James Madison University Women's Track

Rinker debuted as the Dukes' cross country coach in 1999-00 and promptly guided the JMU women's and men's teams to conference championships, was named Colonial Athletic Association women's cross country Coach of the Year, and coached the Dukes' men's team to a third-place NCAA regional finish, which advanced the squad to the NCAA National Championships. The success has continued through his 16 years as JMU coach. In 2000 his women's team repeated as CAA champion and was runner-up in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, and he was again voted CAA women's cross country Coach of the Year.  Rinker's men's team was CAA runner-up, and Ben Cooke qualified for the NCAA National Championships and won All-America honors there. In 2001 his women's team won its third consecutive CAA title and also captured the ECAC championship, and the women won a fourth straight CAA crown in 2002.  Rinker won his third and fourth CAA coach of the year honors in 2001 and 2002, and under his guidance Mollie DeFrancesco earned All-America honors as a top-30 finisher in the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships.   In 2004 Rinker was again honored as CAA women's cross country Coach of the Year after coaching Shannon Saunders to the CAA title and a fourth-place regional finish and national qualifying performance. His women's team was second in the CAA meet, finishing just one point behind champion William and Mary in the closest competition in the league's 21-year history. Saunders repeated as CAA cross country champion in 2005, when for the second consecutive season she also qualified for the NCAA national meet and was named CAA Runner of the Year. In 2006 Dena Spickard won the CAA cross country title, was named CAA cross country Runner of the Year and qualified for the NCAA national meet.  In 2009 Alison Parris qualified for the NCAA national meet, marking the sixth time that one of Rinker's runners ran in the NCAA National Championships. In 2009 the CAA named six former JMU runners to its 25-member 25th Anniversary Team, and all six of those ran for Rinker: DeFrancesco (JMU '03), Cindy Dunham ('03), Bethany Eigel ('00), Heather Hanscom ('01), Saunders ('06) and Spickard ('08). In 2010 Rinker was again honored as the CAA Coach of the Year after guiding the Dukes to their fifth conference title and second ECAC championship under Rinker. Senior Alison Parris won the individual title at both the CAA and ECAC Championships. The 2011 season brought another CAA team title and league Coach of the Year accolade for Rinker. Katie Harman claimed both the CAA and ECAC championships for the Dukes. In 2012, the Dukes placed second at the CAA championships before taking the ECAC team title. Katie Gorman and Katie Harman placed first and second, respectively, to help the team take the victory. The squad finished the season ranked sixth in the southeast region. 2015 proved to be the most succesfull season since '12 with three runners, Tessa Mundell, Kathleen Stewart and Carol Strock, earninng All-CAA honors. Stewart also earned NCAA All-Southeast region honors after placing 19th in the regional race. As a team, the Dukes placed second in three meets, including the JMU Invitational, CAA Championships and ECAC Championships, as well as top-10 finishes at the Paul Short Run and NCAA Regional Championships. Rinker's JMU men's teams were the CAA cross country runner-up in seven seasons (2000-06). In 2003 the Dukes won the IC4A cross country title and in 2006 the team was IC4A cross country runner-up. C.W. Moran won both the 2006 CAA and IC4A cross country races and was voted CAA cross country Runner of the Year. Scott Tekesky was selected 2006 CAA cross country Rookie of the Year. He also coached the U.S. senior men's teams in the International Amateur Athletics Foundation World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland in March 2003.  Rinker came to JMU with a stellar background as coach of the cross country and track programs at Brevard (N.C.) College for 15 years. Prior to joining the college coaching ranks, he was among Virginia's leading scholastic coaches. He coached the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams and served as director of athletics at Brevard from 1984-99 and coached at Blacksburg (Va.) High School from 1977-84. At Brevard, Rinker coached teams to two (1987, 1990) National Junior College Athletic Association national titles in men's cross country and led three women's (1985-87) and two men's (1986, 1989) teams to NJCAA cross country runner-up finishes.  He coached 119 NJCAA All-Americas and 10 national champions in cross country and track and field, and his men's teams won five (1988-89, 1991, 1993-94) North Carolina collegiate state cross country titles (four-year and two-year schools included). He twice (1987, 1990) was named NJCAA men's cross country coach of the year, was the 1999 NJCAA men's outdoor track coach of the year and in 1999 was inducted into the NJCAA Coaches Hall of Fame. In 1998 he coached the U.S. Men's Junior World Cross Country Team. He has coached three athletes who earned positions on the U.S. Men's Junior World Cross Country Team and two who earned positions on the U.S. Men's Senior World Cross Country Team. As athletics director at Brevard, Rinker oversaw the addition of baseball, volleyball and softball to the school's athletics offerings and the construction of new facilities for track and field, softball and baseball. He was president of the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association from 1994-96 and formerly edited the national cross country newsletter for that organization. At Blacksburg High School, Rinker directed the boys' and girls' cross country and track programs. His girls' teams won five state championships:  two (1982-83) in cross country and three (1982-84) in track and field. He coached athletes who earned All-America accolades six times, were Foot Locker national cross country finalists three times, set six state records and won 14 individual state titles. He was presented the Walter Cormack Award for outstanding accomplishments in track and field by the Virginia High School League in 1982. A native of Winchester, Va., Rinker is a 1977 JMU graduate with a degree in business education and a 1973 graduate of Winchester's James Wood High School. He and his wife, Sue, have two sons, Mark, a 2008 JMU graduate, and Kevin, an undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. - Colonial Athletic Association Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2011) - CAA Women's Cross Country Champion (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2011) - CAA Women's Cross Country Runner-up (1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015) - Eastern College Athletic Conference Women's Cross Country Champion (2001, 2010, 2012) - IC4A Men's Cross Country Champion (2003) - NJCAA national Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year (1987, 1990) - NJCAA national Men's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year (1999) - NJCAA Cross Country/Track & Field All-Americas:  119 - NJCAA national cross country/track & field individual champions:  10  - NJCAA national cross country men's team champions (1987, 1990) - NJCAA national cross country team runners-up (women 1985, 1986, 1987, men 1986, 1989) - North Carolina men's cross country team champions (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994) - NJCAA Coaches Hall of Fame (inducted 1999) - Virginia high school girls' cross country championships (1982, 1983) - Virginia high school girls' track & field championships (1982, 1983, 1984) Dave Rinker debuted as the Dukes' cross country coach in 1999-00 and promptly guided the JMU women's and men's teams to conference championships, was named Colonial Athletic Association women's cross country Coach of the Year, and coached the Dukes' men's team to a third-place NCAA regional finish, which advanced the squad to the NCAA National Championships. The success has continued through his 16 years as JMU coach. In 2000 his women's team repeated as CAA champion and was runner-up in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, and he was again voted CAA women's cross country Coach of the Year.  Rinker's men's team was CAA runner-up, and Ben Cooke qualified for the NCAA National Championships and won All-America honors there. In 2001 his women's team won its third consecutive CAA title and also captured the ECAC championship, and the women won a fourth straight CAA crown in 2002.  Rinker won his third and fourth CAA coach of the year honors in 2001 and 2002, and under his guidance Mollie DeFrancesco earned All-America honors as a top-30 finisher in the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships.   In 2004 Rinker was again honored as CAA women's cross country Coach of the Year after coaching Shannon Saunders to the CAA title and a fourth-place regional finish and national qualifying performance. His women's team was second in the CAA meet, finishing just one point behind champion William and Mary in the closest competition in the league's 21-year history. Saunders repeated as CAA cross country champion in 2005, when for the second consecutive season she also qualified for the NCAA national meet and was named CAA Runner of the Year. In 2006 Dena Spickard won the CAA cross country title, was named CAA cross country Runner of the Year and qualified for the NCAA national meet.  In 2009 Alison Parris qualified for the NCAA national meet, marking the sixth time that one of Rinker's runners ran in the NCAA National Championships. In 2009 the CAA named six former JMU runners to its 25-member 25th Anniversary Team, and all six of those ran for Rinker: DeFrancesco (JMU '03), Cindy Dunham ('03), Bethany Eigel ('00), Heather Hanscom ('01), Saunders ('06) and Spickard ('08). In 2010 Rinker was again honored as the CAA Coach of the Year after guiding the Dukes to their fifth conference title and second ECAC championship under Rinker. Senior Alison Parris won the individual title at both the CAA and ECAC Championships. The 2011 season brought another CAA team title and league Coach of the Year accolade for Rinker. Katie Harman claimed both the CAA and ECAC championships for the Dukes.

Frias ( ) is in her third year as the Director of the Women's Track & Field and Cross Country programs, after joining the Dukes' program as head track and field coach in December 2009. The Dukes have found unquestionable success under Frias' tutelage. Since arriving in Harrisonburg, 18 school records have been broken in indoor and outdoor events with double-digit CAA championships and NCAA qualifiers. In her time as program director, the Dukes have put together a string of impressive team performances at major meets. During the 2015-16 season, JMU placed second as a team at both the CAA and ECAC Cross Country Championships. That same year, JMU finished third at the ECAC Indoor Championships and second at both the CAA and ECAC Outdoor Championships. In 2014-15, both cross country and track and field teams placed third at the CAA Championships. From 2012-2014, Frias coached throws, hurdles, high jump and multi-events. Since then, her responsibilities have become sprints, jumps, hurdles, relays and multi-events. In 2012, in just her third season at JMU, Frias was selected the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year by a vote of the league's head track and field coaches.  Frias earned the CAA honor after guiding the Dukes to their first conference title in May 2012. JMU captured individual titles in six different events (high jump, long jump, 100 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters) en route to winning the CAA crown. In 2014 alone, the team earned CAA Championships in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay for the first time in program history. Frias came to JMU after nine years of coaching experience as an assistant men's and women's track and field coach at Stephen F. Austin (Texas) from 2001-08 and at Richmond from 1998-00. At Stephen F. Austin Frias coached 13 Southland Conference champions and 77 all-conference performers.  Her athletes set 25 school records and won four NCAA all-region honors. She coached four NCAA national qualifiers, one USA Olympic Trials qualifier and one Team USA athlete who competed in the 2006 Under-23 North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Games.  While Frias was coaching at Stephen F. Austin, the SFA women's team won Southland Conference Championships in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and the men's team won the SLC indoor team title in 2005. Frias is a 1998 graduate of North Carolina, where, competing as Ta' Bingham, she was a three-time All Atlantic Coast Conference selection in the heptathlon. She was a member of eight ACC champion teams. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology and is USA Track and Field Level II certified in the sprints and jumps. A native of Richmond, Va., Frias was inducted into the Collegiate High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Richmond in October 2008.   She is married to Jaime Frias and has two children, Azari and Jaime Dhani. Ta' Frias Director of Track and Field and Cross Country   Ta' Frias ( ) is in her third year as the Director of the Women's Track & Field and Cross Country programs, after joining the Dukes' program as head track and field coach in December 2009. The Dukes have found unquestionable success under Frias' tutelage. Since arriving in Harrisonburg, 18 school records have been broken in indoor and outdoor events with double-digit CAA championships and NCAA qualifiers. In her time as program director, the Dukes have put together a string of impressive team performances at major meets. During the 2015-16 season, JMU placed second as a team at both the CAA and ECAC Cross Country Championships. That same year, JMU finished third at the ECAC Indoor Championships and second at both the CAA and ECAC Outdoor Championships. In 2014-15, both cross country and track and field teams placed third at the CAA Championships. From 2012-2014, Frias coached throws, hurdles, high jump and multi-events. Since then, her responsibilities have become sprints, jumps, hurdles, relays and multi-events. In 2012, in just her third season at JMU, Frias was selected the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year by a vote of the league's head track and field coaches.  Frias earned the CAA honor after guiding the Dukes to their first conference title in May 2012. JMU captured individual titles in six different events (high jump, long jump, 100 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters) en route to winning the CAA crown. In 2014 alone, the team earned CAA Championships in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay for the first time in program history. Frias came to JMU after nine years of coaching experience as an assistant men's and women's track and field coach at Stephen F. Austin (Texas) from 2001-08 and at Richmond from 1998-00. At Stephen F. Austin Frias coached 13 Southland Conference champions and 77 all-conference performers.  Her athletes set 25 school records and won four NCAA all-region honors. She coached four NCAA national qualifiers, one USA Olympic Trials qualifier and one Team USA athlete who competed in the 2006 Under-23 North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Games.  While Frias was coaching at Stephen F. Austin, the SFA women's team won Southland Conference Championships in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and the men's team won the SLC indoor team title in 2005. Frias is a 1998 graduate of North Carolina, where, competing as Ta' Bingham, she was a three-time All Atlantic Coast Conference selection in the heptathlon. She was a member of eight ACC champion teams. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology and is USA Track and Field Level II certified in the sprints and jumps. A native of Richmond, Va., Frias was inducted into the Collegiate High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Richmond in October 2008.   She is married to Jaime Frias and has two children, Azari and Jaime Dhani.