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Andrew Gerard enters his fourth season as George Mason's head men's track and field/cross country coach and 13th overall as a collegiate head coach. Over the last three years, Gerard has overseen the resurgence of the Patriot men's track and field and cross-country programs, a period during which both the team and individual academic and athletic success have grown considerably. Last year, during the course of the outdoor season, Gerard led the Patriots to a sixth-place finish at the CAA Championships and followed that with a 12th-place finish at the IC4A Championships. That championship stretch saw individual CAA titles won by freshman Dwight Webley in the long jump and Michael Pachella in the 800-meter run. In addition, Webley won the IC4A outdoor title in the long jump, improving on his runner-up finish indoors. In all, 10 Patriots earned honors as All-IC4A selections between the indoor and outdoor campaigns. Individually, the duo of Webley and Pachella further competed along with senior Ryan McCoy at the NCAA East Regional Championships, and McCoy, an All-East Region Team selection, advanced to the national championships where he finished 16th in the triple jump. Both McCoy and Pachella notched US Olympic Trials qualifying performances during the course of the season, with McCoy ultimately placing 22nd at the Trials. At the conclusion of the season, Webley was recognized for his outstanding debut year with the Patriots as the CAA Men's Track and Field Rookie of the Year, Mason's second consecutive such honor, after Pachella captured the award following the 2007 season. In cross country, the Patriots continued to close the gap, earning their second straight CAA runner-up team finish with sophomore Robert Krause earning First-Team All-CAA recognition for the first time in his young career. In his first two years with George Mason, Gerard has helped rekindle some of the Patriots' past glory, leading the team to the 2006 IC4A Outdoor Championship, their first such title since 1997. In addition, multiple Patriots have earned All-American recognition, including Marc Kellman and Ryan McCoy, both in the triple jump. Kellman was further honored as the 2006 CAA Athlete of the Year for his stellar senior season. The cross-country squad has experienced a similar resurgence in Gerard's brief time at Mason, returning to the success of the '80's by becoming the CAA's runner-up team in both 2006 and 2007. Beyond that, the Patriot men's cross country squad earned Academic All-America selection for their success in the classroom during the 2006 season, a year which concluded with the Patriots being regionally ranked as a team by the USCCCA. Gerard arrived at Mason with a wealth of experience, knowledge and accolades, having led Stanford's nationally-ranked cross country team and assisting with the renowned Cardinal track and field program from 2003-05. After seven years at William and Mary (1997-2003), he returned to Stanford in August of 2003, moving up to the position of head men's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach. In his first year at Stanford, Gerard led the Cardinal to the 2003 NCAA Men's Cross Country title, NCAA West Regional title, and Pac-10 Championship title, earning him both Pac-10 and USTCA National Coach of the Year honors. At the NCAA Championships, the Cardinal placed four runners in the top six, including national runner-up Ryan Hall. Beyond that, Stanford put six runners in the top 13 and seven in the top 23 spots, earning all seven team members All-America status. The Cardinal finished with a team score of 24 points, 150 points better than the second-place team. The team score was the second lowest score in NCAA history and was the largest ever margin of victory at the NCAA Championships. Gerard also had significant success on the international cross-country scene, placing numerous athletes on the U.S. teams for the World Cross Country Championships. In March of 2004, Gerard coached freshman Forrest Tahdooahnippah to a spot on the United States team that competed at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium. The 2005 U.S. teams featured three athletes coached by Gerard - Ian Dobson (Sr. Men's 12k team), Don Sage (Sr. Men's 4k team) and Hakon DeVries (Jr. Men's 8k team). Gerard's success on the West Coast was not limited to the cross country course, however. In two short years, athletes under Gerard rewrote the Stanford record books, earned multiple national titles, garnered literally dozens of All-America selections and represented the U.S. internationally numerous times. Under the guidance of Gerard, Dobson (3,000SC, 8:32.09) and Luchini (5,000m, 13:25.19) set school records in their respective events during the 2004 regular season while Sage went on to finish sixth in the 1500-meter run at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento later that summer. In 2005, the Cardinal enjoyed even greater success on the track. Indoors, Dobson claimed the NCAA title at 5,000 meters with a new under-cover school record (13:40.91). Outdoors, however, the middle distance and distance corps really caught fire. School records at 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters were shattered in the spring campaign. Ryan Hall won the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 5000-meter run, edging out Dobson (13:22.54) with a school-record time of 13:22.32. The order of finish was reversed just two weeks later at the USA Track and Field Championships, as both dove under Hall's newly-inked time at the NCAAs. This time Dobson (13:15.33) nipped Hall (13:16.03); however, both qualified for the World Championships and were selected to the U.S. team for Helsinki. In addition, during the season, Dobson also sliced down the 10,000 meter record to 27:59.72, in the process becoming only the fourth U.S. collegian ever to dip under the 28:00 barrier. While Hall and Dobson were setting records, Gerard had numerous other athletes notch significant career bests at a spread of middle distance and distance events including Jon Pierce (8:45.84) and David Vidal (8:43.07, ninth place at USA T&F Championships) in the steeplechase, and redshirt freshmen Nef Araia (13:44.78) and Russell Brown (3:41.72, ninth place at NCAA Championships). No stranger to the Colonial Athletic Association and to the Patriots' past success, Gerard also spent seven years as the head coach of William and Mary's track and field/cross country teams from January of 1997 until August of 2003. During his tenure in Williamsburg, Gerard pushed the Tribe cross country and track and field teams into a position of national prominence as one of the school's most successful athletic programs. In cross country, William and Mary qualified for and finished in the top 16 at the NCAA Championships every year under Gerard, including top-10 finishes in 1997 and 2000. The 2000 squad also won the Southeast Regional Cross Country title. In recognition of those successes, Gerard was named Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Coach of the Year five times and was the 2000 Southeast Region Coach of the Year. Along the way, William & Mary won four league titles, including a 2001 title which saw the Tribe score a then conference record-low 17 points. On the track, William and Mary captured the Colonial Athletic Association track and field title in 2003, earning Gerard his first selection as conference Coach of the Year. Individually no athlete was more successful during Gerard's time than Matt Lane, who finished his William and Mary career with 11 All-America honors, seven school records, and the fourth-fastest American collegiate 5000-meter time in history (13:25.38). Lane was the top American finisher (fourth) in the 5000 meters at the 2001 World University Games and was fourth at both the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5000 meters. Lane was also honored as the 2001 USTCA Athlete of the Year, the highest honor a collegiate track and field athlete can achieve. Among other highlights from Gerard's time at William and Mary were two performances that provided the bookend for his career. In his first season at William and Mary, Anders Christiansen placed second at the 1997 NCAA Championships in the 800-meter run, finishing in 1:46.66, a remarkable improvement from his PR of 1:57.80 the season before Gerard's arrival. Subsequently, Christiansen twice traveled to Europe with the U.S. Middle Distance Development squad. Capping his time at William and Mary, Ed Moran and Sean Graham finished fifth and sixth in the 5000 meters at the 2003 NCAA Track and Field Championships. In all, Gerard's squads and athletes set a dozen school records and, in the process, picked up nearly 50 All-CAA, and 25 All-Region selections in cross country and track and field at William and Mary. Gerard helped mold the Cardinal into a national power during his first tenure from 1993-96 as an assistant cross country and track and field coach. During this time he gained valuable top level experience working with numerous standout athletes including Brad and Brent Hauser, Greg Jimmerson, Nathan Nutter, Monal Chokshi, Mary Cobb, Kortney Dunscombe and Sarna Renfro. In the fall of 1996, just prior to moving to William and Mary, both the men's and women's cross country teams won NCAA titles. Along with the numerous athletic successes on the track and cross country course, Gerard's teams have also excelled in the classroom. During his tenure at William and Mary, several cross country and track and field athletes were named to Academic All-America teams. In addition, during his seven-year tenure, nearly 20 athletes received Academic All-America distinction from the two sports governing bodies, the USTCA and USCCCA. The Tribe and Cardinal cross country squads earned Academic All-America team recognition in 1997 and every year from 1999 through 2004. The 2003 William & Mary track and field team was recognized as one of the top-five NCAA Division I academic teams. Capping the success in the classroom have been numerous CAA and Pac-10 Conference Scholar-Athlete selections, an overflowing handful of Phi Beta Kappa honorees and a trio of Rhodes Scholarship nominees. A 1990 Cum Laude graduate of Colgate University with a degree in Biology and an emphasis on human physiology, Gerard was a four-year letterman with the Red Raider cross country and track and field squads. In 1992, Gerard was ranked in the top-50 in the United States in the steeplechase. Gerard and his wife, the former Ashley Elder, married in July 2003 and have two children, son Jack and daughter Sydney. |
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