http://www.tribeathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=608665&SPID=80815&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=25100&ATCLID=205076851&Q_SEASON=2014Three years into his tenure in Williamsburg and after two years as the Tribe's Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, Stephen Walsh has more than made his mark on William and Mary, elevating the Tribe to the pinnacle of the Colonial Athletic Association year-round. While assuming overall responsibility for every aspect of W&M's nationally-respected program, Walsh also has direct coaching responsibility for the men's distance runners and assists with the women's distance, women's middle-distance, and men's middle-distance athletes.
During his three years, Walsh's teams have combined to win six CAA team trophies, including a sweep of all four conference championships in 2012-13. It was just the second time in CAA history that a single school won both cross country and both track and field titles in a single year, a feat first performed by W&M in 2003-04. As a result, Walsh was named the CAA Coach of the Year in men's cross country and both men's and women's track and field, becoming the first person in any sport to win three Coach of the Year awards in a single year in CAA history. He is also the only coach to ever be named CAA Coach of the Year for both men's track and field and women's track field at any point in their career, much less in the same season.
Under Walsh' direction, four Tribe athletes have won seven All-America honors, including W&M's first certificate to a male thrower. In 2011, Jon Grey '11 wrapped up his career with a 15th-place finish in the 10,000m outdoors, becoming the Tribe's first All-American in the event since 1994. Grey signed a professional contract that fall with Team USA Minnesota, and won the 2011 USAT&F Club Cross Country national title. The following year, Brandon Heroux '12 wrapped up his stellar four-year career in the javelin by taking eighth in the NCAA Championships, and went on to place sixth at the Canadian Olympic Trials and fourth at the NACAC U-23 Championships.
2012-13 proved a break-out year for both individual and team honors. On the women's side, Elaina Balouris '14 earned her first All-America certificate in the spring of 2012 at 10,000m, before following up in 2012-13 with a 13th-place finish in cross country and 10th-place finish in the 10,000m. Emily Stites '16 also enjoyed a madly successful freshman year, earning two All-American honors (cross country and 5,000m outdoors) while also winning the USAT&F Junior National Championships in cross country and at 5,000m outdoors. Stites ended the year ranked near the top of the world junior ranks in the 5,000m and 10,000m, and was the Team USA Captain at the World Junior Cross Country Championships.
Men's sprinter/javelinist Bob Smutsky '16 also proved the toast of town as a freshman, qualifying for the IC4A Championships indoors and outdoors at 200m. In the javelin, he won the CAA title to continue W&M's dominance of the event, and came just a few inches shy of making the NCAA finals field with his 15th-place finish at the Eastern semifinals. Over the summer, Smutsky won the USAT&F Junior National title in the javelin with his final throw, and went on to represent Team USA at the Pan-Am Junior Championships in August. Smutsky's trip to Colombia was just one of the many times a Tribe athlete would don the Red, White, and Blue in 2013. Stites represented Team USA twice in cross country, at Edinburgh and at the World Championships, while Meghan McGovern '16 was a member of the NACAC Junior Cross Country team. Over the summer, siblings Ben '13 and Sarah Katz '15 both medaled at the Maccabiah Games; Ben taking silver in the 4x100m and bronze in the high jump, and Sarah earning a bronze medal as part of the American 4x400m.
On the team front, 2012-13 was about re-seating the Tribe at the top of the CAA. It began with a title sweep in cross country on W&M's home course, as the men won their 14th conference title in a row and the women returned to the top after a two-year inter-regnum. The men's team's 14-year run is one of the top five active streaks in the country, and is tied for the seventh-longest winning streak in NCAA history. W&M's 35 total conference championships in men's cross country is the third-most in collegiate history. For the women, it was the 18th CAA title overall, second-most in conference history behind only the Tribe's women's tennis team. The women's cross country team went on to make history with a best-ever second-place showing at the Southeast Regional to earn a trip to the national meet. At NCAAs, Balouris (13th) and Stites (26th) gave W&M two All-Americans for the first time ever, and helped propel the Tribe to a 21st-place team finish.
The winter continued to show the Tribe's strengths, and set the stage for a big spring. Rad Gunzenhauser '15 won the IC4A 5,000m title indoors, and both Smutsky (in the 200m) and fellow rookie Taylor Frenia '16 (in the weight throw) reset the Tribe's freshman records in their events. On the women's side, Stites ran the world's fastest 5,000m for a junior athlete, and Dylan Hassett '15 earned an impressive All-East double with top-eight finishes in both the 3,000m and 5,000m at the ECAC Championships. Freshman records were reset in the 500m (Claire Tito '16) as well as the mile, 3,000m, and 5,000m (all by Stites), and at the ECAC Championships, the middle-distance corps showed its prowess with All-East performances in both the 4x800m and DMR.
Coming into CAA Championships weekend, the Tribe was a solid underdog on both sides of the competition, but rose to the occasion to claim both trophies. On the men's side, W&M got wins in all three distance events as well as the shot put, javelin, and pole vault. The win was locked up in the second-to-last event, the 3,000m steeplechase, where the Tribe swept all six scoring places. Even more impressive, only champion Liam Anastasia-Murphy ‘13 had ever run the event before. For the women, W&M won three of the four throws as well as the 5,000m and 10,000m, the latter two events with conference-record times. All told, the Tribe has won 24 individual conference championships under Walsh's direction. The post-season awards have also been decidedly Green and Gold over the past three years, with Tribe athletes winning six CAA Athlete of the Year and eight CAA Rookie of the Year accolades.
As successful as W&M has been in competition, the athletes have also achieved significantly in the classroom. The Tribe has won four CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, including the overall Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor won by Heroux in 2011-12. Both Betsy Graney '11 and Alex McGrath '13 were named second-team Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors, and McGrath also won a coveted Fulbright Scholarship. In the USTFCCCA All-Academic program, W&M has won 10 team awards and 15 individual certificates over the past three years.
In 2011-12, Elaina Balouris and Brandon Heroux earned their first All-American certificates after qualifying for the NCAA outdoor finals. Heroux placed eighth in the finals of the javelin to be named first-team All-America, and went on to finish sixth at the Canadian Olympic Trials and fourth at the NACAC U-23 Championships. He wrapped up his four-year career with 18 of the 20 best throws in school history, and as a four-time CAA Champion in the event. After the season was complete, Heroux was named both the overall and men’s track-specific CAA Athlete of the Year. Balouris was an honorable-mention All-America selection in the 10,000m, after placing 19th in her first NCAA appearance. Her debut in the distance earlier that year was the second-best race ever by a Tribe athlete and came within one second of the school record. At the CAA Championships, she won the 10,000m handily for her first conference title. The fall of 2011 saw the Tribe men victorious once again at the CAA Championships, with five of the top 10 finishers. Rad Gunzenhauser was named the Rookie of the Year, and Walsh repeated as the Coach of the Year. On the women’s side, Balouris was the runner-up at the conference meet, and Jess Cygan was named Rookie of the Year after finishing fourth overall.
Walsh’s first season with W&M was 2010-11, and resulted in the men’s cross country team winning the Colonial Athletic Association and the Southeast Region yet again, and advancing to the NCAA Championships. Graduate student Chas Gillespie was named the cross country Athlete of the Year after leading the Tribe at the national meet, and Walsh was named Coach of the Year by both the CAA and the Southeast Region. On the women’s side, Elaina Balouris was the cross country Rookie of the Year after her third-place showing, and she went on to earn a spot at the NCAA semifinals at 5,000m outdoors. During the spring, senior Brian Sklodowski ’11 broke through with his first CAA title at 1,500m, and was joined atop the podium by senior Betsy Graney, who won the steeplechase in her first race of the season.
Walsh joined the Tribe after spending the previous four years at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he was the head men's track coach and assistant coach for the men's and women's cross country teams, as well as the women's track team. The 2006 cross country season was his first with the Friars, and he helped both sides win the Big East Championship before the women went on to place seventh and the men ninth at the NCAA Championships. Over the next four years, the Friars reached the NCAA Cross Country Championships every fall, and amassed 17 All-American honors, 12 Big East Individual Champions, 7 IC4A/ECAC Champions, and 15 New England Champions on the track and in cross country. Walsh was the assistant coach for Shelby Greany, who won the 2009 USAT&F Junior Women's Cross Country Championship and the 2010 USAT&F Junior Women's Steeplechase, while also setting the American junior record in the 3,000m steeplechase. Walsh also served as the assistant coach for Danette Doetzel, the 2009 NCAA 10,000m champion, as well as three sub-4 minute milers, and men's school record-breakers in the 400m, 500m, 4x400m, 4x800m, DMR, and javelin.
Prior to Providence, Walsh spent four years as an assistant coach at Pennsylvania, where he was responsible for coaching athletes from 800m to 10,000m. In the office, he planned and implemented workouts for his athletes, while also overseeing recruiting and was involved with The Penn Relay Carnival, the world's largest annual track and field event. On the track, Walsh's athletes collected four All-American honors, including the 2003 men's 800m outdoor champion, and 12 Ivy League titles.
Walsh was four-year letter-winner in cross country and track at Penn State, where he ran under Hall of Fame coach Harry Groves (himself a former W&M coach for 13 years, including 12 years as the head coach from 1956-1968). Walsh captained the cross country team to the IC4A Championships team title in 2000, and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors alongside all-region and All-East accolades in 2001. In total, he was a six-time All-East winner (three each in cross country and indoor track), as well as twice finishing in the top 25 at the region championships. On the track, Walsh was third in the Big Ten indoor mile in 2000, and sixth outdoors at 1,500m that same year.
A native of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Walsh graduated from Penn State in 2001 with a degree in accounting.