Dumble recieves Assistant Coach of the Year honors
For the second time this year and the fifth time in his career, Arizona State University track and field assistant coach David Dumble has been honored by the U.S. Track and Field, Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as its 2010 USTFCCCA Men’s West Region Assistant Coach of the Year, the Association announced Friday. Dumble was honored after three of his throwers qualified six times to the NCAA Championships that will be held next week in Eugene, Ore., and is now a candidate for national assistant coach of the year.
The 2010 USTFCCCA Men’s Indoor West Region Assistant Coach of the Year as well as the 2010 USTFCCCA Men’s Indoor National Assistant Coach of the Year, Dumble’s throwers have once again found great success this outdoor season with Jason Lewis, Ryan Whiting and Jordan Clarke all advancing to Eugene following outstanding spring seasons, including a 1-2-3 sweep of the shot put at the Pac-10 Championships.
Individually under Dumble, all three men have found great success this year. Whiting continues to be one of the top collegiate throwers of all-time and recently won the NCAA Preliminary Round West Site competition in Austin, Texas, with a school-record toss of 21.83m (71-07.75), marking the seventh time this year he has recorded a mark of 70-feet or better in a meet and the ninth time in his career, both of which are all-time records. The defending champion in the event, Whiting will be seeking All-America honors in his eighth-consecutive NCAA meet (national indoor and national outdoor) and enters with the best mark in the NCAA ranks and second in the world.
Lewis, for the second year in a row, is set to compete in all three weight events, including the discus, shot put and hammer, and heads to Eugene ranked in the Top 7 in all three according to qualifying marks attained at the two preliminary sites last weekend. He enters the meet third in the discus (58.25m), fifth in the hammer (66.31m) and seventh in the shot put (18.36m) after ending the regular season ranked fourth (59.78m), t-11th (67.07m) and eighth (18.70m), respectively. Lewis already has earned two All-America honors this year after finishing sixth in the indoor weight throw and seventh in the shot put.
Clarke, only a redshirt freshman, is set to compete in his first NCAA Championships meet where he will enter ranked tied for 11th in the shot put with a mark of 18.25m from the qualifying round in Austin. In his first outdoor season with the Sun Devils, Clarke recorded a season-best toss of 18.31m, which helped him take runner-up honors in the Pac-10 behind teammate Whiting.
Along with his indoor and outdoor regional honors this year, Dumble, who is in his ninth season with the Sun Devil program, has now been selected as the region’s assistant coach of the year five times with his first three honors coming on the women’s side. He was first honored in 2006 as the women’s outdoor assistant coach of the year for the West and then earned the same award both indoors and outdoors in 2008. Dumble also is a three-time USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, earning the honor outdoors for women’s throws in 2006 and 2007 and then for indoor throws in 2008.
Dumble, his three throwers and 11 other Sun Devils will all be at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., next week (Wednesday through Saturday) to compete in the NCAA Championships.