University of South Carolina - Upstate Women's Track

Blackwelder is in his eighth year with the USC Upstate cross country and track & field programs. He is in his first season as the head coach after spending five years as associate head coach and assistant coach for two years. Since joining the Spartans in 2009, Blackwelder has taken Upstate to new heights by leading the mens program to its first two Atlantic Sun Conference championships. He was named A-Sun Coach of the Year in 2011 after the men earned the programs first conference championship while Gilbert Kemboi took home individual champion honors. Blackwelder received A-Sun Coach of the Year honors again in 2012 as the men recorded its second straight conference championship and Kemboi was the individual champion for the third straight year. Kemboi would later picked up All-Southeast Region accolades with a sixth-place finish and would go on to the NCAA National meet and place 42nd as an individual. In 2011, the Upstate women had its best finish at the A-Sun Championships with a fourth-place showing and sweeping the top three positions led by Jemeli Sang as she picked up individual champion honors. She was followed by Joan Tangwar and Carolyne Chelulei. On the mens side, both Davey Dennison and Christian Ritacco received All-Conference accolades. The Spartans also had their best showing at the NCAA Southeast Regional as the women finished 17th out of 32 schools and the men 22nd out of 34. Tangwar, Sang and Kemboi each took home All-Southeast Region honors. Kemboi earned his first of three straight A-Sun individual championship victories in 2010 as Upstate had seven total runners collect postseason awards. The women had three athletes, Tangwar, Chelulei and Sang, named to the All-Conference, while Dennison was Second Team All-Conference and Andrew Kipchumba was selected to the All-Freshman Team. In his first season with the Spartans in 2009, Blackwelder was recognized for coaching a pair of All-Conference women and a male A-Sun Freshman of the Year athlete. Overall, Blackwelder has coached nine All-Conference, four Runners of the Year, three All-Freshman Team, two All-Southeast Region, one Freshman of the Year runners and one NCAA National Championship participant in Kemboi in 2012. Upstate has also excelled in the classroom with Kemboi receiving numerous academic honors including A-Sun Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2011, 2012), A-Sun Male Student-Athlete of the Year (2013), A-Sun and NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship (2013), Capital One Academic All-District (2013) and USTFCCCA Division I Cross Country All-Academic Team (2013). Sang was also named USTFCCCA Division I Cross Country All-Academic in 2011. Blackwelder arrived at USC Upstate after spending the 2008-09 season at Morehead State. At MSU, he was responsible for all facets of the program, which included recruiting, workout regiments, budget and travel, and was the director of fundraising for the program. Blackwelders program had two individuals named to the cross country All-Conference team as well as having his womens track and field and cross country teams honored as All-Academic teams. He also coached the schools 8K school record holder. Prior to MSU, he spent three years as an assistant coach at Appalachian State. His primary duties at ASU were recruiting coordinator for the cross country program, while also serving as the strength and conditioning coach for the teams distance runners. During his tenure at ASU, the cross country and track and field programs won five mens conference titles, three womens conference titles, as well as four SoCon individual track and field championships. Also during Blackwelders time in Boone, N.C., the Mountaineers had 12 individuals named All-Conference in track and field and 11 were named All-Conference performers in cross country. Two individuals were named All-Region in cross country and four were regional qualifiers in track and field.   A native of Concord, N.C., Blackwelder was a standout at Appalachian State as a member of the cross country and track programs. He was a two-time All-Southern Conference selection and team MVP in cross country. He also received All-Conference accolades in indoor track. In outdoor track and field, Blackwelder helped the Mountaineers win four-straight conference championships. Blackwelder resides in Spartanburg, S.C. with his wife Ashley and their daughter, Carter.

Smith is entering her fifth year as the head coach of the USC Upstate track & field program. Since joining the program in the fall of 2011, Upstate has reached new heights as she has begun to build all aspects of the track & field programs. Since taking the reins of the Upstate mens and womens track & field teams, both programs have seen their highest finishes at the A-Sun Championships along with their highest team point totals at the conclusion of both the indoor and outdoor conference meets. The Spartan women set two new program-bests in 2013-14 as they recorded their highest point totals at both the A-Sun Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Upstate also saw marks being set in new areas as the jumps, sprints, relays and multi crews recorded top-three finishes at the A-Sun Championships for the first time in the programs brief history. The womens 4x400-meter relay team of Heaven Briggs, Dominique Nock, Essence Jackson and Ashley Edmond picked up the programs first-ever gold at the 2013-14 A-Sun Indoor Championships while Brittany Walls became the first Spartan female to earn All-Conference honors in the indoor pentathlon. In the outdoor events, Upstate took home six medals with Walls receiving two of them. Walls was named Third Team All-Conference in the heptathlon for the second straight season, and then followed by becoming the first Spartan to earned All-Conference accolades in the high jump. Alexis Jacobs started the A-Sun Outdoor Championships by picking up the programs first-ever All-Conference selection in the shot put. Michael Smith also became the first Upstate male to be named All-Conference in the triple jump after finishing third in the event. The womens 4x100-meter relay combination of Nock, Briggs, Brenicke Johnson and Semaj Tolliver just missed taking top honors, but were still recognized as the schools first All-Conference honorees after finishing second behind Kennesaw State by .14 seconds. Essence Jackson capped off the Outdoor Championships by being recognized as Third Team All-Conference in the 800-meters. Overall in 2013-14, the Spartans found finalists in the relays, heptathlon, 10,000-meters, 800-meters, 400-meter hurdles, 200-meters, 100-meters, long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put, hammer throw and discus, with six of those events featuring a top-three medalist. The program broke 23 school records (10 indoor and 13 outdoor) on the womens side, and five (two indoor, three outdoor) for the men. The 2013-14 season will go down as one of the best-rounded seasons in program history for the track & field teams. In 2012, the Upstate mens program boasted the A-Sun Indoor Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Year in Gilbert Kemboi and the Indoor Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Year in Kenny Sugishita, while Kemboi was also named the A-Sun Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Upstate carried that momentum into the outdoor season as several Spartans became conference championships at the 2012 A-Sun Outdoor Championships and the men once again finished with the highest point total in program history. Kemboi and Sugishita also snagged A-Sun Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Year and Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Year, respectively. Three Upstate athletes went on to qualify for the First Round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in its first year of eligibility. During her first season at the helm of the Spartan track & field programs, Smith also saw both her mens and womens teams rewrite the Upstate history books. The mens squad set over 15 school record during the indoor and outdoor seasons, while the women set 10 program records over the indoor and outdoor seasons. Along with setting records on the track and in the field, the Spartans also reached their highest marks in the classroom under Smiths guidance since the programs induction in 2006. Smith came to Upstate after a five-year stint at Georgia Southern, leading the Eagles to the 2007 Southern Conference Outdoor Womens Track & Field Championships crown. It marked the schools first conference title in track & field. As a result, Smith was named the 2007 SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. She established Georgia Southern as a premier team in the SoCon in the areas of jumps, multis and sprints. In those three areas, Smiths athletes claimed six different conference championships and numerous top-three finishes. During her time at GSU, her squads set a combined 14 school records, including 11 outdoor and three indoor. In 2007, Smith became the first GSU track coach to have a female athlete qualify for the NCAA National Championships. Later that year, two of her athletes were named to the SoCons 25th Anniversary of Womens Championships Team. Smith was chosen as the 2008 Georgia Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Female College Coach of the Year. During Smiths five years with the Eagles, her teams accumulated numerous academic awards. She had more than 100 student-athletes named to the SoCons All-Academic Teams. Smith coached 10 student-athletes who were honored by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for academic achievements. She also had three athletes chosen to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Team during her tenure at Georgia Southern. Prior to working at GSU, Smith served two years at the helm of the Tarleton State, her alma mater, mens and womens cross country and track & field programs. She spent time as a graduate assistant coach and then as assistant coach before taking over the head coaching reigns at TSU, spending a total of five years as coach of the Texans. She coached 14 Division II All-Americans during her tenure with the Texans. In her first year, she led 11 student-athletes to national championship events at the D-II level. She was the first female in school history to coach a mens program. As a track & field athlete at Tarleton State, Smith was a national qualifier and an Academic All-American in 2001. She was a three-time MVP award winner for the Texans and a two-time Minority Athlete of the Year recipient for the university. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology from Tarleton State in 2001. She received a Master of Education in Physical Education from TSU in 2002. Smith also served as a Facilitator for the Division II Leadership Academy from 2005-07.