Gardner-Webb University Women's Track

Baker's group of talented athletes posted 17 school records. Individually, nine conference titles were won during the year. Four of the student-athletes - Caryn Daane, Jerel Langley, Carrie Long and Elizabeth Maxwell had performances that were good enough to allow them to compete at the NCAA East Region. During the 2006-07 campaign, his team recorded 25 school-record marks. Four student-athletes - Jake Didion, Elliott Haynie, Langley and Maxwell - garnered a spot at the NCAA East Region Championships with Didion and Langley earning top-10 finishes. The Runnin' Bulldogs had multiple individual champions at the conference meet during the indoor and outdoor campaigns. Cody MacArthur and Maxwell were each named the Most Outstanding Field Events Performer under Baker's guidance. Baker led a banner year for the Runnin' Bulldogs in 2005-2006. GWU finished third at the 2006 A-Sun Indoor Track & Field Championships on both the men and women's side, setting the bar high for the outdoor championships in Clermont, Florida. Baker's men blitzed the field en route to the school's first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference team title, running away from the field as MacArthur was named Most Outstanding Field Events Performer and Dobson Collins earned Most Valuable Freshman honors. The GWU women also finished strong outdoors as the program tied its highest finish ever by taking second. In the 2005-06 academic year, both the men and women proved to be strong competition throughout the season, with four men and two women garnering A-Sun Athlete of the Week honors. With the track & field programs each looking strong, and both cross country programs showing steady improvement, Baker has his operation headed in the right direction on all fronts. Prior to his current role, Baker served the Runnin' Bulldogs as head cross country coach and assistant track coach, but accepted his new role following the conclusion of the 2003 outdoor season. An expert in the distance events, Baker provides Gardner-Webb Track & Field with a high level of national experience and knowledge - as well as respect - from his many years of involvement at collegiate track's highest level of competition. During his time in Boiling Springs, the GWU distance corps has improved by leaps and bounds - with each member of the team posting new personal records on a regular basis. A product of the nation's most storied Division I track program at the University of Arkansas, Baker is no stranger to success on the track or the cross-country course. Baker, who ran professionally with New Balance until recently, is also quite experienced on the international level as well. A 1994 graduate of Arkansas with a degree in kinesiology, Baker was a key cog in the Razorbacks' domination of NCAA Division I cross country and track in the early 90's. He ran on Arkansas teams that won national titles in 1990 (Indoor and Cross Country), 1991 (Indoor), 1992 (Cross Country), 1993 (Indoor, Outdoor, and Cross Country), 1994 (Indoor and Outdoor). Twice (1992-93 and 1993-94) the Razorbacks won the NCAA Division I triple crown, with national championships in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. In addition to team success, Baker won individual national titles in the Indoor Distance Medley Relay and the Outdoor 5,000-meter run as a senior (1994). Baker was a two-time individual conference cross country champion and 5,000-meter run champion as well, winning one title each in the SWC and the SEC. Arkansas captured 12 total conference championships as a team during Baker's career, including three SWC titles and nine SEC titles. He was an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team in the 5,000-meter run and finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run at the 1999 World Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Japan. In 1995, he placed 10th in the 5,000-meter run at the World University Games. Baker is also a former member of the U.S. World Cross Country Team (1996 and 1997) and finished third, receiving a bronze medal at the Pan American Games. In 2001, Baker competed in the Chiba Ekiden relays in Japan. The Batesville (Ark.) High graduate was a three-time prep state champion in cross country and two-time outdoor state champion in the 1,600m run and 3,200m run In June of 2004, Baker was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame.  Baker was also inducted into the Batesville Area Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010. Baker has two boys, Quinn Addison Baker (7) and Ian York Baker (5).

Brusichs second season with the Runnin Bulldogs showcased how much athletes can develop in the right system, with the freshman duo of Quenton Jones and Jalin Lawson providing the perfect example in the long and triple jumps. Both athletes left their mark in the record books with top outdoor long jump marks of 7.03 meters for Jones and 6.99 meters for Lawson, which rank second and third respectively all-time at Gardner-Webb. Lawson also set a personal best of 14.70 meters in the indoor triple jump - moving into second on the programs all-time list - while Jones top mark of 14.60 meters placed him second on the outdoor all-time list. In the womens high jump, Kayin Mujahid continued her assault on the programs annals with another pair of all-conference finishes, taking third at the indoor championships and second at the outdoor championships. Mujahid also set a new indoor personal best of 1.70 meters. Both Merideth Byl and Ashleigh Cleveland made great strides in the womens combined events with Brusichs guidance, as they each set new personal records in nearly every individual event and bested their previous top point totals - both in the pentathlon and the heptathlon - by several hundred points. Byl found a particular knack for the throwing events, and used those strengths to win the Winthrop Adidas Invitational heptathlon title. The womens 4x400-meter relay team of Jordan Davis, Ivy Harris, Byl and Mujahid dominated their section of the event at the Big South Indoor Championships, and ran the fastest time by a womens relay at GWU since 2003. Josh Wembolua took advantage of his last indoor championships and claiming runner-up honors in the 60-meter hurdles. Brusich helped make the most of the programs existing talent during his first season, as sophomore Elise Moffatt won the Big South Outdoor Conference Championship with a school-record mark of 3.85 meters. Megan Melton took second at the indoor championships with a mark of 3.70 meters to jump to fourth on the programs all-time list in the event. Mujahid continued her climb through the conference ranks with a pair of runner-up finishes in the high jump at both the indoor and outdoor championships. The mens sprint group put their depth and determination on display at the outdoor championships, as the team of Joseph Martin, Darien Evans-Hensley, Marcquel Woodard and Wembolua posted the second-best 4x400-meter relay time (3:16.62) in school history despite not having a runner in the individual 400-meter final. Brusich, a native of Lilburn, Georgia, graduated from Gardner-Webb in 2011 and spent the next three seasons as a volunteer coach at Baylor University. During his time in Waco, Texas, Brusich assisted with combined events, pole vault and throws helping Henry Vildasola to a 17th-place finish in the decathlon at the 2014 NCAA Championships and Annie Rhodes to third at USA junior nationals in the pole vault. He also worked with All-America student-athletes Skylar White (discus), Erin Atkinson (weight throw) and Desmine Hilliard (discus), as well as All-Big 12 performers Hunter Brook (decathlon), Jenna Pfeiffer (heptathlon) and Jessica Shadley (heptathlon). Brusich earned his masters degree in sport pedagogy from Baylor in 2012. Brusich enjoyed a successful career during his time with the Runnin Bulldogs as a student-athlete. He was a team captain for three seasons and earned All-Big South Conference honors in the decathlon and 4x400m meter relay run. He is the school record holder in the decathlon and heptathlon. Brusich is engaged to 2011 Gardner-Webb graduate and former Track & Field standout Carrie Long, who is currently a Ph.D candidate in immunology at West Virginia University.

Golabeks arrival at Gardner-Webb setting multiple records, winning several individual Big South Conference honors, and representing GWU at the national and international level. With the addition of freshman Marcus Abraham (Charlotte, N.C.) and the strong leadership of Jordan Smith, AJ White, Natasha Akbarizadeh and Sarah Mitchell, Gardner-Webbs throws program became even stronger during Golabeks second season in 2015-2016. Akbarizadeh topped the list with many outstanding performances during her sophomore season highlighted by a personal and program-record of 59.65 meters in the hammer throw to earn a trip to the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round, where she finished 20th in the field of 48. The Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada native also finished second at the Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Sarah Mitchell capped a fine outdoor season with a pair of podium finishes at the Big South Championships, placing second in the shot put and third in the discus. Gardner-Webbs mens team put together an outstanding 2016 season as well, highlighted by Abraham taking home the programs first-ever Big South Outdoor shot put title. Abraham also qualified for the 2016 USATF Junior National Championships in Clovis, California. White accounted for a large percentage of the teams scoring at the conference championships, finishing third in the discus, fourth in the shot put and sixth in the hammer throw, while Smith claimed third in the shot and fourth in the discus. During the indoor season, Mitchell placed second in the shot put and fourth in the weight throw at the Big South Indoor Championships, and set a new program record of 17.29 meters in the weight throw at Clemsons Bob Pollock Invitational. Akbarizadeh contributed to the team scoring at the Big South Indoor Championships as well, finishing eighth in the weight throw. Smith earned a third-place finish in both the shot put and weight throw at the Big South Indoor Championships, hitting marks of 16.67 and 17.98 meters, respectively. Abraham made an immediate contribution in his rookie season, placing second in the shot put and seventh in the weight throw at the Big South Indoor Championships with marks of 16.75 and 15.08 meters, respectively. In Golabeks first season, Akbarizadeh parlayed Golabeks instruction into an historic run at the Canadian Junior National Championships this summer, winning the hammer throw with a toss of 57.08 meters the best of her career and the fourth-farthest in the history of the Canadian Junior National Championships. The mark fell just shy of the of the championships record, set by Marie Eve Bioselle in 2005 (57.34 meters), and earned her a spot on Team Canada for the NACAC U23 Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador. Senior Krista Chauvin benefited greatly from Golabeks mentorship as well, setting a personal record and finishing third in the hammer at the Big South Championships with a school-record throw of 59.23 meters. She later became the first woman in Gardner-Webb track & field history to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she finished 19th. Senior Nathan Padfield won the Big South Outdoor Championship in the hammer and medaled in the weight throw at the Big South Indoor Championships, finishing third with a toss of 17.07 meters. Under Golabeks guidance, Padfield set a new personal best in the hammer at the 2015 VertKlasse Meeting at High Point, winning the meet with a mark of 60.28 meters. Smith won the Big South Indoor Championship in the shot put with a career-best mark of 15.96 meters, while finishing runner-up in the weight throw with a personal-best of 17.49 meters more than a meter farther than his previous top mark. He also finished runner-up in the shot put at the Big South Outdoor Championships. The Buffalo, N.Y., native joined the GWU family after one season with the Rider University track and field program, where he made an immediate impact. While in Lawrenceville, N.J., Golabek produced impressive results in a short period of time, helping student-athletes to school and conference records. Senior Rhea Phipps qualified for the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary Championships in Jacksonville, Fla. in the hammer throw. As a student-athlete himself, Golabek enjoyed a successful career at the University of Buffalo, earning NCAA Division I All-America honors four times in the shot put. A multiple champion in the Mid-American Conference, Golabek qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, an accomplishment he rates as one of his top memories as a student-athlete. After his collegiate career Golabek competed professionally in the shot put, spending two years traveling across the United States to train with some of the top coaches in the sport, and working hard to expand his knowledge base. During his post collegiate career, Golabek competed in multiple US Championships and reached the finals in each meet. Coach Golabek is also in charge of the throwing groups weight training, and believes his under the bar experience allows him to develop his athletes to their maximum potential. He is Westside Barbell certified and is currently enrolled in Gardner-Webbs Masters of Business Administration program. Golabek resides in Ellenboro, N.C. with his wife Anna and their two dogs.