ALFRED, NY – Bob Sevene, a world-renowned running coach best known for guiding Joan Benoit to a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games, will headline a track and field clinic for coaches and athletes, April 21 and 22, at Alfred University.
 
The Saxon Track and Field Clinic will feature some of the top coaches in the region, who will provide instruction to coaches at the youth, high school and collegiate levels. Youth athletes in grades 7-12 are also welcome to learn more about how to excel in their particular events. The two-day clinic will maximize the opportunities for coaches and athletes in the region to attend and to provide a wide variety of topics by discipline.
 
"The Alfred University athletics department is tremendously excited to be able to support the sport of track and field locally through this clinic," said Paul Vecchio, Alfred University Director of Athletics. "The clinicians who are coming are amongst the finest coaches in the country with accolades – from Olympic gold medal winners to national champions and All-Americans – that are too numerous to list."
 
 Sevene, a 1966 graduate of Alfred University, where he was a star distance runner and cross country All-American, will give several presentations.
 
Long considered one of the finest distance coaches in the country, Sevene guided Benoit to a win in the first-ever women's marathon, at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Other U.S. women he has coached in the Olympics include Cathy O'Brien (marathon, 1992), Gwynn Coogan (10,000 meters, 1992) and Blake Russell (marathon, 2008).
 
Sevene is a former head coach of Nike's Athletics West track and field club, which sent 23 athletes to the 1984 Olympic Games. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Bowdoin College (where he earned Division III Coach of the Year honors), Bentley College and California State University-Monterey Bay. He was the head coach for U.S. world cross country teams in 1986 and 1988, and in 1993 for the U.S. world junior team.
 
A four-year member of the cross country and track and field teams at Alfred University, Sevene earned All-American honors in cross country in 1964. After graduating, he went into the U.S. Army and served as a captain in Vietnam and earning two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star medal. He was selected to the All-Army track team, winning an Inter-Service championship in the 1,500-meter run.
 
Sevene was inducted in to the Alfred University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979. He will provide instruction on distance training and training for cross country.
 
Other coaches from the region who will provide instruction at the clinic are: Alex Curran, assistant track and field coach, SUNY Geneseo; Steve Esler and Jim Garnham, assistant track and field coaches, University at Buffalo; Jay Petsch, assistant track and field coach, University of Rochester; Gary Moore, head track and field coach, Alfred State College; Shawn Clancy, assistant track and field coach, Alfred State College; and Ozzie Brown, assistant track and field coach, Stevens Institute of Technology. John Tuttle, 1984 U.S. Olympian and high school and college All-American distance runner, will also give a presentation.
           
 
"I am personally grateful that these coaches – headlined by AU Hall of Famer Bob Sevene – have agreed to share their insights with the coaches in our region and to give AU an opportunity to show off many of our new or upgraded facilities – including the Joyce Walton Recreation Center – where the bulk of the clinic will be held," Vecchio commented. "I hope that coaches and athletes within the region will take advantage of this opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business."
 
Following is a schedule for the two-day clinic:
 
Thursday, April 21, 2016
 
6:00 pm:                      Welcome from Bill Sortore, head coach, track and field and cross country at Alfred University, and AU Director of Athetics Paul Vecchio
6:15-7:00 pm:              Alex Curran, assistant coach, Geneseo (pole vault)
7:00-7:45 pm:              Steve Esler, assistant coach, University at Buffalo
                                    "How to train combined athletes"
7:45-8:30 pm:              Jim Garnham Sr., throws coach, University at Buffalo
                                    "Technical models of the shot put"
8:30-9:15 pm:              Bob Sevene, "Training for cross country"
 
Friday, April 22, 2016
 
9:00-9:45 am:              Jay Petsch, assistant coach, University of Rochester
                                    (long/triple jump)
9:45-10:30 am:            Gary Moore, head coach, Alfred State College,
and John Tuttle, 1984 U.S. Olympian (middle distance)
10:30-11:15 am:          Bob Sevene - "Distance training – part I"
11:30-12:45 pm:          Lunch served (complimentary with registration)
1:00-1:45 pm:              Bob Sevene - "Distance training – part II"
1:45-2:30 pm:              Shawn Clancy, assistant coach, Alfred State College
                                    (sprints, hurdles)
2:30-3:15 pm:              Ozzie Brown, assistant coach, Stevens Institute of Technology
                                    (high jump, cross training athletes)
3:15-3:30 pm:              Closing remarks (Bob Sevene)
 
Ozzie Brown is in his third season as an assistant coach for the Stevens Institute of Technology track and field team. Since 2013, Smith has coached four All-Americans and nine NCAA qualifiers at Stevens, including Gladys Njoku, who won an NCAA Division III indoor high jump title in 2015. Brown was an assistant at St. Lawrence from 2011-13 and before that, was on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Moravian College, from 2009-11. At Moravian, Brown was a two-time national champion, earning titles in the decathlon and long jump in 2008 and receiving All-American recognition in the 55-meter hurdles in 2007 and 2008.
 
Alex Curran is in his second season as an assistant for the SUNY Geneseo track and field team, coaching pole vaulters. A native of Williamson, NY, Curran was a standout pole vaulter at Alfred State College and Geneseo, earning a National Junior College Athletic Association title in the pole vault in 2009 while at Alfred State. Prior to his appointment as an assistant at Geneseo, he coached for PVP, a Warsaw, NY-based pole vault club team, and Above the Bar, a club team in Boulder, CO, run by Pat Manson, a former top-ranked U.S. pole vaulter (1996 and 1997) and  three-time gold medalist in the Pan American Games(1991, 1995, 1999).
 
Steve Esler is in his 10^th season as a coach for the University at Buffalo track and field team. Appointed associate head coach for field events in 2013, he coaches men and women in horizontal jumps, high jump, javelin, and combined events and also serves as recruiting coordinator for field events. Esler is a graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he was a standout on the Bulls track and field teams, competing in the NCAA indoor championships in multi events. He holds the UB school records in the high jump, decathlon and pentathlon
 
Jim Garnham Sr. is in his 15^th season as throws coach at the University at Buffalo, where he has turned the Bulls' throws program into one of the best in the Mid-American Conference. He coached the Bulls' Jonathan Jones to an NCAA outdoor title in the shot put in 2015 and to a third-place finish that year at the indoor championships. Garnham, who also coached at Buffalo State, his alma mater, for two seasons, is a five-time USTFCCCA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year.
 
Gary Moore has been head track and field coach at Alfred State College, his alma mater, for more than three decades. In that time, he has built the Pioneers' program into one of the best in the country, guiding the men's and women's team to national prominence. The men's team won a junior college national outdoor title in 2000 and the Pioneers' women's team claimed a junior college outdoor championship in 2007. Moore earned an associate's degree from Alfred State and a bachelor's degree from Brockport State. At Brockport he was a member of the track and field team and competed in the NCAA championships. One of Moore's distance runners at Alfred State, Quentin Howe (1986-87) competed in the 1992 Olympic trials in the 1,500 meters.
 
Jay Petsch is in his third season as an assistant for the University of Rochester track and field team, coaching jumps and multi event groups. He coached triple jumper Boubacar Diallo to All-America honors with a fourth-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships. That same year, he was named 2015 Atlantic Region Men's Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
John Tuttle was a member of the 1984 United States Olympic team in the marathon and a fourth-place finisher at the 1983 New York City Marathon. Tuttle's Olympic appearance was preceded by standout distance running careers in high school and college. At Alfred-Almond Central School, he was an All-American in track and cross county, winning a New York State cross country title in 1976. He led Alfred-Almond to a New York State indoor track and field team championship in 1977, earning individual crowns in the mile and 1,000-meter run. He ran for Auburn University, earning SEC all-conference recognition 16 times in track and cross country. He was an SEC champion in the 1,000-meter run, 1,500-meter run and mile run and earned All-American honors twice in track and once in cross country.
 
Cost of the clinic is $80 for coaches and athletes over 18, or $70 if pre-registered before April 15; $25 for youth (grades 7-12), or $20 if pre-registered before April 15. To pre-register, please call 607-871-2144 or complete the Printable Form and return, with payment, by April 15. For more information, please call 607-871-2144.