University of Notre Dame Men's Track

Sparks' area of concentration with the Fighting Irish will be guiding the womens cross country program, as well as coaching Notre Dame distance runners throughout the indoor and outdoor track seasons. His second season at Notre Dame, Sparks was able to help coach Molly Seidel to another spectacular year. She added to her national championship tally as she went on to win not only the NCAA Cross Country Championship, but also NCAA titles in the indoor 3,000m and indoor 5,000m. Seidel also won the ACC Championship in cross country as well as the Great Lakes Regional. She continued her success in the indoor season and won ACC Championship titles in the 3,000m and 5,000m races.  Sparks was able to build exceptional depth with the newcomers on the team, with Anna Rohrer headlining that class. Under his direction, the women were able to get a third-place finish at the 2015 ACC Championships. At regionals, the team was able to get an automatic bid after the Irishs performance landed them in second-place. Seidels and Rohrers performances at the NCAA Championships, elevated the team to an eighth-place finish. The mens team was highlighted by the individual performance of Michael Clevenger that led him to the NCAA Championships, where he placed 38 out of 254 runners. The team was able to improve upon last years showing, where they placed sixth in the ACC Championships and fourth in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. In his first season at Notre Dame, Sparks coached Molly Seidel through a standout junior campaign in both cross country and track and field. To headline her many accomplishments, Seidel secured a national championship in the 10,000-meter run at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The national title complemented her All-America performance at the NCAA indoor championships and All-America standing at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Along with Seidels individual achievements, Sparks led the Notre Dame womens cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the 2014 ACC Championships. The team went on to earn an at-large selection to the NCAA championships after placing sixth at the 2014 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships. Ultimately, the Irish women claimed 29th at the NCAA championships. The mens cross country season was highlighted by a NCAA individual qualification for then junior Michael Clevenger. The Irish men supplemented Clevengers performance with a seventh-place showing at the ACC championships and sixth-place finish at the Great Lakes regional.  The track and field season concluded with a womens team garnering its highest finish in program history at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, placing 13th overall. The previous high for the Irish came in 1999 when the team earned 17th place. Clevenger put together a performance to note, leading the Notre Dame mens distance core and picking up second team All-America recognition in the 5,000 meters. Sparks left Southern Illinois as its winningest cross country coach, with six Missouri Valley Conference crowns--men's titles in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013 and a women's title in 2013 (the first for the Saluki women in 21 seasons). He began his tenure in Carbondale, Ill. during the 2002-03 campaign and specialized in coaching cross country, middle-distance and distance events.  Across both cross country and track he coached 51 MVC event champions, 140 all-MVC performers, 127 MVC scholar-athletes and 10 NCAA event finals qualifiers. The MVC named Sparks its cross country coach of the year in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013. He coached eight teams to NCAA championship top-25 finishes, including the 2010 Saluki women's team that claimed ninth place at the outdoor national championships.  Sparks tutored five MVC most valuable track athletes and four MVC cross country athletes of the year. He has seen at least one Southern Illinois athlete in every distance event qualify for the NCAA regional meet. In addition to working with two cross country All-Americans at Southern Illinois, he coached two outdoor track Second Team All-Americans and 10 USA Track & Field Junior All-Americans. He produced one USATF Junior National Champion, a World Junior competitor and a Pan American Junior competitor.  Sparks coached 11 cross country teams at Southern Illinois that earned national academic honors. His 2003 Saluki women's squad (3.61) and his 2010 men's squad (3.6) had the second-highest grade-point averages in the nation.  "Matt gets the most out of his athletes. He's proven that year after year," Notre Dame track and field head coach Alan Turner said. "He is going to be great one on one with his athletes, both personally and as far as putting together great training programs. Whatever is ailing them, physically or mentally, he's going to solve it to get the most out of them. In addition, he has proven himself to be a tireless recruiter. Matt very much wants to be here at Notre Dame. I'm confident people down the line are going to say, `He was a great addition to the staff.'"  Turner and Sparks are hardly strangers. They previously spent five years together (2005-06 to 2009-10) as assistant coaches on the Southern Illinois staff.  At Southern Illinois, Sparks spent his first two seasons as the women's cross country coach and women's distance coach in track until the men's and women's programs combined in 2004. Since that time, he has served as cross country coach and distance coach for both the men and women.  Prior to his tenure at Southern Illinois, Sparks spent two years (2000-01 and 2001-02) as an assistant track and field coach at Ohio State, where he handled women's cross country and women's distance runners. He previously served three years (1997-98 to 1999-2000) on the Indiana University track and field staff, working as a volunteer assistant, graduate assistant and then an assistant coach--while also handling duties as executive director of the Indiana Track Club, the largest track club in the state.  A standout student-athlete at Indiana, Sparks competed in cross country and ran the 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m events as well as the marathon. He served as the Hoosier team captain in cross country as both a junior and senior in 1995 and 1996, as well as in track and field as a senior in 1997. Indiana selected him as its 1996 cross country MVP, and he helped the Hoosier distance-medley relay squad finish as the 1994 Big Ten Conference runner-up. At the high school level, Sparks six times won all-state recognition in cross country and track and field at Noblesville (Ind.) High School. Three times he claimed top-five finishes in the Indiana state high school cross country meet.  Originally from Noblesville, Sparks is a 1997 Indiana graduate with a degree in science education. He also earned a master's degree from Indiana in 1999 in applied sports sciences.  Sparks and his wife Emily are parents of a son, Samuel, and a daughter, Eliza. Matt Sparks Position: Associate Head Coach - Cross Country/Distance Alma Mater: Indiana '97 Position: Associate Head Coach - Cross Country/Distance Alma Mater: Indiana '97

Garnham is responsible for coaching all horizontal and vertical jumps events as well as coordinating the combined events. During his eight years with the program, Garnham has helped coach All-Americans, NCAA qualifiers, conference champions, all-conference honorees, school record-holders and Olympic hopefuls. Among the standouts include six-time BIG EAST pole vault champion and two-time All-American Kevin Schipper, three-time BIG EAST pole vault champion Matt Schipper, two-time BIG EAST pole vault champion and two-time All-American Mary Saxer, two-time All-American Maddie Buttinger, All-American heptathlete Carly Loeffel, and most recently, All-American pole vaulter Nate Richartz. During the 2016 track season, Garnham was able to lead junior pole vaulter Nate Richartz to another successful season, as this time he was able to break the school record for the indoor pole vault (5.46m), win the pole vault at the ACC Indoor Championships, and place eighth at NCAA Indoor Championships. Garnham also had a strong freshman performer in the high jump this year, as Matthew Birzer was able to set the third-best height in school history (2.16m) in indoor. Birzer finished second at the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the high jump, earning him All-ACC honors. In the multi-events, Garnham coached seniors Brent Swanberg (Heptathlon, Decathlon) and Carly Loeffel (Pentathlon, Heptathlon) to All-ACC performances. In 2015, Garnham helped guide sophomore pole vaulter Nate Richartz to his first NCAA Outdoor Championships and his first All-American certificate. Additionally, he coached senior Mary-Esther Gourdin to an NCAA East Regional berth and All-ACC accolades, while senior Carly Loeffel earned her first All-ACC honors at the ACC Outdoor Championships by finishing third in the heptathlon. Loeffel, who scored 5,501 points in the event, now ranks second on the all-time Notre Dame performance list. During the indoor season, Gourdin toppled a 12-year-old record in the triple jump and earned All-ACC recognition, while junior Brent Swanberg also finished the season as an All-ACC honoree by finishing fifth in the heptathlon and moving into third on the Irish performance list. The 2014 season ended with Senior Logan Renwick earning his first Capital One Academic All-American Certificate.  Renwick competed in both the long jump and triple jump at the NCAA East Regional Championships along with teammates Keith Mesidor (long jump) and Gourdin (triple jump). Renwick amassed 60 conference championship (BIG EAST/ACC) points during his career, captured a BIG EAST triple jump title and qualified for five individual events at the NCAA East Regional throughout his four-year career. All three jumpers, Renwick, Mesidor and Gourdin earned All-ACC honors during the ACC Outdoor Championship. During the indoor season, junior Ted Glasnow earned All-ACC honors by placing third in the heptathlon; his score moved him up to second all-time in the Notre Dame record book.   In 2013, Garnham mentored BIG EAST heptathlon champion Ted Glasnow and all-BIG EAST performers Carly Loeffel (Heptathlon), Glasnow (Decathlon), Logan Renwick (Long Jump), Ann Polcari (Pole Vault) and Loeffel (Pentathlon). During the outdoor season, Loeffel garnered second team All-America honors in the heptathlon after placing 15th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.  In 2012, Garnham and his student-athletes turned in a standout season, as Kevin Schipper won both indoor and outdoor BIG EAST pole vault crowns for the third year in a row and was named an NCAA Indoor All-American after finishing fourth at the national indoor meet. He also earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event. Maddie Buttinger also turned in a strong year, finishing second at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships in the pentathlon, and then finishing third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Champions for All-America recognition. At the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, Logan Renwick won the triple jump title, while decathlete Ted Glasnow earned all-BIG EAST honors with a third-place showing.  Kevin Schipper won two more BIG EAST pole vault titles in 2011, while Justin Schneider earned all-BIG EAST honors in the heptathlon at the indoor meet. Buttinger earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon, finishing 12th in the event.  In 2010, Garnham mentored BIG EAST indoor champions Eric Quick (triple jump) and Schneider (heptathlon) and indoor and outdoor pole vault champion Kevin Schipper. Schipper went on to become an outdoor All-American in the event. Schneider (decathlon), Quick (long jump) and Buttinger (heptathlon) took second at the BIG EAST outdoor meet to earn all-BIG EAST honors. Buttinger later went on to compete in her first NCAA Outdoor Championships. Quick also earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump, marking the first time a Notre Dame athlete had advanced to nationals in the event.  In Garnham's first year with the program, the Irish swept the BIG EAST pole vault titles as Matt Schipper and Mary Saxer each won both the indoor and outdoor pole vault crowns. Saxer went on to earn All-America honors at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while Schipper advanced to both the indoor and outdoor nationals. Schneider turned in a runner-up finish in the decathlon to earn all-BIG EAST honors, before advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships during the outdoor season, while Buttinger finished third in the conference in the pentathlon during the indoor season and second in the heptathlon during the outdoor season. Kevin Schipper also earned his first all-BIG EAST scroll, with a second-place showing at the league's indoor meet.  In seven years at Notre Dame, Garnham has seen his student-athletes earn eight All-America certificates, 13 NCAA qualifications, 25 NCAA East Regional qualifications, 14 BIG EAST titles, 41 all-conference (BIG EAST/ACC) scrolls, eight school records and one Capital One Academic All-America honor. Garnham joined the Irish staff after a three-year stint as the field events coach at the University of Tulsa. During his tenure, he coached an NCAA qualifier in the shot put, a USATF indoor shot put qualifier, 17 NCAA Midwest Regional qualifiers, four Conference USA champions and 20 All-C-USA athletes. His student-athletes also set 18 school records at Tulsa.  Prior to Tulsa, Garnham served five years as an assistant track & field coach at the University at Buffalo, where he worked with multi-event athletes, javelin throwers and hurdlers. He coached a USATF indoor heptathlon qualifier, a Canadian Olympic trials qualifier in the women's heptathlon, two NCAA qualifiers, four NCAA East Regional qualifiers and five Mid-American Conference champions. Garnham earned his bachelor's degree in history from Kent State in 1998. He and his wife, Kelly, reside in South Bend. Jim Garnham Position: Assistant Coach - Jumps Position: Assistant Coach - Jumps

Beltran has helped oversee 25 all-BIG EAST performers and NCAA East Preliminary Round qualifiers between men's and women's shot put, discus, hammer throw and weight throw, and for the throw events in the men's heptathlon and decathlon and the women's pentathlon and heptathlon. Included in the 25 are six throwing champions and 15 multi-event all-BIG EAST performers. In 2013, Emily Morris (Shot Put) earned all-BIG EAST honors at the outdoor meet, while Ted Glasnow (Heptathlon, Decathlon) and Carly Loeffel (Pentathlon, Heptathlon) earned all-BIG EAST honors, with Glasnow taking home the decathlon crown, during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Loeffel went on to earn second team All-America accolades at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. A year earlier, senior Andrew Hills won the hammer throw at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship, while Andrew Brock (shot put) and Anthony Thomas (discus) earned all-BIG EAST accolades. During the indoor season, Maddie Buttinger (pentathlon) earned an all-BIG EAST citation before placing third and earning All-America accolades at the NCAA Indoor Championships. 2011 saw John Belcher win the hammer throw at the outdoor championships, while teammate Greg Davis finished third. Buttinger took second in the heptathlon on the women's side. During the indoor season, Davis finished second in the weight throw and Denes Veres took third in the shot put. In 2010, four student-athletes earned all-BIG EAST honors under Beltran's watch, including a pair of throwers and two multi-event athletes. Denes Veres took home all-league accolades in the shot put at the indoor championship, while John Belcher took home the BIG EAST title in the hammer throw at the outdoor championship. In addition, Beltran's efforts helped multi-event athletes Justin Schneider and Maddie Buttinger earn all-BIG EAST accolades. Schneider earned all-BIG EAST honors in the heptathlon, where he claimed first, and in the decathlon, where he finished second. Buttinger picked-up all-league honors at the outdoor championships and earned a 20th place finish at the NCAA Championships. The 2009-10 season saw Beltran mentor Veres to all-BIG EAST honors in shot put, the fourth such honor of Veres' career. Greg Davis and Mitchell Gromley also received all-conference accolades in the hammer throws. All told, the Irish sent nine throwers (men's and women's) to NCAA regionals, while Veres, Jaclyn Espinoza and Elise Knutzen advanced to the NCAA Championships. It marked the fourth straight appearance at NCAAs for Espinoza, the first time a Notre Dame woman qualified for the season's final meet in program history. Knutzen became the first javelin thrower to advance to the championships, while Davis (weight throw), Atang (shot put) and Veres (shot put) all set school records. For his efforts, Beltran was named the Great Lakes Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. Beltran helped Espinoza earn an All-America honor in the discus with a third-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships, as well as the BIG EAST outdoor meet. Jeff Mensch also became a BIG EAST champion in the hammer throw. Seven Irish throwers qualified for the NCAA regional meet, while six Notre Dame student-athletes earned all-BIG EAST honors during the 2008-09 season. Beltran guided the Irish throwers to seven all-BIG EAST honors in 2008, including Brandon Drenon's first BIG EAST outdoor title in the discus. Six of Beltran's athletes qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regionals. Alyissa Hasan earned all-BIG EAST and All-America honors in the pentathlon. She also garnered all-conference honors for her heptathlon performance at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. Espinoza finished 25th in the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Prior to joining the Notre Dame staff, Beltran was on the track and field staff at Saint Francis (Pa.) University where he worked with the Red Flash throwers and oversaw the program's recruiting efforts. Under his tutelage, 20 St. Francis student-athletes won Northeast Conference (NEC) titles in the men's and women's weight throw, javelin, hammer throw, discus and women's shot put. During his tenure at St. Francis, Beltran watched 17 Red Flash throwing records fall in the men's and women's indoor shot put, discus, javelin, women's outdoor shot put and the men's hammer and weight throws. In 2007, Lisa Morse earned the Outstanding Field Performer award at the NEC Outdoor Championships, while Dian Gmiter went on to win the same award at the indoor league meet. Before his stint at St. Francis, Beltran served as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He worked with throwers and coached athletes to Mid-Continent Conference titles in the shot put and the javelin. Nine of his athletes went on to break school track and field records under his watch. A 1999 graduate of UMKC, the Austin, Texas native earned his bachelor of liberal arts degree with an emphasis in American studies and a minor in black studies/cultural anthropology. He has earned USA Track and Field Level I and Level II certifications. Track & Field Home   Email this article   Printer-friendly format Position: Assistant Coach - Throws Alma Mater: Missouri-Kansas City '99

Carlson is responsible for the men's cross country team and mens distance and mid-distance runners on the track.  During his tenure with the Irish, Carlson has assisted in coaching five NCAA Champions and directly coachingNotre Dame student-athletes to five new school records, six NCAA All-Americans and 12 athletes on Notre Dames top-10 lists. In 2016, the Irish women's track team finished fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships, its highest finish in program history. Among the standouts to excel while working with Carlson are Alexa Aragon and Jessica Harris. Aragon, a four-time All-American (including twice in the 3,000m steeplechase) and Notre Dame record-holder in the steeplechase. Aragons steeplechase record of 9:54.37 coincided with an eighth-place finish and All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in 2014. Jessica Harris has three school records to her name (600m, 800m and 1,000m). Harris clocked a 2:04.24 at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships.  The Notre Dame womens cross country program has qualified for the NCAA Championships each year of Carlsons time with the Irish, while the men have made the trip three times. The Irish women reached a high-water mark in 2012, when the team finished 15 of 31 teams.  On the track, Carlson helped coach the Irish women to a runner-up finish at the outdoor championships in their inaugural year in the ACC, while the men placed third. Both teams finished in third place at the ACC Indoor Championships in 2013-14. During the 2012-13 season, Carlson helped the Irish womens track & field team to a pair of BIG EAST Championships, while the mens squad snagged two second-place finishes. During the cross country season, both Irish teams recorded top-30 finishes at the NCAA Championships.  In 2011-12, Carlson helped the Irish mens track & field program win two BIG EAST Championships, while the women earned a pair of top-four conference finishes. In the spring, he helped coach the mens distance medley relay team to an NCAA Championship during the indoor season, while the mens program went on to place 12 overall at the meet.  Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Carlson was a cross country coach and head distance coach for track at Saint Charles North High School in Saint Charles, Ill. There, he helped with both practice and operations in addition to his coaching responsibilities. A team captain and All-American at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., from 2006-10, Carlson helped the cross country squad capture a Division III national championship in 2009 after a runner-up finish in 2008. In 2009, he won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin individual cross country championship. In 2010, the track & field squad claimed both the NCAA Division III indoor and outdoor crowns. Upon graduation, Carlson worked as a volunteer assistant track coach for seven months at his alma mater before moving on to Saint Charles North and, ultimately, Notre Dame. Sean Carlson Position: Assistant Coach - Cross Country Alma Mater: North Central College '10 Position: Assistant Coach - Cross Country Alma Mater: North Central College '10