CSR (Brian Diemer Named Division III Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year by USTCA)

Calvin Sports Report for November 22, 2006

Brian Diemer Named Division III Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year

For the fourth time in his career, Calvin College men’s cross country coach Brian Diemer has been named Division III Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field Coaches Association. The award was announced this afternoon by the USTCA. The USCTA announcement can be found on-line at: http://ustfccca.cstv.com/sports/division3/spec-rel/112206aac.html

Calvin won the NCAA Division III men's championship this past Saturday in West Chester, Ohio. Diemer's Knights won with 37 points, the second-lowest score in meet history. The national title was Calvin’s fourth in men’s cross country including its third in the last four years.

Diemer's team was ranked first in the preseason Division III poll and held the top spot throughout the 2006 season. Calvin won the Great Lakes Regional with a near-perfect score of 17 points and then claimed the NCAA title by a 55- point margin over runner-up New York University.

Six of Diemer's runners - Tim Finnegan, Jed Christiansen, Jon Gries, Harrison Jorritsma, Erik VanKampen and Nate DeHaan - earned All-America honors. It marked just the second time that a men’s cross country had placed six runners inside the top-35 for All-America finishes. Calvin’s 2003 team – also coached by Diemer – also placed six runners inside the top-35 at the national meet.

Diemer was a world-class steeplechaser in the 1980s, winning an Olympic bronze medal in 1984. A graduate of the University of Michigan and of Grand Rapids South Christian High School, Diemer has been Calvin’s men’s cross country coach since the fall of 1986. Since then, he has led Calvin to 20 MIAA titles and 11 consecutive Great Lakes Regional Titles. He was recently named Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year in men’s cross country for the 13th time in the last 14 years.

This fall, Diemer also accepted the head coaching position of the Calvin women’s cross country team and led the Knights to an MIAA title, a second place Great Lakes Regional finish and a third place finish at the NCAA III Championships this past Saturday.
 
According to Diemer, the success of the Calvin cross country program is due in part to a collective team effort from both its athletes and its coaching staff. “I’ve got a tremendous group of coaches around me and they all share in this award,” said Diemer. “We had the largest cross country coaching staff we’ve ever had yet everyone worked together for the good of our athletes. We stress to our athletes that it is all about teamwork. As a coaching staff we had to put our money where our mouth was this fall. Without the contributions of everyone on our coaching staff, there is no way we could have had the kind of success we have had this year with both of our (men’s and women’s) teams.

The Calvin cross country coaching staff includes Al Hoekstra, Nancy Meyer, Rick Otte, Laura Scholma and Robert Hyde. Graduate student and former Calvin All-American Jeff Engbers also served as a student intern this year.

Calvin coaches have now received National Coach of the Year honors 13 times including nine times in the last seven years.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Nov 22 14:55:30 2006