University of Maryland - Baltimore County Men's Cross Country

Gittermanns UMBC student-athletes have won individual America East titles, 26 individuals and nine relay teams qualified for the IC4A/ECAC Championships, two individuals have qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds and 13 have broken school records. Academically, Gittermanns cross country teams have led the university on numerous occasions in Team GPA, placed eleven members on  All-America East Academic Teams, and his womens team received Special National Recognition for Womens Team APR from the NCAA in 2012. In 2012, Gittermanns mens and womens cross country teams had some of their strongest years in the recent history of UMBC. The mens team finished third in the conference cross country championships, the second-highest placing for them since entering the America East. They were led by All-Conference runner Brandan McGee who finished seventh overall and was quickly followed by the rest of the varsity squad which placed seven runners in the top 26. In addition, the mens team blitzed the record books running a majority of the Top 10 fastest times in school history in cross country across all distances. Indoor track saw Andrew Smith win the 800 meter dash and anchor the Conference winning 4x800 meter relay while the women would shatter the Distance Medley Relay school record. At the Outdoor Conference Championship Hassan Omar won the 10,000 meters, Andrew Keresztes won the 800 meters, and Jake Albino would break the school record in the 1,500 meters. Omar and Albino would go on to win All-IC4A honors at the IC4A Championships. Gittermann was also honored as part of the America East Womens Indoor and Mens Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2011, the mens cross country team built on the success of the previous year and spent most of the season ranked in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The indoor track season saw three athletes qualify in the 800 meters for the IC4A Championships. Outdoors brought with it a new school record in the womens steeplechase by Keri Wilson, in addition to a conference championship and new school record in the mens steeplechase by Brandan McGee. McGee would then advance to the NCAA Preliminary rounds in the steeple chase, the first distance runner since 2008 to advance. In his third season, the cross country teams rebounded after a tough second year to move up in conference standings, led by the mens fifth-place finish at the conference meet and a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region meet. In the track seasons, Gittermanns teams began to reset the record books. During the indoor track season, his distance medley relay team of Michael Christmas, Andrew Smith, Roy Jones, and Chris Snyder finished second at the conference meet, but shattered the old school record to the tune of 9:49. Christmas would also take over control of the 800-meter school record during the indoor and outdoor seasons, while Snyder would break the record in the outdoor 3,000 meters. Sara Parkinson would add the 3,000-meter school record to her list of accomplishments during the indoor season, and would break the 1,500-meter, 3,000-meter, and 5,000-meter records during the outdoor campaign. In 2009, Gittermanns second season, Sara Parkinson earned All-Conference honors for the second consecutive season at the America East Conference Cross Country Championships and was named to the Academic All-District II First Team. Her performances helped lead the womens cross country team to their first team ranking in the Mid-Atlantic polls in quite some time. She would continue her strong year into indoor where she would break the school record in the 5,000-meters en route to a conference championship title. In his first season at UMBC, Gittermanns mens team won the Towson Invite in only his third meet at the helm, which in turn led to a UMBCs entrance into the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings. Gittermann finished out the season producing two America East All-Conference honorees in Sara Parkinson and Anthony Kelhower as the men finished fifth and the women eighth at the America East Conference Championship meet. All four of his boys cross country teams at Mount Hebron (2A/3A) had finished among the top eight in the state championships, peaking with a fourth-place finish in 2007. The Mount Hebron girls program also rose to prominence, finishing third at the state championships in 2007. The track programs were also extremely strong under Gittermanns leadership. His 2005 boys indoor team and 2007 girls outdoor squad both finished as runners-up at the state championships. Overall, Mount Hebron broke more than 80 school records, produced 15 individual state champions and one All-American during Gittermanns tenure.  Gittermann started his coaching career as head track and field coach at neighboring Hammond High School in the fall of 2003. The January 2003 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, earned four letters in cross country and three in track and field.  The Lewiston, N.Y., native earned his bachelors degree in middle childhood education from Baldwin-Wallace and completed his masters degree in curriculum and instruction with administrative focus from McDaniel College in May 2008.  Gittermann currently teaches science in the Howard County Public School System. He has a USATF Level II Certification in sprints, hurdles, relays and endurance. Additionally, he was one of 20 collegiate and high school coaches selected to attend the USATF/United States Olympic Committee Emerging Elite Endurance Coaching Clinic at the Olympic Training Facility at Chula Vista, Calif.  Gittermann resides in Columbia, Md. with his wife, Megan, and their daughters, Ryleigh and McKena.

UMBC head men's lacrosse coach Ryan Moran tabbed Craig Chick as a full-time assistant lacrosse coach for the Retriever program in 2020.  Chick was promoted to associate head coach during the summer of 2025. Chick first joined the Retrievers' staff in 2019-20 and assisted both the offensive and defensive coordinators. He headed the face-off group, and the team jumped out to a 5-1 start, the best in program history before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down. In 2000-2021, Chick was hired as a full-time assistant coach. He assisted the defensive coordinator and headed the man-down defense. The defensive unit ranked No. 6 in the nation in goals against (9.55), and the man-down defense finished 5th in the nation (75%). The squad won the America East regular season championship with an 8-3 record and hosted the conference championships.  Chick was promoted to defensive coordinator before the 2022 season. The Retrievers went 8-5 and opened the year with a 4-0 mark, holding each opponent to under 10 goals scored. He coached a defense that was ranked No. 5 in the nation in goals against average (9.62) and was No. 1 in the America East with the highest scoring margin in the conference. In addition, UMBC had the lowest opponent clear percentage in the conference. Chick coached a nominee for the Tewaaraton Award (goalie Jayson Tingue) and tutored First Team All-Conference defenseman (Ethan Robinson).  In 2024, UMBC returned to the America East playoffs, and the squad finished in the Top 20 in clearing percentage. Defenseman Ethan Robinson was named to the America East First Team All-Conference squad for the second straight season. The Retrievers won a share of the 2025 America East Conference regular-season title after the Dawgs' went 5-1 versus conference foes. Chick completed a brilliant career at Lehigh, earning the university's highest USILA All-American honor in 93 years of competition. He was named to the second team in 2019, one year after garnering USILA honorable mention laurels, and he is a two-time second-team Media All-American (as a junior and senior). The Edgewater, Maryland native, and South River High School graduate competed in the 2019 USILA North-South All-Star Game and was named a Senior CLASS Award first-team All-American. He finished his senior campaign with 42 caused turnovers, breaking his own school record for a third straight year and breaking the all-time NCAA record for his career – finishing with 160. Chick was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week three times during his senior campaign and, at the end of the regular season, garnered first-team All-League honors for a third straight year. "I am happy for Craig to get this opportunity to begin his coaching career in his home state, at UMBC," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese at the time of his hiring. "Craig was one of the best defensemen and best leaders we have ever had in the Lehigh lacrosse program.  He was a two-time team captain and an All-American. But, what I will remember most is his ability to make those around him better and the 'blue-collar work ethic' and 'chip on the shoulder' mentality that he brought with him to everything he did.  Undoubtedly, he will bring all that and more to his new position at UMBC." He was a second-round draft pick of the Dallas Rattlers and earned a spot on the Major League Lacrosse All-Star squad in his first season as a professional. In 2019, Chick was nominated for Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Defensemen of the Year as a long stick middie. He played in the PLL for New York Atlas from 2020-2023 and is a current member of the Boston Cannons. Chick and wife Savanah were married in September of 2023.

Bobb moved the men's team to third place while the women moved up a spot to seventh, while nearly doubling their team score.  During the 2005-06 campaign, the men placed second at the indoor conference championship and fourth in outdoor, while the women placed fifth and fourth, respectively.  In 2006-07, the Retrievers hosted their first meet since 2003 with the America East Championships, and Bobb led the men to a third-place and the women to a seventh-place finish. In 2007-08, the Retriever men and women finished fifth and fourth at the outdoor meet, respectively, and in 2008-09, the men finished fourth in both indoor and outdoor.  During the 2010-11 season, the Retriever men placed third during the indoor season and fourth outdoors, while the women finished fifth in both seasons. The 2009-10 season was highlighted by Dominic Devaud, who was named to the CoSida/ Academic All-America Third Team and won the heptathlon at the America East and IC4A Indoor Championships. In 2011-12, the women's team earned its highest-ever finish, third place, at the America East Indoor Championships, and followed it up by finishing fourth at the outdoor meet, their top-finish since 2006.  The Retrievers were led by freshman Mercedes Jackson who broke the school record in multiple events and was named the conference's Most Outstanding Rookie at both championship meets.  Meanwhile, the men's squad took fifth place indoors and sixth place outside. Last season, Bobb guided the Retrievers to their best-ever finishes at the conference meet.  Bobb and his staff were named the Coaching Staff of the Year twice, first after the women placed second at the America East Indoor Championships, and then after the men earned a second-place finish at the outdoor championships at Binghamton.  In total, UMBC won 13 conference championships at the indoor meet, and then added another 13 titles at in upstate New York. In addition, UMBC received three invitations to the NCAA Championships as Mercedes Jackson competed at the indoor championships in the 60m dash, and then she and thrower Vincent Rentzsch flew to the West Coast for the outdoor championships at Oregon.  The NCAA Outdoor Championships marked the first time in program history that multiple Retrievers qualified for the same national meet. Since Bobb's first season with the Retrievers, his squads have produced four NCAA Championship competitors in Cleopatra Borel, Huguens Jean, Jackson, and Rentzsch.  Borel won UMBC's first NCAA Championship in the shot put in 2002.  Both became All-Americans and won multiple individual conference titles.      Prior to Bobb's rise into the coaching profession, he was a five-time Division I All-American as a student-athlete at UMBC and was inducted into UMBC's Athletics Hall of Fame in February 2003, along with legendary coach Jim Pfrogner, his mentor.    Bobb became UMBC's first Division I All-American in track and field with third-place finishes in both the 55m and 200m dashes at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, during his junior season.  His performance alone catapulted UMBC to an 18th-place finish in the nation.    Bobb capped off his career with a second-place result in the 100m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Bloomington, Ind., where he was the top American finisher in the country and earned All-American honors for the fourth time.  He also qualified for the 200m finals, becoming an All-American for the fifth time, but a slight muscle pull forced him to drop out of the race.    Bobb, who was featured on the ESPN show "NCAA Today, graduated from UMBC with a degree in information systems in 1997.  He and his wife, Dawnnette, have two daughters, Caitlyn Cassandra and Madisyn Alexandra.