University of Maryland - Baltimore County Women's Cross Country

It was only fitting that David Bobb, who is one of UMBC's most decorated athletes to ever don the Retriever black and gold, take over as head track and field coach following his stellar career as a Retriever athlete.  Now entering his 24th season with the women and 18th at the helm of the men's squad, Bobb continues to raise the bar for his athletes as he leads them into their 19th season in the America East Conference. In the first year, UMBC's men's team placed sixth at the outdoor conference championship meet while the women took eighth.  A year later, 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.  The Retriever mentor has earned America East Coach of the Year honors in 2013-14 and 2016-17, having led the Retriever men to four consecutive second-place league championship finishes from 2014-17.  Moreover, the women’s program placed second in 2015 at the conclusion of the outdoor season. Last year, he helped guide Tony White and Kelechi Nwanaga to All-American honors with White earning a spot on the second team and Nwanaga earning first team honors. Bobb also coached Vincent Rentzsch, who made it to the NCAA Finals in the javelin in 2016, Huguens Jean, who placed fourth nationally in the high jump in 2003 and Cleopatra Borel who won the indoor shot put national title in 2002.   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/ESPN the Magazine 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. 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. 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.

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.