University of Rhode Island Women's Track

Feit-Melnick enters her 25th season as head coach of the Rhode Island women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field programs in 2016-17. Feit-Melnick boasts an impressive resume as head coach at URI. While at the helm of the Rams, Feit-Melnick has led the program to nine Atlantic 10 Championships - five A-10 indoor track & field titles (2000-02; 2004-05) and four league outdoor titles (2002-05). She has been named A-10 Coach of the Year nine times - six times, indoor track (1996, 1999, 2000-02, 2004); twice, outdoor track (2003-04); once, cross country (1998). She also was honored as the University of Rhode Island Women's Coach of the Year for four consecutive years (1999-2002), as well as earning the 2005 Words Unlimited Women's Sports Coach of the Year honor to her list of accolades. The Massapequa Park, N.Y. native has coached 71 Atlantic 10 Champions, two conference record-holders and has sent seven athletes to national competitions. Her cross country teams have included 16 All-Conference athletes and finished as high as second in the A-10 on four occasions (1992, 1999, 2001 and 2002). She has guided 147 all-conference athletes, 55 academic all-conference selections, 11 A-10 Rookies of the Year and three Atlantic 10 Most Outstanding Performers. Feit-Melnick served as USA Junior team leader at the 1998 World Cross Country Championship in Marrakesh, Morroco. She also was appointed to the 2001 World University Games Coaching Staff for the World University Games in Beijing, China. She earned her bachelor's degree from Rutgers in 1988, where she was a four-year member of the Scarlet Knight cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams. As a senior, she was named MVP of the cross country team. A middle-distance runner on the track team, she also was a member of RU's All-East two-mile relay team. After spending one season as an assistant cross country coach at her alma mater, Feit-Melnick joined the coaching staff at Miami (Ohio) in 1989. She took over the cross country and track & field head coaching duties on an interim basis during the 1990-91 seasons. Feit-Melnick received her master's degree in exercise science from Miami (Ohio) in 1992. She is a USA Track & Field certified Level I and II coach as well as a member of the U.S. Women's Track & Field Association (USWTFA) and the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association (WICCCA). She was the New England Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country/Track & Field secretary from 1993-94, before taking on the role of commissioner from 1994-99. Additionally, she has served as a seeding advisor and secretary/treasurer of the ECAC and served on the NCAA Protest Table for the 1995-97 outdoor track & field championships. She is married to John Melnick, an assistant track & field coach with the Rams. The couple resides in Narragansett with their two children, Mollie Joy and Adam John. Updated Sep. 28, 2016

Coaching: Head Coach, Cato-Meridian and Westhill High Schools, 1984-86 Assistant Coach, Miami (Ohio), 1986-88 Assistant Coach, Ball State, 1988-89 Assistant Coach, Miami (Ohio), 1989-92 Assistant Coach, Rhode Island, 1992-presentThe 2018-19 academic year marks John Melnick's 28th year with the Rhode Island women's cross country and track & field teams. He has coached numerous Atlantic 10 champions and NCAA qualifiers during his tenure at Rhode Island as well as over a dozen school record-setters.A native of Meridian, N.Y., Melnick graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a concentration in accounting. In 1989, Melnick earned a master's in physical education/health enhancement and appraisal from Miami (Ohio).While at Miami, Melnick coached the sprints, hurdles and throws. He trained a two-time NCAA All-American javelin thrower and 1992 Olympic trials qualifier and coached 69 All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) athletes and 12 MAC Champions.Melnick holds a USA Track and Field Level I coaching certification as well as an NCAA recruiting certification.He served as meet director for the Women's New England Cross-Country, Indoor and Outdoor Championships for nine years.Melnick lives with his wife, head coach Laurie Feit-Melnick, in Narragansett with their children Mollie Joy and Adam John.updated: 5/30/19

Bourque is in her fourth season as an assistant coach with the women's track & field team. She joined Laurie Feit-Melnick's staff in September of 2011 after an All-American career at Rhode Island. Bourque works primarily with the throwers, coaching the shot put, hammer, discus, javelin and weight techniques. She also assists with sprint and plyometric workouts, as well as helping to coordinate team meetings and practice times. During the fall, Borque assists with cross country workouts. Bourque won the hammer throw at the 2014 USATF New England Championship, a competition that is part of her training to qualify for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. Bourque has coached several Rams to top-three finishes at both the Atlantic 10 Indoor and Outdoor championships. She coached Genevieve Rybicki to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Outdoor title in the hammer. Rybicki won the crown with a toss of 175'9. At the same championship, Kelly McCabe earned second place in the javelin. Both throwers qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries that season. Earlier in the year, Rybicki set a school record in the discus with a throw of 167.1.  In 2011, she helped Genevieve Rybicki place second in the weight throw at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track & Field Championship. Rybicki and Emily Moorehead placed third and fourth, respectively, in the hammer throw at the league's outdoor championship that spring. Rybicki added a third-place finish in the shot put, while Kelly McCabe placed third in the javelin throw at the outdoor championship.  Before joining the staff at Rhode Island, Bourque was a strength and conditioning intern with both the Next Level Athletic Training Center in Johnston, R.I. and with URI's Strength and Conditioning program. During her athletic career at Rhode Island, Bourque was a Second-Team All-American in the hammer throw as a team captain in 2011. She was just the second women's track & field All-American in program history, joining Jasmine Jennings. In 2010, she was the New England champion and the Eastern College Athletic Conference champion in the hammer.  Bourque earned her degree in kinesiology from Rhode Island in 2011.  - Updated Sep. 28, 2016