Goldhammer awarded Regional Men's Coach of the Year
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in its annual meetings named Claremont-Mudd-Scripps head cross country coach John Goldhammer as the West Regional Men's Coach of the Year. The award is Goldhammers' second-straight and his 26th overall counting both his cross country and track and field awards.
The 2015 season was one of significant achievements for the Stags and Athenas, as well as Goldhammer. In his 32nd year as the head coach, Goldhammer has equaled CMS Hall of Fame Coach Jodie Burton for number of years coaching a single sport within the CMS Athletic Department. Burton guided the women's basketball team for 32 years before stepping down three years ago.
The Stags not only won both the SCIAC and Regional Championships in 2015, but recorded their highest finish in program history when they placed 7th at the NCAA Championships. The Stags also had their first 3-time All-American in senior Zorg Loustalet (HMC – '16) who became only the fourth male in West Region history to accomplish that feat.
This past fall marked the eighth year in a row that both the Stags and Athenas qualified for the NCAA Championships, making CMS the only program in Region history to achieve that number of consecutive appearances. 2015 also marked the 13th time in Goldhammer's tenure that both the Stags and Athenas won the SCIAC Championships in the same year. The two championships this year brings the total of SCIAC Championships to 68 under Goldhammer's direction, which places him as having the most SCIAC Championships won by any coach in any sport in SCIAC history. The second most Championships is held by William Harvey (43) who directed the Occidental College's Track and Cross Country program from 1978 to 2008.
After 32 years of coaching within the CMS program, it's only natural to ask about retirement: when the subject is approached, Goldhammer simply smiles and says, "When I stop being effective and or relevant to the athletes I work with, I will step aside, but until then there is work to be done."
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