Tiffin University Men's Cross Country

Croy has led the Dragons to 13 consecutive winning seasons. Through 2015 the men have posted a 683-144 record (.825) and the women 554-275 (.668) during that same time. The Dragons also have had over 150 All-Americans (Academic and Athletic) and shattered every school record on the books. Both track and field squads also gained their highest ever conference placing in Coach Croy's first season and continued that success during their last season in the NAIA with the men's squad winning their fourth consecutive conference championship. Coach Croy was also recognized as the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 AMC Coach of the Year for winning the AMC Championship and finishing the season with a record of 51-2 in 2007. Both teams continue to be ranked in the NCAA II top 20 for the past five years. These rankings are highlighted by the men's team finishing 5th in the nation in both 2014 and 2015. The women have had rankings as high as 14th and 13th during this same stretch. Not only stellar in the competition realm, the track and cross country squads have great success in the the classroom. The 2014 women's cross country squad had a team GPA of 3.48 (women's track 3.21) while men's cross country came in just behind with a 3.04 team GPA. After graduation over 20+ Dragons Alum have continued their careers in collegiate athletic coaching, representing universities all over the country within NCAA I, II, and III. Croy was also named GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year in 2011 and followed up that season with NCAA II Regional Coach of the Year honors as well. He replicated the feat in 2014 with the GLIAC and NCAA Regional Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year award. Croy is an Ohio Northern University graduate with a degree in Sports Management. He also was a four-year letter winner in track and cross-country, earning MVP honors for the cross-country squad. Croy obtained his Master's degree in Sports Management from Springfield College (MA). Croy, his wife (Meladie), daughter (Corinne) and son (William) reside in Tiffin. Ray Robinson enters his sixth year with the track and field team as the throws coach and as the strength and conditioning coordinator. Robinson has coached twelve All-Americans in the throwing events. Thirty-five Dragon throwers have earned a berth in the NCAA championship meet under his tutelage.  All twelve Tiffin throwing records have been broken during his tenure. Additionally, sixty-three places have been earned by his athletes on the TU top-ten performance list in the throwing events.      Robinson has worked extensively with John Godina, four-time world champion, Olympic medalist, and holder of the NCAA championship shot put record.  Godina conducts both a coaching clinic and a throwers camp annually on the TU campus.  Robinson also had the privilege of coaching 2016 Division II National Runner-Up Coy Blair at the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials in the shot put.  Robinson also coached Adriane Blewitt, the Division II national shot put recorder holder, at the 2012 Olympic Trials.  Both Godina and Blewitt have had a profound impact on Coach Robinsons throwing philosophy. Robinson previously held the TU school record in the discus throw and is also on the top-ten performance list in the hammer throw and weight throw. Placing three years in the discus at the conference meet helped Robinson earn All-GLIAC student/athlete designation each of those years.  He was also selected to the GLIAC All-Academic team four times.  He earned Academic All-American honors twice. Robinson is a Tiffin University graduate with a degree in Human Resources.  He obtained his Masters of Business Administration also from Tiffin University with a concentration in Human Resources.  Ray is married to Kristen, a former All-American shot putter for the Dragons.  Ray, his wife, and daughter (McKenzie Jo) reside in Tiffin. Gray Horn enters his third season as Sprints, Hurdles, Relays, and Multi-Events Coach for the Dragons. Under Coach Horns tutelage, the TU Sprinters, Hurdlers, and Multi-Event athletes have seen 14 All-Americans with 31 total first team All-American Honors. Six indoor school records and 11 outdoor school records have been erased, as well as 31 combined GLIAC Conference event victories. He led one of his finer protégés, Lamar Hargrove, to 3 individual NCAA Division II titles and an NCAA Division II record in the indoor 200m. Horn has earned recognition as 2016 USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Assistant Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year, as well as the USTFCCCA National Assistant Indoor Coach of the Year. Prior to Tiffin University, Horn spent the 2014 season at Ashland University where his athletes saw significant improvements in the Jumps and Multi-Events. During his time at Ashland, Horn led athletes to GLIAC titles in the women's high jump, the women's long jump, the women's indoor pentathlon, and the women's outdoor heptathlon. His athletes also brought home five NCAA All-American honors. Horn spent 2013 in Santa Barbara, California where he was a member of the Santa Barbara Track Club. He worked with the Elite Multi-Events program. An Alumni of The University of Florida, Coach Horn graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and Anthropology. As an athlete, Horn's extensive athletic resume is headlined by his 2014 USA National Championship in the men's indoor heptathlon. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the Decathlon, and was just short of the point total required to make the U.S. Olympic Team. At The University of Florida, Horn won 5 SEC Championships in the Multi-Events, the most wins ever by any Decathlete. Horn was a member and a captain of the 4 time (2010 Indoor-2011 Indoor-2012 Indoor & Outdoor) NCAA Division 1 National Champion Florida Gators, who were coached by the 2012 Olympic Team Sprints Coach, Mike Holloway. Steve Livoti is in his eighth season as an assistant coach for track and field at Tiffin University.  He works primarily with hurdlers and sprinters. While coaching at TU, he has helped many athletes reach the national championships. He has worked directly with 52 national qualifier positions and indirectly with 23 national qualifier positions. He has coached 33 All-Americans including the NCAA Division II Indoor National Champion in the 60 meter and 200 meter dash. All men's and women's indoor and outdoor hurdles records, with the exception of the men's 400 meter hurdles, have been broken during his tenure at TU. While at Tiffin  University, the men's indoor track and field team won the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championship, the outdoor team saw success as well, finishing 2nd overall at the 2016 Outdoor Division II National Championship. Livoti is a native of Tiffin who has taught World Studies at Lakota Schools for 30 years. He has coached track for 41 years and was head boys and girls track coach for 24 of those years.   Livoti accumulated a record of 2028 wins and 908 losses.  He has had athletes who have represented Lakota High School in the state championship for 27 of the 33 years that he coached there. In 1987, the Lakota girls track team won the State Championship. Livoti taught education classes at Heidelberg from 2006 to 2009.  He received the Bob Cline Longevity Award for 30 plus years of coaching and was nominated in 2010 for the Ohio Track and Field Hall of Fame Fred Daffler Longevity Award.  Steve is married to Kathy and they have two children, Kara and Tony. Tiffin University graduate and Track and field Alumni Nolan Hill enters his fifth season with the track and field team as assistant coach for throws.   As a Dragon, Nolan competed in the hammer throw, earning All-GLIAC awards two consecutive years.   Hill has coached 27 national qualifiers and 9 All Americans in the throwing events. His primary focus being the Hammer and Weight Throw, Nolan has coached the current school record holders in the Hammer and Weight Throw on both the men's and woman's team. Nolan graduated from Tiffin University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. Laura Igaune is in her fourth season as assistant coach for track and field at Tiffin University.  She will be assiting in coaching the throwers.  Igaune competed just one season for Western Kentucky (2011) but made it a memorable one.  She finished seventh at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships in the hammer.  Igaune was the first female thrower in school history to earn All-America satus.  She won the hammer at the Outdoor Sun Belt Conference Championships, set the school record at 211 feet, five inches and was runner-up in the 20-LB weight at the Indoor Sun Belt Confernce Championships. A native of Latvia, Igaune has a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Therapy and Health Care from Rigas Stradins University,  Latvia,  and a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology from Western Kentucky.  Igaune can lay claim to the Latvian Junior Championship title in the triple jump, multiple titles as Latvian National Champion in both the discus and hammer and still holds the Latvia national record in the hammer.    She competed at the European Championship in 2011, missing the qualifying standard for the 2012 London Olympics by two inches.   Tiffin University Graduate and Track & Field Alumni Kayla Ellks will be entering her second year as assistant coach working with various event groups. Kayla previously held the Triple jump record, was on a record holding 4x100 relay, and is the current record holder in the Long jump at Tiffin University. She is also on the top-ten performance list in multiple events and was team captain of the jumpers in 2012-2013. Ellks was the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Champion in the Triple Jump with previous top 3 finishes in 2010 and 2012. She was also the 2013 Indoor GLIAC Runner-Up in the Long Jump and had top three finishes in 2011 and 2012. Ellks earned scholastic athlete of the month in December of 2009 and hit NCAA provisional marks in both long and triple jump during her years as a Tiffin University Dragon. Coach Ellks has a collegiate best of 5.87 m (19'3") and a post-collegiate best in 2014 of 5.94m (19'6") in the long jump. Ellks also has a personal best of 12.02m in the triple jump. Ellks spent the year of 2013-14 at Tiffin University as a student assistant and assisted in the breaking of two school records in the triple jump, one of those records being her own. Ellks spent 5 years at Tiffin University and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. Keith Reiter enters into his second year with Tiffin University. He serves as the Vertical Jumps Coach- Pole Vault & High Jump. In Reiter's first year with Tiffin, he had multiple athletes qualify for the NCAA National Championships including one All-American finish in the men's pole vault contributing to the teams first NCAA National Championship indoor title and Runner-Up outdoor finish. Also, school records were broken in the men and women's indoor pole vault along with multiple additions to the Top-10 Performance Lists in both High Jump and Pole Vault. Reiter was named NCAA DIII Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 and has previously coached at Mount Union, Cincinnati, and McNeese State University. At Mount Union Reiter was in charge of the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and the multi-event groups. He coached multiple national championship qualifiers including two All-Americans and a 3rd place team finish at the DIII National Championships. Reiter also led athletes to OAC Conference titles in the high jump, triple jump, and helped the team garner Conference titles in indoor and outdoor for both men and women. At the University of Cincinnati, Reiter assisted with the jumps and distance event groups. Prior to Cincinnati, he spent three years as an assistant coach at McNeese State University in Louisiana where he worked with multi-event athletes, jumps, and pole vault. During his time at McNeese State, Reiter had athletes break school records in women's pole vault, long jump, heptathlon, and pentathlon along with Southland Conference titles in the long jump and heptathlon. As a student-athlete at Tiffin, Reiter competed on the track and field team and holds the outdoor school record in the pole vault. During his time as a Dragon, Reiter was a NAIA and NCAA National Championship competitor. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Tiffin and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from McNeese State University.