Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Men's Track

Carlson (pronounced Annie) was elevated to head track & field coach/director of cross country operations in May 2013.  Carlson replaced Doug Watts, who retired after serving as the head coach of Edinboro's running programs for 44 years.   Carlson serves as the head coach of the men's and women's track & field teams while overseeing cross country coach Rick Hammer.   Obviously Anne has some big shoes to fill, related Director of Athletics Bruce Baumgartner at the time of her appointment.  But we are supremely confident that she is a young coach with a bright future.  In her two seasons as an assistant coach she has had a profound impact on our program and its student-athletes.  When we built the Zafirovski Sports & Recreation Dome we made a commitment to the track & field program.  We have seen the improvement in terms of numbers and performance.  This is a new chapter in the Edinboro programs.   Carlson joined Edinboro as the assistant women's track & field coach in June 2011.  The former Central Missouri All-American and national champion proved in a short time to be a huge addition to the coaching staff.  She was recognized as the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Outdoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year last spring, and this past winter won the same award for the indoor season.    The architect of an Edinboro cross country program that won five national championships and produced 102 All-Americans, along with countless others in track & field, Watts feels Carlson is the right person to continue that tradition.   In the two short years she's been here, Coach Anne has proven to be a superior technician and an excellent role model, Watts stressed.  Having her inherit the program made it easy for me to pass the reigns of this outstanding tradition of excellence to her.   As for Carlson, she realizes that she has been in a unique situation learning from one of the top coaches in the country and taking over an established running program.   I'm very excited about the opportunity to lead the Scots, she commented.  I have been lucky to get the chance to work and learn under Coach Watts for the past two years and plan to keep the already strong cross country tradition alive while continuing to build up our track and field program. I look forward to what lies ahead for Edinboro track and field and cross country.    In her first year at Edinboro she directed the Fighting Scots to 32 school records in the combined events, sprints and horizontal jumps.  Carlson played a large role in the development of Tabitha Bemis, a multiple indoor and outdoor All-American from 2012-15.   That success continued in 2013 as the women's track & field team finished second at the PSAC Indoor Championships and third in the PSAC Outdoor Championships.   Both finishes were the best in the program's history.  In addition, Stephanie Smigiera became her first national qualifier in the indoor pentathlon, the event in which she won a national championship.  Smigiera and Brianne Dietrich finished one-two in the PSAC indoors pentathlon, then reversed roles and again went one-two in the PSAC outdoors heptathlon. Carlson enjoyed considerable success in her first season as head coach, as well. Bemis capped her indoor career as a four-time All-American, attaining All-American status in the long jump and triple jump. She was named the USTFCCCA Indoor Track & Field Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year for the third straight year and was also selected the PSAC Indoor Track & Field Women's Field Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year. Edinboro would finish fourth out of 14 teams at the 2014 PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, with seven All-PSAC performances. Bemis and Sarah Krolick represented Edinboro at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.   The womens team went on to also finish fourth out of 14 teams at the PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with seven All-PSAC performances, including five first place finishes. The men came in tenth and had an All-PSAC showing. Bemis added to her many honors as she was named the PSAC Women's Most Valuable Athlete and Field Athlete of the Championship for the second time in her career, and was later selected the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. Three Edinboro student-athletes Bemis, Brianne Dietrich, and Kasey Jones -- would go on to compete in the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships. Bemis would earn All-American honors in the long jump and triple jump. Dietrich competed in the long jump and triple jump at Nationals, while Kasey Jones competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase. A Vermillion, South Dakota native, Carlson served as a volunteer assistant coach on the Central Missouri track and field team during the 2010-11 season, primarily working with heptathletes and decathletes, following an outstanding collegiate track and field career at Central Missouri.  Her career was highlighted by an individual national championship and two All-American honors.   Carlson won the 2009 women's pentathlon national championship, setting a then-school record and earned All-American honors in the heptathlon in 2007 and 2008. She was a NCAA Division II national qualifier in the heptathlon in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and in the pentathlon in 2009 and 2010.   During Carlson's collegiate career, she was an All-MIAA performer each season and the Jennies won four MIAA titles, while finishing third at the 2009 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, the team's best finish in school history. Carlson won individual MIAA titles in the javelin (2006), long jump (2007), heptathlon (2007, 2008) and pentathlon (2009).   Carlson earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2009 from Central Missouri in public relations with a minor in corporate communications. She earned her Master's Degree in mass communication in May 2011.  She has served as the PSAC representative on the NCAA Division II Track and Field Executive Committee.    

Hammer was appointed Edinboros mens and womens cross country coach in early August 2013. He is teamed with Anne Carlson, who serves as Edinboros head track & field coach/director of cross country operations, to oversee Edinboros running programs. Hammer has enjoyed a highly-successful first two seasons at the helm, maintaining Edinboros reputation as one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the country. His womens harriers have won back-to-back NCAA Division II Atlantic Region titles, and captured their first PSAC crown since 2006 a year ago. For his efforts, Hammer was recognized as the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year. Kasey Jones earned All-American honors in  2014, finishing 14th at Nationals to lead the Fighting Scots to a 15th-place finish. She is Hammers second womens All-American. Jones was named the PSAC Womens Cross Country Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCA Atlantic Region Womens Cross Country Athlete of the Year.  She won the Atlantic Region individual title, with five runners earning All-Region honors: Jones, Emma Sullivan, Emily Ahrens, Anna Hösl, and Megan Maffett. The same five runners also earned All-PSAC accolades. The womens team was recognized as a USTFCCCA Scholar Team with five runners earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors: Ahrens, Rebekkah Bond, Hösl,Maffett, and Sullivan. In 2013, the Edinboro womens team won its first Atlantic Region championship since 2007, as four runners earned All-Region honors: Sarah Krolick, Jones, Ahrens, and Maffett.  Edinboro previously finished second at the PSAC Championships, as did Krolick in the individual race.  Krolick, Jones, and Ahrens earned All-PSAC honors. The womens harriers capped the season with a 13th place showing at the NCAA Division II National Championships. Krolick earned All-American honors for the second time with a 23rd place finish. The womens team was also recognized as a USTFCCCA Scholar Team with six runners earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors: Ahrens, Dana Cerroni, Brittany Kaltenbaugh, Krolick, Maffett, and Sullivan. . On the mens side, the Fighting Scots finished ninth at the NCAA Division II National Championships after placing second at both the PSAC Championships and Atlantic Regional Championships in 2013. The accomplishments were even more impressive given that two of the teams top runners returning All-American Bryan Deibel and Dustin Thomas missed a good portion of the season, including the PSAC Championships. Deibel returned for the regional and national championships, while Thomas came back for Nationals. Both were at less than 100 percent. Five runners earned All-PSAC honors: Matt Link, Tim McConnell, Dylan Stevens, Michael Thielman and Jordan Roose. That number was bettered in the Atlantic Regional, as seven runners finished as All-Region performers:  Link, Thielman, McConnell, Bryan Deibel, Elliott Martynkiewicz, Bart Eckel, and Logan Kempney. The mens team was recognized as a USTFCCCA Scholar Team with Deibel, Link, Thielman, and Thomas earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. In addition, Thomas was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Link highlighted Hammers second season as the mens cross country coach as he earned All-American honors for the first time. The senior came in 15th at the NCAA Division II National Championships, the same place Edinboro finished as a team. Edinboro would finish third at both the PSAC and Atlantic Regional Championships. Link paced a group of four All-PSAC runners , along with Elliott Martynkiewicz, Jonathan Gusew, and Tim McConnell. Five runners earned All-Atlantic Region honors:  Martynkiewicz, Link, McConnell, Corey Wefing, and Logan Kempney. The mens team was recognized as a USTFCCCA Scholar Team with three runners earning USTFCCCA All-Academic honors: Gusew, Link, and Wefing. The academic honors also included Thomas and Krolick earning CoSIDA Academic All-American accolades, with Thomas earning first team and Krolick second team honors. The distance runners in track & field have also earned great success. That is capped by Krolick qualifying for the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships in the 5,000-meter run, and Jones qualifying for the outdoor championships in the steeplechase. Both occurred in 2014. Hammer joined the Edinboro coaching staff after serving as the assistant cross country/track & field coach at Lewis University for the previous four years. Hammer mentored the distance runners to 40 (plus) All-GLVC honors, along with guiding four student-athletes to qualifying marks for the USATF Junior Nationals. He coached 12 national qualifiers, nine All-Americans, 10 GLVC champions, and two GLVC Freshmen of the Year. In addition, the Flyers won the 2010 and 2011 GLVC Indoor Womens Track team championships. He made an immediate impact on both the cross country and track & field programs, as Kathryn Hague posted back-to-back All-American finishes in cross country in 2009 and 10, Lewis first cross country All-American since 1997. Prior to his stint at Lewis, Hammer spent three years (2006-09) as the assistant cross country/track & field coach at Division III Manchester College (Ind.), where he coached seven national qualifiers, two All-Americans and one national champion during his tenure. He helped the Spartans to the 2009 HCAC womens track & field team title, and the 2009 mens track team was 14th in the nation. All told, 11 different school records were broken and 186 spots were claimed on the Manchester track & field top 10 performance list. Hammer began his coaching career as an assistant track & field coach at IPFW in 2005, the moved on to assistant cross country/track & field position at Tri-State University the next year. Hammer is a USATF Level I Certified Track & Field Coach and has a Level II certification in the endurance events from both the USATF and USTFCCCA. He had served as the GLVC representative to the USTFCCCA Cross County Committee the last two years. A December 2004 graduate of Huntington College (Ind.) with a bachelors degree in Business Management/Economics, Hammer was a two-time captain, national qualifier and Academic All-American. The Plainfield, Ill. resident received his masters degree in Physical Education Coaching Emphasis from Ball State in 2009. He has been working on a masters degree in Business Administration from Lewis. Hammer and his wife, Cecilia, reside in Edinboro.