Ex-WSU sprints coach Gabe Mvumvure to Arizona; Moll twins named Bowerman semifinalists...
Gabe Mvumvure (Paul Merca photo) didn't have to wait long for a coaching job.
The University of Arizona announced in a press release Wednesday that Mvumvure, who was the sprints and hurdles coach at Washington State, will be the new sprints coach at the school.
Mvumvure replaces Washington State alum Francesca Green, who was not retained after the Wildcats hired Andrew Dubs to be its new men's and women's head coach after the retirement of Fred Harvey.
In his three years at WSU, his athletes produced 81 of the program's all-time top ten performances, 26 school records, seven All-Americans and NCAA outdoor semifinalists and an NCAA outdoor runner-up in the 100 hurdles in Paris Olympian Maribel Caicedo.
Before Washington State, Mvumvure was the sprint and hurdles coach at Brown University. In his three years at Brown, his student-athletes posted 33 of the school's all-time top ten performances, five school records and two NCAA regional qualifiers.
"I would like to thank (head coach) Andrew Dubs and everyone involved in the hiring process for granting me this opportunity," Mvumvure said. "I am extremely excited for this position and will strive to elevate the standards in the Wildcats' sprints and hurdles. I am a firm believer that I will be able to contribute to the Wildcats' track and field pursuit of titles and top finishes at the Big 12 Conference and NCAA Championships."
As we posted last week, Washington State drastically downgraded its track and field program, eliminating field events, deemphasizing the sprints and hurdles, and going to a distance-only program, much like Gonzaga and SeattleU.
In doing so, Washington State also didn't retain Mvumvure, jumps and combined events coach Derick Hinch, and throws coach and associate head coach Julie Taylor. There are unconfirmed reports that Taylor may be the new throws coach at the University of Idaho.
The biggest question, especially in light of the NCAA roster limits of 45 athletes in Division I, is how many of Washington State's sprint group will follow Mvumvure to Tucson.
Additionally, senior Michaela De Mello, who was an NCAA scorer for the Cougs in the 60 hurdles, is potentially eligible to compete outdoors, as she was injured at the world indoor championships after the NCAA indoor championships and did not compete at all this spring.
In a related move, Washington State hall of fame member Bernard Lagat was not retained as an assistant track and head cross country coach at Arizona by Andrew Dubs.
MOLL TWINS NAMED SEMIFINALISTS FOR BOWERMAN AWARD...
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced that pole vaulters Hana and Amanda Moll (Paul Merca photo) of the University of Washington are two of ten semifinalists for collegiate track & field’s highest honor – The Bowerman.
Washington is the ninth program in award history to have multiple women’s semifinalists in the same year.
Olympia natives Amanda and Hana Moll, are the first siblings and twins to be named semifinalists. It can be difficult telling them apart physically as well as keeping track of their pole vault accomplishments. They split the NCAA DI titles (Amanda winning indoors, Hana outdoors) and are Nos. 1 and 2 all-time both indoors (Amanda over Hana) and outdoors (Hana and Amanda). Head-to-head in collegiate finals this year Amanda had 3-1 advantage indoors while they were 2-2 outdoors.
Amanda raised the CR six times this year – twice outdoors and four times indoors. Her best outdoors of 4.78m (15-8.25) came at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, which was an improvement from two weeks earlier at 4.76m (15-7.25) at the Desert Heat Classic. She finished third at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. Her highest clearance of the year came indoors, with the first absolute collegiate 16-foot performance at 4.91m (16-1.25). She won the NCAA DI Indoor title with a meet record 4.70m (15-5) and finished the undercover season with six of the top-8 all-time performances collegiately.
Hana finished the year with the final CR, raising the outdoor mark to 4.79m (15-8.5) that doubled as the DI Outdoor meet record. She’s also a co-holder of the DI Indoor meet record at 4.70m (15-5). Her highest clearance of the year came at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, where her 4.81m (15-9.25) could only have been beaten by a CR, which Amanda cleared for the victory. The only collegian she lost to this year was Amanda.
The Bowerman finalists will be announced on July 7th.
UW ALUMS BRIAN FAY AND SOPHIE O'SULLIVAN TO REPRESENT IRELAND AT EUROPEAN ATHLETICS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS--2ND DIVISION...
Washington alums Brian Fay and Sophie O'Sullivan will represent Ireland at the European Athletics Team Championships--2nd Division this weekend in Maribor, Slovenia on June 28-29th.
Fay is entered in the men's 5000, while O'Sullivan will run the women's 800.
O'Sullivan recently won the NCAA 1500 title two weeks ago in Eugene.
The European Athletics Team Championships 2nd Division will be streamed in its entirety through the European Athletics website.
NOTE: The University of Arizona, University of Washington, European Athletics, and the USTFCCCAA contributed to this report.
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