WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches of America (USTFCCCA) announced its men’s and women’s Athletes and Coaches of the Year on Monday, naming Pete Dolan, UCSB’s Track and Field Head Coach as the West Region Coach of the Year.
Dolan, in his 24th season at UCSB is responsible for coaching the 16 Gauchos who qualified to compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds held in Austin, Texas during Memorial Weekend. Three will move on to the NCAA Championships this weekend including Ryan Martin who ran a 1:44.77 in the 800m and the second fastest time in the nation.
Dolan lead a successful men’s team to a Big West Conference Championship this season, the first time in over 40 years and the women to a tough second place finish at Conference. As a result, Dolan was named Big West Men’s as well as Women’s Coach of the Year for these efforts.
In 2006, Dolan was named NCAA West Region Coach of the Year for leading the women’s cross country team to second place finish at the NCAA West Preliminaries and seventh in the nation at the time.
Dolan along with Derek Masterson, Ryan Martin and Barbara Nwaba will head to Des Moines, Iowa, this week for the NCAA Championships finals which will be held June 6-9 on the campus of Drake University. Live coverage will be carried on NCAA.com and ESPN3.com starting on Wednesday. ESPNU will air live coverage on Saturday, June 9 at 9 a.m. PT.
