Cross Country | 8/24/2011 9:42:00 AM
McPherson, Kan. – Ermelinda Spies has been named the new assistant cross country and track and field coach for McPherson College, head coach Cameron Magnall announced Tuesday. Spies had previously been the assistant track and field coach at Pittsburg State University (Kan.).
“I’m excited to bring in a coach with the level of experience and credentials Ermelinda has,” said McPherson head cross country and track and field coach Cameron Magnall. “She will have an immediate impact on our program. Her knowledge and expertise will give the program an upper hand in recruiting and developing quality student-athletes. In addition, she’ll provide the balance we need to compete for a conference championship.”
In Spies’ seven years coaching at Pittsburg, the Gorillas had three NCAA runner-ups, 18 All-Americans, 62 national qualifiers, 13 MIAA individual conference champions and 12 school records broken. As a team, Pittsburg won the 2005 MIAA conference championship and finished amongst the top 20 six times at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Prior to Pittsburg, Spies was the horizontal jumps coach at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for three seasons. During her tenure, Spies coached three triple jump conference champions, five sprint champions and 10 Big South all-conference performers.
While working on her master’s degree in exercise physiology from Fort Hays State University (Kan.), Spies assisted with jumps, sprints and hurdles events and coached numerous NCAA All-Americans and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) champions.
As an athlete, Spies represented her native country of Albania for five years in the European and world track and field arena, including representing the nation in the 1994 World Championships and the 1994 European Junior Championships. She was a four-time NCAA Champion in the triple jump and nine-time NCAA Division II All-American in the long jump and triple jump at Western State College (Colo.). Additionally, she was named the 1999 NCAA Division II Athlete of the Year and Western State inducted her into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
Spies received her bachelor’s degree in history from Western State in 1999. In 2002, she received her Level I Track and Field Coaching Certification from USA Track and Field, before adding a Level II Jumps certification a year later.
