Lindenwood University Men's Track

Roberts is in his fifth season as the head coach of Lindenwoods track and field program in 2017. Prior to coming to Lindenwood, Roberts had been an assistant coach for 17 years at the NCAA Division I level. Lindenwood's track and field programs have been making huge strides under Roberts, who has led the Lions and Lady Lions through their first seasons at the NCAA Division II level.    The 2016 campaign saw Lindenwood compete in seven events at the two NCAA Division II national meets. Lindenwood was in four events at the indoor nationals, and received one of its top performances in program history when Kendra Smith placed fourth in the triple jump. The program then earned three entries in the outdoor national event. At the MIAA Championships, the two teams earned seven all-conference honors, and the mens team earned its highest conference finish at the outdoor competition. In 2015, Lindenwood competed in 13 events at the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Championships. In the indoor season, Juwan Cubit earned All-American honors after finishing eighth in the mens 200m, and the mens team finished 47th at the event. In the outdoor nationals, three women track and field athletes earned All-American accolades in Lindsey Blackwell (third, hammer), Shamela Gray (sixth, 400m hurdles), and Kendra Smith (sixth, triple jump). The womens team recorded its second straight top-25 showing at nationals. At the MIAA Championships in 2015, a total of nine student-athletes earned all-MIAA honors in 11 events. Lindenwood also captured 13 all-region awards during the indoor and outdoor seasons. In Lindenwood inaugural season of eligibility for NCAA nationals in 2014, the Lions and Lady Lions had 13 entries at the two national championship events. Capping off the season was the womens team having a 20th-place team finish at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, and the mens team also scoring at the outdoor meet. Lindenwoods womens team earned six All-American awards at the outdoor meet led by Lindsey Blackwell finishing third in the discus throw. Terah Fullman-Ege earned two All-American honors in the 800m and as a member of the 4x400 relay team. Other All-Americans on the relay team were Jerelle Jones, Maya Mason, and Shamela Gray. The mens team had one All-American as Bryan Kertz finished sixth in the discus. At the MIAA Championships in 2014, a total of seven student-athletes won all-conference honors in eight events on the womens side, while six mens student-athletes won all-conference honors in seven events. Lindenwood won two MIAA individual championships with Mike Reynoso winning the mens indoor 600-yard run, and Bryan Kertz winning the mens outdoor discus title. Lindenwood improved its team ranking in all four MIAA Championship events, with the highest being fifth by the outdoor womens team. A total of nine Lindenwood student-athletes also earned all-region honors in 2014, including Terah Fullman-Ege who won the honor in both indoor and outdoor track and field. Roberts first season at Lindenwood coincided with the programs first season as a member of the MIAA. Lindenwood athletes won three MIAA individual championships and captured six all-conference honors. In his first three seasons, he coached the first 14 NCAA All-Americans in school history, as well as the first five MIAA conference champions in program history. His athletes have earned 43 all-conference honors and 26 all-region awards. Roberts has helped Lindenwood athletes set 17 school record, and 154 all-time top-10 marks. Roberts athletes also excelled in the classroom the last three years. Lindenwood has won ten MIAA Academic Excellence awards, nine MIAA Scholar-Athlete awards, and 148 MIAA Academic Honor Roll awards. Roberts coached the 2012 season at Texas at El Paso as the sprints, hurdles, and jumps coach. He coached Endurance Abinuwa to All-American honors in the indoor 400m and assisted Janice Jackson in qualifying for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships in the 100m hurdles. Coach Roberts' UTEP sprinters and hurdlers had nine regional qualifiers, two conference runner-up finishes, and broke one school record. He helped the men's team finish second at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships. From 2007-11, Roberts was the sprints, hurdles, and jumps coach in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) at Alabama. At Alabama, he coached former Crimson Tide All-American Trish Bartholomew to the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships in the 400m. He coached 22 All-American performers, including eight first-team members. Roberts helped his athletes win four SEC Championships, nine all-SEC awards, and two SEC Freshman Athlete of the Year honors. He helped Alabama athletes set six school record and have 23 marks among the school's top-10 performance list. From 1996-2007, Roberts was the sprints, hurdles, and combined-events coach at Big 12 Iowa State. He coached another Olympian at Iowa State as he helped Aurelia Trywianska advanced to the 2004 and 2008 Olympics in the 100m hurdles, and she finished fifth at that event in the 2003 World Championships. At Iowa State, his athletes won three Big 12 Championships, 21 All-American honors, and they set 52 school records. Roberts coached one season in 1995-96 at Drake as the sprints, hurdles, and field events coach. His athletes there won two Missouri Valley Championships and set three school records. Five student-athletes that he recruited went on to set school records at Drake. His first track and field coaching job was at the NCAA Division II level in the MIAA, as he coached at Truman State in 1993. While at Alabama, Roberts also worked as a speed training consultant for the Alabama football team, including working closely with Rolando McClain and Javier Arenas as they prepared for the NFL Draft. In 1994-95, he worked at Ohio State as the strength and conditioning coach in the football program. Among the players he assisted with their speed and strength developments were Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George, future all-Pro receivers Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn, and number one overall draft pick Dan Wilkinson. Roberts, who is originally from Muscatine, Iowa, attended Midland Lutheran College. He qualified for three NAIA Track and Field Championships and earned All-American honors after a sixth-place finish as a member of the distance medley relay team in 1990. He set eight school records at Midland Lutheran, including the indoor and outdoor 400m. Roberts graduated from Midland Lutheran in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in Education and Social Science/Coaching. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and is a USATF Coaching Education Levels I and II Lead Instructor. Roberts is the author of two books titled Progressions for Coaching the Sprints and Relays, and Progressions from Coaching the Hurdles. Roberts is the parent of two children, Courtney and Zachary.

Cochran, an Olympic medalist, is the longest-tenured coach in the Lindenwood track and field program as he begins his eleventh season coaching the throwers in 2017. He also previously served as the head coach of the program during the 2008 outdoor season. Lindenwood qualified one thrower for the 2016 Indoor NCAA Division II National Championships. Deondra Canaday qualified in both the weight throw and shot put, and his highest finish was 14th in the weight throw.   At the conference championships in 2016, Canaday earned all-conference honors in three events in the indoor weight throw, and the outdoor discus and hammer. Michelle Kyle had the top finish on the womens side coming in fourth in the indoor weight throw. In 2015, Cochran had three throwers earn a spot at a NCAA Championship event. On the womens side, Lindsey Blackwell qualified for both the indoor and outdoor championships. She earned All-American honors in the outdoor hammer throw with a third-place finish. On the mens side, Bryan Kertz and Deondra Canaday both qualified for the outdoor nationals.   At the 2015 MIAA Championships, Blackwell scored in two indoor events and three outdoor events. Her highest finishes was second in the indoor weight throw, and she was also all-conference in the outdoor hammer. On the mens side, Canaday placed fourth in the indoor season in the weight and shot put events, and he was runner-up in the outdoor shot put. Kertz and Ryan Hermann also scored for Lindenwood at the outdoor conference meet.   Cochran had two throwers earn All-American honors in 2014 in the programs first year of eligibility for the national competition. Blackwell finished third in the womens outdoor discus, and Kertz was sixth in the mens outdoor discus. Blackwell and Michelle Kyle also qualified for nationals in the womens outdoor hammer throw.   At the conference level, Lindenwood had four top-three finishes during the year. Kertz won a conference championship in the mens outdoor discus, Blackwell had two runner-up finishes in both indoor and outdoor, and Kyle was runner-up in the womens outdoor hammer. In 2013, Lindenwoods first in the MIAA, Cochrans throwers won three MIAA titles. Mitchell Heady won the weight throw title at the MIAA Indoor Championships, and Heady and Blackwell swept the mens and womens hammer throw titles at the MIAA Outdoor Championships. Two other throwers, Jessica Ecker and Kertz, also earned all-MIAA honors at the outdoor meet, and his throwers combined to score 55 points at the four MIAA track and field championships in 2013. While Lindenwood was a member of the NAIA, Cochran helped the Lindenwood track and field teams win 18 conference championships. The program won five HAAC titles in womens indoor and mens outdoor competitions, and four each in mens indoor and womens outdoor events. Cochran had 38 throwers qualify for the NAIA National Championships. Eleven of throwers earned All-American honors and two were NAIA National Champions. Cochran also coached a pair of throwers who represented the United States at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. Since Cochran arrived at Lindenwood, its throwers have set 11 school records and had 75 marks in the top-10 of all-time program performances. Cochran has also coached at University of Missouri Track and Field camps and was a featured coach at the Ironwood Thrower Development Camp. Cochran was a high school All-American thrower and attended college at the University of Missouri. He won two NCAA Division I National Championships in the discus competition in 1959 and 1960. Cochran also won Big Eight Conference titles in those seasons and in 1959 he captured the college track "Grand Slam" by winning the discus competitions in the Kansas, Texas and Drake Relays all in the same year. Cochran was a 1993 inductee into the University of Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame. Cochran was also a member of the United States International Track Team. He participated in the 1959 Pan American Games and the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In Rome, he captured a bronze medal in the discus event. Cochran is a USATF certified official and is a ten-time USATF Masters Champion. Cochrane received both his Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees in education from the University of Missouri.

Cole is starting his fifth season as Lindenwoods cross country head coach and track and field assistant coach in 2016-17. The 2015 mens and womens cross country teams combined to win five competitions, and both squads finished eighth at the MIAA Championships. The highlight of the year was Lisa Feuerherdt finishing ninth at the conference championships, and earning all-conference honors. In 2014, Cole led the cross country program which were led by all-conference runner Nicholas Stewart. Stewart finished tenth at the MIAA meet. The men's program finished eighth in the conference and 21st at regionals, while the women's team was 11th at the MIAA meet and 24th at regionals.   In 2013, Cole continued to rebuild the cross country program with 75 percent of the roster being just freshmen or sophomore. The Lions finished eighth at the conference meet while the Lady Lions came in ninth. Both teams had one runner finish in the top-30 in the competition. During the track and field season, four distance runners scored for Lindenwood during the MIAA Championship events. In his first season at Lindenwood, two cross country runners earned all-conference honors. Tanya Chibanda was an all-conference pick after finishing fifth at the conference meet, while Ben McGraw was honorable mention all-MIAA after finishing 16th at the MIAA Championships. Chibanda also earned all-conference honors at the MIAA Outdoor Championships when she was runner-up in the 1,500m with a school-record time. Cole came to Lindenwood from the University of Wyoming where he was the head cross country coach and an assistant track and field coach from 2004-2012. He had five cross country national qualifiers at Wyoming, and his athletes won two All-American honors, 17 Mountain West all-conference selections, and 10 NCAA all-region accolades. He was named the 2004 Mountain West Conference Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year. In track and field, he coached two All-Americans, 12 NCAA qualifiers, seven Mountain West champions, and 33 all-conference performers. Coles athletes broke 10 school records at Wyoming. From 1997 to 2004, Cole held the same position at Kansas State University. At Kansas State, he was a three-time Womens Cross Country Region Coach of the Year and was named the 1998 Big 12 Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year. The Wildcats womens cross country team won the 1998 Big 12 Championship and the 1998, 1999, and 2000 Midwest Region Championships. The 1999 squad placed fifth in the nation at the national meet. He coached eight cross country All-Americans, 23 all-region performers, four all-region champions, and 14 all-Big 12 performers. In track and field, Cole helped the womens team win the 2001 and 2002 Big 12 Championships. He coached 12 indoor and three outdoor All-Americans, and seven indoor and five outdoor Big 12 champions. At Kansas State, his athletes set seven school records. From 1985-1991, Cole coached at Barton County Community College and he was inducted into the NJCAA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2002. He was the head cross country coach for that entire period, and was the head track and field coach from 1991-1997. Teams under his direction won four cross country, seven indoor track and field, and eight outdoor track and field national championships. He won nine national coach of the year honors, and his athletes were named All-Americans 45 times in cross country, 158 times in indoor track and field, and 125 times in outdoor track and field. He coached 96 individual national champions. Other coaching stops include being the head cross country and track and field coach at Quartz Hill High School from 1984-85, being a graduate assistant at Kansas State from 1981-84, and being a student assistant at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo from 1979-81. Cole graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1981 with a degree in physical education and received his masters from Kansas State in 1983 in counseling education. He has been a USATF Certified Level II coach since 1988.