Miami University Men's Track

Wood boasts 26 highly successful years of head coach experience, two decades of which were spent at Columbia. As we begin a new era with our combined women's and men's track programs, we need a competitive director with a passion for developing student-athletes into champions, Director of Athletics David Sayler said. Willy Wood is that perfect leader. His background as a successful head coach and dynamic recruiter positions him perfectly to lead our combined program. He brings a proven championship mentality to Miami and we look forward to his leadership. Wood spent the 2014-15 season as Bradleys track and field/cross country coach. He guided the Braves womens cross country team to a Missouri Valley Conference title and had them knocking on the door to a team berth in the NCAA Cross Country Championship after placing third at the NCAA Midwest Regional, their best regional finish in program history. The Braves men also enjoyed a program best 2014 cross country campaign, placing third at the MVC Championship. "I am excited for the opportunity to lead the Miami University Cross Country/Track and Field programs, Wood said. I cannot thank David Sayler and Jennifer Gilbert enough for making this a very easy decision. From my first step on campus, I fully understood why Robert Frost called this the most beautiful campus that ever there was. Beyond the buildings, each and every person I met while in Oxford was amazingly welcoming and their love for Miami immediately evident. I look forward to leading both the mens and womens programs to great levels of success. Furthermore, I look forward to being a member of the Miami University community." Before heading to Bradley, Wood built Columbia into a national power over his 20-year stint. The Lions were especially dominant in cross country as the mens and womens teams combined to win seven Ivy League titles and made nine team NCAA Cross Country Championship appearances, finishing in the top five 20 times with top showings of an eighth-place performance by the men in 2013 and a No. 11 placing by the women in 2002. The womens track and field team also claimed an Ivy League Indoor title in 2012. The 2012 Indoor Northeast Region Coach of the Year, Wood coached the second individual (Kyle Merber) in Ivy League history to break four minutes in the indoor mile. Merber later went on to break the American Collegiate Record in the 1500m. Under Woods tutelage, five-time All-American Caroline Bierbaum received the 2005 Cross Country Honda Award, presented annually by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards to the top women athletes in NCAA-sanctioned sports. Wood arrived at Columbia after two years as the cross country and track & field head coach at UNC-Asheville. The 1993 Big South Conference Coach of the Year, led womens and mens cross country teams to second and third-place league finishes, respectively, for the best showing in school history. A 1986 graduate of Taylor University, Wood led the Bethel College (Minnesota) track programs from 1990-92, where he guided the womens track squad to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship and produced a pair of All-Americans in addition to eight NCAA Division III national qualifiers. Wood also served as head coach of the cross country/track & field teams at Kansas Wesleyan for the 1989-90 season. He also had stops at Georgia as an assistant coach and served as a graduate assistant coach at both Kansas and Pittsburg State before his first head coaching opportunity. An All-American at Taylor University in Indiana and member of the schools Hall of Fame, Wood went on to compete at Kansas in his final year of eligibility while attending graduate school. He earned a Master of Science degree in Physical Education/Exercise Physiology from Pittsburg State. Wood has two daughters: Taelor and Hanna. Coached two Olympians and 29 All-Americans at Columbia. Saw 68 school records broken during his tenure at Columbia. Won a combined nine team conference titles at the Division I level (five womens cross country, three mens cross country and one womens indoor track and field). Named 2012 Indoor Northeast Region Coach of the Year. Back to Track & Field, Cross Country   Printer-friendly format   Email this article

Peterson had an immediate impact in moving several returning competitors up on the schools top-10 list. Under his tutelage, Kenny Glenn broke the school record in the long jump at the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships en route to his second-straight appearance at the NCAA East Region Preliminary meet. Glenns mark also got the sophomore into the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Additionally, three more of Petersons student-athletes qualified for the NCAA East Region Preliminary as senior Peter Stefanski (high jump) returned after a one-year absence while senior Kathie Wollney (400m hurdles) and junior Alexus Jimson-Miller (100m hurdles) earned their first postseason trips. Wollney clocked the second-fastest 400m hurdle time in school history at the postseason meet while Jimson-Miller also improved on her third-place personal best. Peterson came to Miami from Western Illinois, where he served as assistant track and field coach and head cross country coach. WIU finished its track season with strong performances in the 4x100m, 100m and 200m. Nine Leathernecks finished the season as All-Summit League performers. Before heading to WIU, Peterson spent two years as a volunteer assistant coach with his alma mater, Iowa. While with the Hawkeyes, Peterson coached the sprinters and hurdlers. While working under Joey Woody, Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at Iowa, 10 Hawkeye sprinters earned All-American honors while picking up five Big Ten Championships. During his two years at Iowa, every sprint and hurdle event, including the relays, saw new athletes break into the school top 10 list. Prior to joining Iowa, Peterson was the assistant coach for sprints, hurdles and field events at Colgate University for four seasons. In his time in Hamilton, he pushed the Raiders to their best ever finish in the Patriot League. During his tenure at Colgate, Petersons athletes broke more than 40 school records and marked over 60 top 10 finishes. Under Petersons instruction, Curry Knox broke six Colgate records and set a new Patriot League record in the 100m (11.70). In his time with the Raiders, Peterson saw 12 league titles and more than 20 conference honors. Peterson kicked off his coaching career at Augustana College in Sioux Falls while working on his Masters in Education with an emphasis on athletic administration. In his time with the Vikings, they rose to become a power in the CCIW Conference, culminated by an outdoor track and field title in 2008. As a student-athlete, Peterson competed in track and field at the University of Iowa, where he finished his career on the top 10 list of six different events. Peterson also was recognized for six All-Big Ten performances, including a Big Ten championship in the 4x100m relay. While competing for the Hawkeyes, Peterson qualified for the NCAA Championships in all eight seasons of indoor and outdoor track. Post collegiately; Peterson competed at the USA Track and Field National Championships three times, including one trip to the Olympic Trials in 2004. He competed for Competitive Edge Athletics following college with appearances in the Special Invitational 400m hurdles in 2004 and 2005. Peterson is a native of Manteno, Illinois and a graduate of Manteno High School where he was selected to the All-State squad in soccer and track. He finished his high school career as the state champion in the 300m hurdles. Off the track, Peterson lives in Oxford, with his wife Brittany, son Stetson, and loyal companion Diesel.

Chorny, who was an assistant coach for the mens distance runners in his first year in Oxford, will lead the RedHawks as they move forward under the combined model adopted prior to the 2015-16 season. We are pleased to have Tom leading the track and field and cross country programs, Sayler said. His expert knowledge as an elite student-athlete brought him to Miami to begin with, but his immediate impact working with the team in his first year gave us the utmost confidence in his ability to achieve our goal of Graduating Champions. We look forward to the combined program continuing to make strides forward in the coming years. In his first year at Miami, Chorny guided the mens cross country team to a four-spot improvement at the Mid-American Conference Championship in the fall when the RedHawks finished third at the conference meet. Miamis effort was led by the continued excellence of Joe Stewart, who qualified for his second-straight NCAA Cross Country Championship while later appearing in the NCAA East Region Preliminary on the track, along with the breakout performance of Zack McBride. Stewart was a First-Team All-MAC performer while McBride earned Second-Team All-MAC honors in the fall. On the track, strong efforts from Stewart, McBride and Andrew Dusing headlined an improved effort from the Red and White at the Outdoor MAC Championships, where they finished fifth for their highest placing in three years. Stewart returned to the NCAA East Region Preliminary in both the 5000m and 10,000m, joining fellow Second-Team All-MAC pick Dusing at the postseason meet. "I'm very honored to be given the opportunity to lead this program, Chorny said. I share a vision with the administration that we can do something very special here at Miami and I'm excited to build upon the outstanding recruiting class we have coming in this fall." In an effort to bolster the Miami distance group, Tom Chorny joined the newly combined Miami track & field/cross country program as an assistant coach in 2015. Chorny, a 1999 graduate of Indiana University, helped the Hoosiers in a volunteer coaching capacity from 2007-13. He helped mold three Big Ten champions, 23 NCAA Regional qualifiers and 11 All-Americans in the steeplechase during his coaching stint in Bloomington while also managing the Indiana Running Company. A standout distance runner, Chorny enjoyed a competitive career filled with accolades at all levels of the sport. He was a four-time Michigan High School Athletic Association state champion and a 1994 Footlocker National Finalist at Fruitport High School. Collegiately, Chorny was a three-time All-American and continued his career professionally after graduation. In the pro ranks, Chorny won the steeplechase at USA Track and Field Championships in 2001, earning a spot on Team USA at the World Championships and Goodwill Games that year. He achieved a world ranking as high as No. 35 in the steeplechase in 2002 and remained in the top 40 to 2004. He was also a member of the Nike Farm Team and Oregon Track Club from 2004-06. Chorny earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Indiana in 1999.

Boevers enters his first season as an assistant coach for the Miami University women's track and field program, where he will be primarily responsible for the RedHawks' throwers. A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Boevers served as a volunteer coach at Oklahoma during the 2013-14 season. He worked one-on-one with student-athletes under the direction of the Sooners' throwing coach Brian Blutreich. He also served as the lone on site throwing coach for OU at three meets, including the USA Track and Field Championships, that season. "I am very excited to have Colin on our staff," head coach Kelly Phillips said. "He is a young coach that has been at very high levels as an athlete and has worked under some of the best coaches in the country. His passion, drive, and knowledge will have a great impact with our throwers." Boevers was a standout student-athlete at Kentucky, where he won a pair of Southeastern Conference titles in the discus in during the 2010 and 2011 outdoor seasons. He also earned All-American honors in both seasons in the discus. He cracked the Wildcats' all-time Top-10 list in both the discus and hammer throw. He was also named to the Academic All-SEC team and inducted into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character in 2010. Boevers graduated from Kentucky in 2011, earning a Bachelor of Science in Community Communications and Leadership Development.

Peterson had an immediate impact in moving several returning competitors up on the schools top-10 list. Under his tutelage, Kenny Glenn broke the school record in the long jump at the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships en route to his second-straight appearance at the NCAA East Region Preliminary meet. Glenns mark also got the sophomore into the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Additionally, three more of Petersons student-athletes qualified for the NCAA East Region Preliminary as senior Peter Stefanski (high jump) returned after a one-year absence while senior Kathie Wollney (400m hurdles) and junior Alexus Jimson-Miller (100m hurdles) earned their first postseason trips. Wollney clocked the second-fastest 400m hurdle time in school history at the postseason meet while Jimson-Miller also improved on her third-place personal best. Peterson came to Miami from Western Illinois, where he served as assistant track and field coach and head cross country coach. WIU finished its track season with strong performances in the 4x100m, 100m and 200m. Nine Leathernecks finished the season as All-Summit League performers. Before heading to WIU, Peterson spent two years as a volunteer assistant coach with his alma mater, Iowa. While with the Hawkeyes, Peterson coached the sprinters and hurdlers. While working under Joey Woody, Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at Iowa, 10 Hawkeye sprinters earned All-American honors while picking up five Big Ten Championships. During his two years at Iowa, every sprint and hurdle event, including the relays, saw new athletes break into the school top 10 list. Prior to joining Iowa, Peterson was the assistant coach for sprints, hurdles and field events at Colgate University for four seasons. In his time in Hamilton, he pushed the Raiders to their best ever finish in the Patriot League. During his tenure at Colgate, Petersons athletes broke more than 40 school records and marked over 60 top 10 finishes. Under Petersons instruction, Curry Knox broke six Colgate records and set a new Patriot League record in the 100m (11.70). In his time with the Raiders, Peterson saw 12 league titles and more than 20 conference honors. Peterson kicked off his coaching career at Augustana College in Sioux Falls while working on his Masters in Education with an emphasis on athletic administration. In his time with the Vikings, they rose to become a power in the CCIW Conference, culminated by an outdoor track and field title in 2008. As a student-athlete, Peterson competed in track and field at the University of Iowa, where he finished his career on the top 10 list of six different events. Peterson also was recognized for six All-Big Ten performances, including a Big Ten championship in the 4x100m relay. While competing for the Hawkeyes, Peterson qualified for the NCAA Championships in all eight seasons of indoor and outdoor track. Post collegiately; Peterson competed at the USA Track and Field National Championships three times, including one trip to the Olympic Trials in 2004. He competed for Competitive Edge Athletics following college with appearances in the Special Invitational 400m hurdles in 2004 and 2005. Peterson is a native of Manteno, Illinois and a graduate of Manteno High School where he was selected to the All-State squad in soccer and track. He finished his high school career as the state champion in the 300m hurdles. Off the track, Peterson lives in Oxford, with his wife Brittany, son Stetson, and loyal companion Diesel.