Vin Lananna and Connie Price-Smith Will Be Head Coaches at 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea

By USATF.org
December 16, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - University of Oregon Associate Athletic Director and Director of Track & Field Vin Lananna, and Southern Illinois University head coach Connie Price-Smith will serve as the respective men's and women's head coaches for Team USA at the 2011 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea, USA Track & Field announced Thursday.

Lananna, Price-Smith and the team USA staff will guide the World's #1 Track & Field Team at the World Championships, August 27-September 4 in Daegu.

At the most recent World Outdoor Championships in 2009 in Berlin, Germany, Team USA proved its world dominance by winning more medals than any other country with 22 (2nd place Jamaica - 13), won more gold medals than any other country with 10 (2nd place Jamaica - 7) and dominated the placing table with 231 points (2nd place Russia - 154 points).

Lananna to lead Team USA men's team

An associate athletic director and director of track and field at the University of Oregon since July 2005, Vin Lananna has enjoyed tremendous success, including during the 2010 season, which saw Oregon win its first-ever NCAA Indoor women's national title. The women were also the runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while the men were second in both cross country and indoor track, and took third at the outdoor meet. For the second consecutive year, both teams were recognized as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's national programs of the year.

The 2009-10 campaign also produced an unprecedented fourth straight Pac-10 title for the Oregon men, and a performance for the ages at the league meet for the women, who won every running event, aside from the two hurdles and the 4x400 meter relay, in tallying a meet record 215 points.

In his previous head coaching position at Stanford, Lananna received three NCAA Coach of the Year cross country honors, nine NCAA West Region Cross Country Coach of the Year awards, ten Pacific-10 Cross Country Coach of the Year honors, and two Pacific-10 Track and Field Coach of the Year awards. He also served on the NCAA Track and Field Committee from 2001-03. Lananna arrived at Stanford after serving as assistant athletic director and head coach for cross country and track and field at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

No stranger to Team USA staff assignments, Lananna served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and was an assistant coach at the 1999 World Outdoor Championships. He was the head coach for Team USA at the 1990 and 1996 World Cross Country Championships, and head junior team coach at the 1994 World Cross Championships.

Price-Smith to lead Team USA women's squad

A four-time Olympian recognized as one of America's best combination shot put/discus throwers in history, Connie Price-Smith is entering her ninth year as a coach at her collegiate alma mater, Southern Illinois University . The 2009-10 season marked her sixth as the director of track and field / cross country, and head coach for both the men's and women's combined track and field program. She spent her first three years as head coach for the Saluki women's team.

Last season, Price-Smith led the SIU track and field program to one of the best seasons in recent memory, with seven different athletes earning NCAA All-American honors. In addition, thrower Jeneva McCall won the national championship in the discus, and the women's team finished the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in ninth place. Earlier that year the women's team won the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track championship for a second consecutive season, as Price-Smith was named MVC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career. Since Price-Smith has taken over the helm of Saluki Track and Field, more than 30 school records have been set.

A 25-time national champion in the shot put and discus, and a member of 34 international U.S. squads as an athlete, Price-Smith has also served on Team USA coaching staffs. She was an assistant coach for the USA National Team at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, and also served in that capacity at the 2005 World Indoor Championship in Budapest, Hungry and with the U.S. 2006 World Cup Team in Athens, Greece. Price-Smith was Team USA's head coach at the 2007 Pan Am Games and was an assistant coach at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Brauman, Wholey to serve as head managers

Ken Brauman - Men's Head Manager: Ken Brauman, who will serve as Team USA's head men's manager in Daegu, began his tenure as the head track coach at Seminole High School in Sanford, Fla., in 1983. He was named Florida Track Coach of the Year 10 times, has coached 57 High School All-Americans and was named the 1997 National High School Track and Field Coach of the Year. A member of the Florida Track and Field Hall of Fame, Brauman is also an inductee of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

A USA Track & Field Certified Level 1 Coaching Instructor, Brauman has served as the head manager on two U.S. World Junior Championship team staffs and has been an assistant coach on six U.S. international team staffs, including the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris, France, and the 2001 World Outdoor Championships in Edmonton, Canada. He recently served as the men's head manager at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany.

Diane Wholey - Women's Head Manager: Now in her seventh year as a member of the Texas Tech coaching staff, Wholey serves as the coach for men's and women's high jump, decathlon and heptathlon. She previously served two years as an assistant coach at the University of Texas, where she handled coaching duties for field events and heptathletes, and was also the Longhorns' recruiting coordinator.

Wholey was the assistant throws coach for Team USA at the 2005 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and was the women's head coach of the 2004 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She was head coach at the 2004 USA vs. Germany vs. France Team Challenge held in Munich, Germany, and her vast international experience also includes being head manager for Team USA at the 2002 NACAC Under-23 Championships, the 2007 World Outdoor Championships and the 2010 World Indoor Championships.

Men's staff assistant coaches

Thomas Johnson - Sprints/Hurdles:

Johnson is a Level 1 USATF certified coach and official, and has served on USATF's Athlete Advisory Committee (AAC) as an Elite athlete advisor for USA Track & Field. A collegiate All-American while attending the University of Mississippi and Florida State University, Thomas was a state high school champion and prep All-American at Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Johnson last served on a Team USA staff when he was the men's sprints/hurdles coach at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Robert Gary - Distance: Gary is now in his fifth season as the head men's track and field coach and 14th campaign leading the cross country team at his collegiate alma mater, The Ohio State University. Gary's teams constantly strive for top three finishes at the Big Ten championships in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field, and for the second time in three years, the Buckeyes did just that during the 2009-10 campaign as Gary led the cross country team to a second-place finish at the Big Ten championships, and the Buckeyes went on to place third at the NCAA Regionals before taking 21st at the NCAA Championships.

On the track, Gary led the Buckeyes to a second-place finish at the Big Ten indoor championships and a third-place showing during the outdoor season.

As an athlete at Ohio State, in 2004, he became the fifth former Buckeye to gain a bid to two separate U.S. Olympic teams and qualified for the finals for the 11th-straight year at the 2005 USA Nationals. A 1996 participant at the Atlanta Olympic Games, Gary placed second in the men's steeplechase at the Olympic Trials earlier that year with a career-best 8:19.46. Eight years later, his third-place finish at the trials gained an automatic bid on the U.S. team headed to Athens, Greece for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Mario Sategna - Jumps/Combined: Since joining the University of Texas coaching staff at the start of the 2003-04 season, Sategna has coached five Horns to eight NCAA Championships, and ten student-athletes to 27 All-America honors. He has helped UT to eight Top 10 NCAA team finishes including consecutive third-place finishes indoors in 2007 and '08, which are the best indoor team finishes in UT history. He also guided the Horns to a third-place outdoor finish in 2006 and a fourth-place showing in '08.

Sategna's athletes have helped UT win the 2006 Big 12 Outdoor Championships and four consecutive Big 12 Indoor titles. Sategna, who is considered one of the top combined and field event coaches in the nation, delivered a career first as he mentored former Longhorn Trey Hardee to an IAAF World Championship in the decathlon in 2009. It marked the first time in Texas men's track and field history that a Longhorn won a World Championship. A standout decathlete, Sategna was a three-time All-American at LSU in the 1990s.

Lance Deal - Throws: One of the greatest hammer throwers in U.S. history, Deal coached the throwing events for eight years at the University of Oregon, where he established himself as one of the nation's top collegiate throws coaches. As an athlete, Deal was a four-time Olympic hammer thrower, national record holder, 21-time national champion and 1996 Olympic Games silver medalist. In world rankings, he stood first in the world in 1996 and was top-10 five other seasons (1992-93-94-95-98). In his first six seasons on the Oregon staff, Deal helped guide the Ducks to an NCAA championship, 14 All-America honors, nine Pac-10 titles and 23 school records.

In 2010, Deal was named Oregon's director of track and field venues and program support, where he serves as the program's point man for all capital improvement and construction projects.

Women's staff assistant coaches

Danny Williams - Sprints/ Hurdles: Williams recently completed his sixth season as an assistant coach with the Cal Poly track and field program, serving as recruiting coordinator and strength and development coach, as well as his day-to-day track and field responsibilities. Williams served as the USA men's team manager at the Pan American Junior Championships in 2005, and was the women's head coach for the 2001 World Indoor Championships. He served as an assistant coach at the 1999 and 2007 World Outdoor Championships and as head coach for the 1997 Pan Am Junior team.

Terrence Mahon - Distance: Terrence Mahon, coach of the Mammoth Track Club, Olympic Development Training Group in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., was an eight-time All-American in cross country and indoor and outdoor track while attending Villanova University. He was a U.S. National Champ at 20 km and has a marathon personal best of 2:13:02. In 2008, Mahon coached four of his athletes on to the Olympic Team, including American record holders Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor.

Before taking over coaching duties for Mammoth TC, Terrence ran on the team under his coach and mentor Joe Vigil. Mahon, who served on the Team USA coaching staff at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, also operates an online coaching program for runners of all ages and abilities at www.runmammoth.com .

Delethea Quarles - Jumps/Combined: During the 2010 season, Quarles completed her 21st year as a collegiate coach and 13th on the staff at the University of South Carolina, where her primary responsibilities include coaching the multi-event performers and jumps. Quarles also oversees eligibility for the program and is the team's academic liaison.

Quarles has coached her student-athletes to 21 All-America honors and four SEC championships. In addition, under Quarles' tutelage, former Gamecock Chelsea Hammond became the first multi-event student-athlete in South Carolina history to qualify for the Olympic Games. Coached by Quarles from 2002 to 2005, Hammond competed for Jamaica at the 2008 Olympic Games in the long jump. Quarles has coached 10 of the 14 school record holders in the events for which she is responsible at South Carolina.

Prior to joining the Gamecock's staff, Quarles was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Liberty University, for eight years, where she was a three-time All-American as a student-athlete.

Ramona Pagel - Throws: Pagel recently completed her third season as an assistant coach at Fresno State University, where she oversees the men's and women's throwers. Since taking the reins of the Bulldog throwing program, Pagel has guided 13 athletes to the NCAA Regionals and her athletes accounted for two of the team's three conference championships last season.

A member of four Olympic teams ('84, '88, '92, '96), and four World Championship teams, Pagel is considered to be one of the greatest women's shot putters in U.S. history, and has owned the American record in that event since 1988. The 1987 Pan-Am Games champion, during her career Pagel won five U.S. Outdoor titles, seven U.S. Indoor crowns and was victorious at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Trials. Pagel served as the throws coach on the women's staff at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, Russia, and as the head coach at the 2010 World Indoor Championships.

For more information on USA Track & Field, visit: www.usatf.org.

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