LINK - ASHLAND UNIVERSITY TRACK AND FIELD PAGE
Winning a team national championship takes many stellar performances by a squad's student-athletes.
It also takes a lot of preparation from a team's coaching staff, so it should come as no surprise that on Wednesday (May 29) afternoon, Ashland University head track and field coach Jud Logan (men's national head coach of the year) and associate head coach Ernie Clark (men's national assistant coach of the year) each earned top NCAA Division II honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
For Logan, this is his fourth national coach of the year honor, following men's indoor laurels in both 2009 and 2019, and women's indoor recognition in 2008. His Eagle men earned the program's first D-II outdoor team national title, on the heels of its first D-II indoor team national championship, with a furious rally on Saturday (May 29) night, coming back from 41 points down with six scoring events remaining to topple Angelo State by one point.
Logan's four national head coach of the year awards go with his six Midwest Regional head coach of the year citations (men's outdoor 2009, 2013 and 2017; men's indoor 2009-10 and 2017), and nine Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference head coach of the year honors (men's outdoor 2007-10, 2013 and 2017; men's indoor 2006 and 2008-09).
Clark has garnered the D-II men's outdoor national honor for the second year in a row. His sprints/hurdles/relays crew combined for 41 of Ashland's 54 points en route to the national crown, a total which included national-championship efforts from senior Myles Pringle in the 400-meter dash and sophomore Trevor Bassitt in the 400 hurdles, and the title-clinching second-place 4x400 relay. Bassitt was the co-men's nationals high-point athlete of the meet, as well.
In addition to the two national awards, Clark has been named Midwest Region men's outdoor assistant of the year every year from 2017-19.
With the outdoor national championship, Ashland became the first men's program to win both indoors and outdoors in the same season since Saint Augustine's in 2014.
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY NATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD HEAD COACHES OF THE YEAR
- Jud Logan (2019 outdoor men, 2019 and 2009 indoor men, 2008 indoor women)
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY NATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD ASSISTANT COACHES OF THE YEAR
- Ernie Clark (2019 and 2018 outdoor men)
- Trent Mack (2014 indoor men)
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