Moon Township, Pa. – In a vote of Northeast Conference head coaches, Robert Morris University head outdoor track & field coach Michael Smith was named the 2013 NEC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year Tuesday.
Smith earns the honor for the second time in the last three years after leading the Colonials to a third-place finish at the 2013 NEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in West Long Branch, N.J., on the campus of Monmouth University. RMU tallied 122 points to trail only Monmouth (173) and LIU Brooklyn (131).
Taking home the 2013 NEC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year was Doug Hoover of Saint Francis University.
The 2013 honor marks the third career NEC Coach of the Year accolade for Smith, who was also tabbed the 2006 NEC Men's Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year to go along with his 2011 outdoor honor.
In addition to the honor for Smith, a total of four student-athletes on the men's side and five student-athletes for the RMU women earned All-NEC honors for their respective performances at the 2013 NEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
For the Robert Morris men, senior Brendan Morales (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) and junior Chris Carper (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) earned All-NEC First Team status, while senior Steve Mitchell (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Pittsburgh Central Catholic) and junior Dorian Rumble (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Penn Hills) garnered All-NEC Second Team honors.
Morales won the hammer throw thanks to a tally of 55.79 meters (183'0”), while Carper won the javelin thanks to an NEC Outdoor Championships record throw of 68.60 meters (225'1”). Mitchell, meanwhile, claimed silver in shot put thanks to a distance of 17.43 meters (57'2.25”), while Rumble finished second in the 800-meter thanks to a time of 1:54.54.
For the Robert Morris women, juniors Rachael Kotula (East Berlin, Pa. / Bermudian Springs) and Yulia Vasilyeva (Volgograd, Russia) and sophomores Bethany Ledford (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon) and Aubree Ray (Middletown, Pa. / Middletown Area) each earned All-NEC Second Team accolades, while freshman Jessica Guyett (Washington Court House, Ohio / Washington) was tabbed to the All-NEC Rookie Team.
Kotula finished second in the javelin thanks to a throw of 45.46 meters (149'2”), while Vasilyeva earned silver in the triple jump with a leap of 11.61 meters (38'1.25”). In the pole vault, Ledford finished second with a final tally of 3.62 meters (11'10.50”), while Ray earned silver in the discus with a toss of 47.45 meters (155'8”).
Guyett earned All-NEC Rookie Team status in the shot put by finishing fourth with a throw of 13.17 meters (43'2.50”), the top mark by a freshman in the event.
