Angie Taylor Position: Head Coach Experience: Ninth Year

Angie Taylor is in her ninth year as head coach of George Mason University's women's cross country and track and field program. With excellent recruiting skills, a handful of impressive personal accomplishments and a diverse coaching background, including being named Team USA's head women's coach for the 2003 IAAF World Championships and guiding the 4x400-meter relay team to a gold medal, Taylor has the Patriot women's program ready to return to national prominence.

Taylor and her staff have put together tremendously talented squads during their tenure. The Patriots continue to be a strong force in the conference, finishing runner-up in four of the last seven Colonial Athletic Association Track and Field Championships.

Since taking over the helm of the Patriot program in the fall of 1999, Taylor has trained five track and field CAA Rookies of the Year, three outdoor conference Outstanding Championship Performers, including current star Murielle Ahoure, who has won the honor two consecutive years, and two conference Athlete of the Year award winners. As many as 31 student-athletes have claimed CAA individual outdoor championships in jumps, sprints and relay events.

Last season, Murielle Ahoure became the first George Mason athlete to capture an NCAA East Regional Championship during the outdoor season, winning the 100-meter dash and qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. During the indoor season, Ahoure set the school record in the 300-meter dash, tied the school record in the 55-meter dash and earned her first trip to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning All-America status in the 60-meter dash. During the outdoor season, she set the school record in the 100-meter dash and earned CAA Co-Athlete of the Year honors and the Co-Most Outstanding Performer at the CAA Championships award after winning titles in both the 100- and 200-meter dash, setting new meet records in both events. But Ahoure wasn't the only member of the Patriots to enjoy such success as both Ryann Hendricks and Tiara Swindell captured CAA titles and qualified for the regional championship meet during the outdoor season. Swindell became Mason's third consecutive CAA Rookie of the Year for her performance during the outdoor season, following in the footsteps of Ahoure and Fiana York.

In 2006, Ahoure won the CAA Rookie of the Year award after winning the CAA title in two events, the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, in addition to running the final leg for George Mason's 4x100-meter relay team that won the conference championship. She advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where she was one of only three freshmen that competed at the National Championships in the 100-meter dash and the lone freshman in the 200-meter dash. In 2005, York was named the CAA Rookie of the Year and advanced to the NCAA East Regional Championships in the 800-meter run.

The 2004 campaign was highlighted by the success of Alyce Williams, who advanced to the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the triple jump and was Taylor's first All-American (indoor). Williams was dominant at the CAA Championships, earning Outstanding Performer of the Meet honors. She set a meet record in winning the triple jump and she also claimed the long jump crown. Williams finished second in the 200-meters, third in the 100-meters and ran a leg on two first-place conference relay teams, one of which (4x400-meter relay) advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. For her efforts, Williams was named the CAA Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

In 2003, Taylor led Mason to its third straight second-place finish at the CAA Championships. She also directed Michelle DiPenti to all-CAA honors in cross country and helped Alyce Williams to the inaugural NCAA East Regional Championships as a qualifier in the triple jump.

Mason's 2002 squad witnessed LaToya Phillips earn the CAA Championships Most Outstanding Performer award with victories in the long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles, and Tysha Colon garner conference Rookie of the Year accolades at season's end. In addition, Lauren Chesnut qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the triple jump. Phillips collected her first piece of conference hardware as a freshman after claiming the CAA Rookie of the Year award under Taylor in 2001.

Taylor struggled to field a competitive team during her first season in 1999-2000, as the unit was primarily made up of distance runners. But, despite the limitations imposed by a small team, the Patriots pulled together throughout the year to represent the Green and Gold with pride.

Taylor's coaching experience goes beyond the collegiate level. As an active member of USA Track and Field (USATF), she is the USATF Heptathlon Summit Director and a member of the USATF coaching and event curriculum. She is Level II certified and a USATF lead instructor. In 1997 she was named the head manager for the US team at the Junior Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. In September of 1998 she made her international coaching debut at the World Cup of Track and Field in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the US women won the championship. In 1999 Taylor worked as an assistant manager at the Indoor World Championships in Maeboshi, Japan. She served as head manager for the 2002 World Cup, and led Team USA as the women's head coach at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Paris, France, in late August.

At the collegiate level Taylor served as a collegiate assistant coach for nine years prior to working as George Mason's head coach. Most recently she put in a four-year stint at Princeton University, where although she focused primarily on coaching the field events, Taylor was responsible for several different aspects of the Tiger cross country and track and field program. She coordinated the planning, organizing and implementation of their fall conditioning program for jumps, hurdles, throws and multi-event student athletes.

Taylor helped guide the Tigers to their 1997-98 Ivy League indoor track and field championship, as well as to a runner-up finish outdoors. Throughout her career she has coached NCAA qualifiers in the hurdles, sprints, long jump and triple jump, as well as several All-Americans. She can be credited for the success of Nicole Harrison, a 1998 Princeton graduate, who was a nine-time Heptagonal and four-time ECAC hurdles champion. In 1996, Harrison earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships.

Before coaching at Princeton, Taylor spent two years as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, as well as working at Southeastern Louisiana State University and with the illustrious track and field program at Louisiana State University.

In addition to her achievements as a coach, Taylor has found success on the track. As an All-American hurdler (100-meter hurdles) at Illinois State University, Taylor also served as her team captain and picked up "Most Valuable Track and Field Athlete" honors.

Taylor graduated in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication. Additionally Taylor was honored as ISU's "Athlete of the Decade." In her post-collegiate athletic career, she competed as a heptathlete for various USA national teams and was a finalist in the heptathlon in the 1992 Olympic trials. She finished that year ranked 30th in the world.

THE TAYLOR FILE
ALMA MATER
	Illinois State University, 1987
YEAR AT GEORGE MASON
	9th overall, 9th as head coach
COACHING EXPERIENCE
	Head Women's Coach
	George Mason University
	1999-present
	Assistant Women's Coach
	Princeton University
	1995-1999
	Assistant Women's Coach
	University of Minnesota
	1993-1995
	Asst. Men's and Women's Coach
	Southeastern Louisiana State
	1992-1993
	Vol. Asst. Men's and Women's Coach
	Louisiana State, 1990-1992