Hernandez, Andrew Gazda, Anthony Gallardo and Jacob Garza earned individual championship honors under Lovell's direction, an accomplishment that had not been attained in program history. The Apache women also made great strides in cross country under Lovell. Most notably, Bridgette Kozar became the first female in program history to earn an individual championship at the TAPPS state cross country championships. In 2010, Lovell was named TAPPS 5A Coach of the Year. In 2011, Lovell was bestowed another honor being named Express-News Cross Country Coach of the Year.
On the track, numbers alone back up the success of the Apache program. Lovell was instrumental in mentoring two high school All-Americans, 69+ all-state honorees, and 30+ state champions.
Prior to coming to Antonian College Preparatory, Lovell served as head track & field coach at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth for one year. He was also the school’s assistant athletic director. Before that, Lovell was the head cross-country and track & field coach at the University of the Southwest, where he guided the Mustangs' men's cross country team to the Red River Conference Championship, the first in the program’s history. He also helped lead the women's track & field team to a Red River Conference Championship. Lovell was awarded men’s cross-country coach of the year in 2005 and women’s track and field coach of the year in 2006.
A native of San Antonio, Lovell competed in cross country at Clark High School. In college, Lovell competed in cross country and track & field at East Texas State University where he was a member of the 1994 NCAA Cross Country Regional Championships team. Lovell earned his bachelor's degree from East Texas in 1995.
Since 2012, Lovell has served on the TAPPS Athletic Executive Committee. Lovell has completed Endurance and Sprint, Hurdle, Relay event certification from USTFCCA. Lovell, 48, is married to the former Rebecca Brune of Austin, Texas. They are the parents of two children – daughter, Rory and son, Ryder.
SOURCE: Santa Fe New Mexican. Excerpts and quotes from article written by Olivia Harlow.
Gering, a runner from San Felipe Pueblo, ran track his junior and senior years at Santa Fe Indian School and cross-country his senior year. Since then he has been chasing his dream — literally.
After High School, Gering ran at Fort Lewis in college, where he set multiple records and won the Outstanding Senior Award. Following college, Gering’s long-distance running hobby became a full-fledged passion, competing in race after race. Taking on course after course with the dream of becoming an elite athlete. However, Gering's races are not your typical 5 or 10k. Christian is an "Ultra" Runner. Now “going these distances is called ‘ultra,’ ” he said. “We’ve become so far removed from that — from everyday people going these distances. … I want to use ultra marathons to show we are capable of it. It never went away. It’s reconnecting, reigniting to this lifeway.”
In May, Gering competed in his first 50-mile run at the Jemez Mountain Trail race. Since then, he competed in the Speedgoat 50K in Utah — “one of the toughest 50Ks in America” — and finished in 10th place. In September, he won a 100-kilometer trail race at Lake Tahoe.
That race also made one of Christian's goals a reality. Last year, Gering tried getting into the Salomon brand Ultra Academy in Hong Kong, but never heard back after submitting an application. This year, after his win at the Tahoe 100K — his first 100-kilometer distance — he qualified to attend the Academy in November. He finished in 9 hours, 48 minutes, and 24 seconds. Gering will depart for the running camp Nov. 25 and return Dec. 6.
This year’s academy, Gering explained, hosts 10 participants from around the world for a weeklong intensive training. The program will include running, health and business tips — including how to manage social media accounts and build a brand — as well as give them the chance to meet with Salomon executives and provide feedback on newer gear.
During the week abroad, Gering said the runners will compete in the Asian Skyrunner Championship Race in Lantau on Dec. 2. Gering said he thinks the race could determine which students Salomon will add to its international team, and he expects some degree of sponsorship or ambassador opportunity following the event.
The accomplishment, he says, is a first step in achieving potential sponsorship. But more importantly, it is also a way to inspire his local native community.
“I don’t see a large population of people out there [on the trails] who look like me,” said Gering, 27, his raven black hair pulled taut into a ponytail. “I hope it shows to Native people and to Pueblo people that anyone can run.”
A couple of months ago to help promote that message, Gering competed in and won the locally famed Big Tesuque Trail Run, which raises money for Wings of America — a nonprofit that promotes American Indian runners. Through all his hard work, Gering said he hopes other Natives — specifically youth — will realize that they can dream big, just as he has.
“You keep putting in hard work, and you’ll find your way there,” he said.
NOTE: The original article speaks to Christian's diet and relationship to his native ways. For more information, you can read the original article here:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/sports/san-felipe-man-running-toward-his-dream/article_5a981002-9b2a-5775-adce-3cb862f99cd6.html
Currently the throws coach for the Academy Chargers ladies program, during his 14 year tenure at the Air Force Academy Irving coached the pole vault (2000-03), horizontal jumps (2004-06) and throwing events (2000-13). In addition, he coordinated the strength and conditioning program for the entire track and field program from 2000 to 2001.
Under Irving's direction, Dana Pounds won back-to-back NCAA national titles in the javelin throw (2005, 2006), while setting the Mountain West record of 195'8"
The success of Pounds continued after her graduation, as Irving served as her personal coach while she took part in the Air Force World Class Athlete Program (WCAP). The champion of the 2007 U.S. National Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Pounds was a member of the Team USA squad that competed at the world championships that year and finished second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
He coached seven of the 10 NCAA Division I All-Americans for all women's sports at the Academy, including Pounds (2004, 2005, 2006 javelin), Olivia Korte (2006 discus) and Sara Neubauer (2009, 2010 discus; 2009 shot put), while leading Neubauer to the shot put title at the U.S. Junior National Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2007.
Irving coached 12 of the Academy's female Mountain West champions (all sports), highlighted by six individuals who combined for 11 throwing titles (Dominique Boivin - 2003 discus; Pounds - 2004, 2005, 2006 javelin; Korte - 2007 discus; Neubauer - 2010 indoor shot put, 2010 outdoor shot put, 2010 weight throw, 2010 discus; Katie Weber - 2010 javelin; Paige Blackburn - 2012 javelin). In addition, he was the event coach for Ana-Maria Ortega when she won the conference title in the pole vault during the 2001 season.
On the men's side, Irving-coached athletes accounted for nine Mountain West titles. Three Falcons combined for four javelin titles, including Joe Bonner (2000), Tim Fritz (2002, 2003) and Matt Schwandt (2007), while Robert Drye claimed back-to-back first-place finishes in the hammer throw (2011, 2012) and Anthony Park swept the long jump titles at the 2004 indoor and outdoor conference championship meets. In addition, David Lissy won the shot put at the 2008 MW Indoor Championships.
The throwers on the men's team outscored all other teams at the Mountain West Championships on three occasions (2008 indoors, 2001 outdoors, 2013 outdoors). The men tallied a record 55 points in the throwing events at the MW Outdoor Championships, highlighted by seven all-MW selections (Brian Ford - hammer, discus; James Chambers - discus, shot put; Garrett Griffin - javelin; Grant Hamilton - shot put).
NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RUNNER UP!
MADISON, Wis.— For the fourth time in the last five years, the University of New Mexico cross country team finished in the top-three after concluding the 2018 cross country season with a runner-up finish in the NCAA Championship behind three Lobos that finished in the top 10.
The second-place finish also marked the ninth-straight top-10 performance at the NCAA Championship.
"I thought it was fantastic," assessed head coach Joe Franklin. "The women continued on the New Mexico tradition of being great at the NCAA Championship."
Sophomore Weini Kelati crossed the line at 19:45.3 to finish runner-up in the 6K, held at the Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, after leading for a portion of the race. She was edged out in the backstretch by Colorado's Dani Jones, who won the individual title with a time of 19:42.8.
Kelati trimmed five places off of her 2017 NCAA Championship standings, although she ran about 10 seconds slower in Madison.
Junior Ednah Kurgat placed fifth with her time of 19:55.8, followed by senior Charlotte Prouse, who capped her collegiate cross country career with a ninth-place finish of 20:02.1.
Kelati, Kurgat and Prouse were named All-Americans for their results, which are given to the top 40 finishers, giving UNM 21 All-American honors since their streak of top-10 team finishes started in 2010. It is the second year in-a-row that all three have earned the distinction.
Sophomore Adva Cohen was the fourth Lobo to score, placing 43rd overall, but 38th in team points, with 20:39.7. Senior Emily Martin was the final point-scorer for UNM with 49 points after running 20:44.7.
Junior Hannah Nuttall completed the race in 20:53.0 and sophomore Sophie Eckel rounded out the Lobo entries at 21:19.4.
Colorado claimed the team title with 65 points, placing all five scorers in the top 22, whereas the Cherry and Silver, wearing their signature turquoise, tallied 103 points. Oregon finished 57 points behind New Mexico to finish third in the standings.
"We just got beat by a better team in Colorado," said Franklin. "They were absolutely on fire. There's nothing else we could have done.
"The race went according to plan. It went better than what we planned, just Colorado was on fire."
Through the first 2K of the race, Kelati ran in the lead pack, sitting in third at 6:38.2 and just 0.2 seconds behind the leader. Kurgat and Prouse ran close together further back in 15th and 17th at the first split, clocking 6:39.2 and 6:39.3, respectively.
At the 4K mark, Kelati held steady in third with a time of 13:27.7, while Kurgat improved her placement 10 spots to fifth, checking in at 13:27.9. Prouse was able to move up one spot in the second portion of the race, registering 13:29.8.
In the final portion of the race, at about the 15:17 mark, Kelati made her move and moved away from the pack to take the lead, holding off the competition until the very end when Jones overtook her in the final stretch of the course to take the win.
This season, Kelati has been the top-finisher for the Lobos in all five races that she's competed in, earning three individual wins and two runner-up finishes, including Saturday's NCAA race. Kurgat has also had a consistently solid season to follow up her remarkable sophomore campaign, collecting three runner-up finishes- with Kelati and Kurgat finishing 1-2- as well as a third-place result and and Saturday's fifth-place finish.
"Not only has Weini grown, but Ednah, her roommate, has grown," said Franklin. "You have two of the best women in the country, two of the best young runners in the world, that are teammates. Weini has put herself in an amazing place. I can't say enough good things about her."
Prouse held as the reliable third runner for UNM this season with all but one top-10 finish through her five appearances.
Todd Lehman begins his seventh season as Associate Head Coach and ninth overall with the Lopes in 2019-20. Lehman oversees the pole vaulters and the multi-event athletes.
Since the transition to Division I, Lehman has coached a Lope to a Western Athletic Conference pole vault title, either indoor or outdoor, in every season of membership in the conference. Since the transition, 17 Lopes have won WAC pole vault titles. Lehman coached Scott Marshall to two NCAA National Championships appearances at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships where he tied for 13th and to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Marshall would finish his career winning every WAC pole vault title he competed in, a total of six championships in three years.
Lehman moved back to Arizona and to coach at Paradise Valley Community College in 1999 as an assistant track and field coach. Lehman then moved into the co-head coach position where he coached 27 NJCAA individual national champions, 62 All-Americans and 33 academic All-Americans in his 15 seasons at PVCC. His athletes have set NJCAA national records 11 times and his teams posted 15 top-10 performances at the national meet, including back-to-back third-place finishes in 2005 and 2006.
Lehman is a former Arizona high school state champion and state record holder who attended Southern California. While at USC, he was a four-time letterman and co-captain of the track and field team. He began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at USC in 1992. He then went to PVCC after coaching stints at the U.S. Air Force Academy (1993-95) and Indiana State (1995-97). While coaching at USAFA and ISU, Lehman coached three All-Americans, five conference champions, and five school record holders.
In 1998, Lehman opened the Kiss the Sky Pole Vault Center in Phoenix, which he continues to operate while also running pole vault camps across the Valley. He gives instruction to pole vaulters of all levels and ages, including some of the best in the world.
A USA Track and Field Level II coach, Lehman was selected as the 2004 National Collegiate Pole Vault Coach of the Year in 2004 by the USATF Pole Vault Development Committee. He also was voted the 2005 Indoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the NJCAA Track Coaches Association.
Together with his wife Kate, they have four sons: Lucas, Maxwell, Ty and Reed.
INFO SOURCES: Santa Fe New Mexican/Santa Fe.com
It all started in a differrent time and a diffrent place..England. It all ended, a 21 year coaching stint at Santa Fe Prep, with one last victory lap around the Great Friends UNM Track Complex in celebration of a Girl's Class 3A State Championship this past May.
It was the fourth State team title for Coach' Shere's girls team and the proverbial icing for her, as her last State meet to Coach the Blue Griffins. Shere has retired from the program that she built moment by moment, season by season, out of every form of success possible to celebrate, no matter how small it might seem to others. That has been Coach Shere's MO....honor the effort, honor and celebrate the inner battles and overcoming of her athletes. It has been a great journey.
Maybe it's Coach Shere's own journey in the athletic realm that brought such respect and joy to her kids accomplishments. As a teen in England, Tove is the first to say "I was not a great student. I was not an academic. I was very much an athlete. I grew up in a different time and place in a different country. And athletics sort of saved my bacon. I did not really like school, so I pretty much did every sport there was."
She is also the first to credit her own coaches. "I don’t think I would have made it without my coaches. I know for me that they were probably the most important people in my life during my teen years."
However, after about a 20 year hiatus from sports, Tove found herself wanting to make a comeback at the age of 37, weighing almost 200 pounds and smoking 2 packs a day for almost 30 years. "when I came back to it, the struggles were beyond imaginable, they were enormous, they were excruciatingly painful to get back into shape."
It was those struggles she faced herself, that has been her biggest assett in relating to her athletes. "To start from nothing, to start from scratch, to start from a memory, to start from a wannabe, and just struggle to get little tiny pieces of it put back together again. I mean I was a mess. So putting it back together again was a really hard endeavor."
It was those insights that Coach Shere brought to the table and the real feelings of what it meant to overcome, even the smallest battles, that became the next badge of courage for each step in getting back to a better place personally and athletically. "Everybody can do something to honor that part of what, I believe, God gave them, which is an athletic body. That’s what we are: athletes by nature. It doesn’t mean you have to be an Olympian, but you have to get out there and honor your body, or you end up like I did at 37, just not feeling to good about yourself."
It is safe to say that the Blue Griffin's "Track Mom" of the past 21 years helped more than herself get to a better place. She helped two decades of young people to believe not only in themselves, but to believe in the values, the character, the tools and skill sets that will help them for the rest of their lives.
That is all Coach Shere has wanted to do: to help.
Mission accomplished Coach.
Robert Hackett's professional strength and conditioning experience spans over 20 years with the Vancouver Grizzlies, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks (2011 NBA Champions), Milwaukee Bucks.
Prior to working in the NBA, Hackett designed and directed the strength and conditioning programs at the University of Wisconsin for the school’s men and women basketball, football (1993 Rose Bowl Champs) and track teams.
He has extensive experience in testing, teaching, and coaching athletes. He also served as an assistant track coach for three years for the Badgers.
Hackett is a graduate of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree of science. While at Wisconsin, he competed as a sprinter on the badger track team, where he was a three – time USA Olympic Trial Qualifier and NCAA Champion; competed in the 100 and 200 meters.
Larry Chavez is the 112th inductee into the NMAA Hall of Fame, with a career in education that spanned over 38 years. He devoted his entire career to the youth of New Mexico.....
Newell, a graduate from Highland High School and 3-time State Champion, has attended two Olympic games for team Canada.
Former New Mexico State volunteer assistant track and field coach Rachel Dincoff reached the pinnacle of her event...
Begun in 1987 by a small group of visionaries with the goal of a NM Meet of Champions, as well as developing better communication and unification between all track and cross country coaches, the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Coaches Association was born and has grown to what you see today. Our association has and must continue to be the guiding force for positive change and the protection of all aspects of New Mexico Track and Cross Country that we believe important to our athletes and our coaches. Changes are a part of life. We are our best "Advocates" for helping to direct that change in a positive and constructive way. We must continue to "Educate" our membership and give them the best tools for success. And, as a professional organization, we must "Celebrate" those successes, those stories, those special moments and actions that make our sports such wonderful tools in helping to mold the youth of New Mexico. We ARE the NMTCCCA !!!
