Posted: March 13, 2007

Athletics: Price-Smith, Redwine to head Pan Am Games Teams

INDIANAPOLIS -Southern Illinois head coach Connie Price-Smith and University of Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine will lead Team USA's women and men, respectively, at the 2007 Pan American Games, USA Track & Field announced Tuesday. The event will take place July 13-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Joining Price-Smith on the women's staff will be Head Manager Julie McKinney and assistant coaches Monica Gary, Annie Bennett, Edrick Floreal and LaTanya Sheffield. Members of the men's staff include Head Manager Tonie Campbell and assistant coaches Nat Page, Lance Deal, John McNichols and Orin Richburg. A four-time Olympian, Price-Smith has already seen coaching success in three seasons at the helm of SIU. She was named 2005 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Indoor Coach of the Year after guiding the Salukis to their first indoor conference title in 13 years. One of the country's most accomplished female field athletes, Price-Smith enjoyed a long career as a thrower and was on 34 international squads, including four Pan-American Games teams. In Pan-Am competition she won two gold medals in the shot put (1995, '99), a silver in the shot in 1991, and a discus bronze medal in 1987. She was a silver medalist in the shot put at the 1995 World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain; a silver medalist in the shot at the 1998 Goodwill Games; and a bronze medalist in the shot at the 1998 World Cup in Athletics. A 1985 graduate of SIU, Price-Smith began throwing the shot put her senior year as a Saluki. Redwine is entering his seventh year as the head coach at the University of Kansas, where he has coached three individuals to national championships in five different events. As a result of their outstanding performances, Redwine's 2001 and 2002 men's indoor track and field teams were enshrined into the KU Hall of Fame after back-to-back, eighth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships. Redwine served as an assistant coach to Team USA in the 2003 Pan American Games that were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he coached the men's endurance events. As an athlete, Redwine was a silver medalist in the 800m run in the Goodwill Games in 1986 and 1994. He also won bronze medals at the Pan American Games in 1983 and 1987. Redwine earned his bachelor's degree in administrative management from Arkansas in 1985, where he was a four-time All-American and was named UA's Outstanding Track Athlete all four of his years in Fayetteville. Additional women's staff members include: Julie McKinney - Head Manager: McKinney has served on seven Team USA staffs. She was the women's distance coach for the 2003 World Outdoor Championships and 2006 World Indoor Championships, the Head Manager for the 1999 Pan Am Games and the 1985 and 1987 IAAF Women's Half Marathon Championships, and the assistant women's manager for the 1992 Olympic Games. She is currently a member of three USATF committees: the Athlete Support Committee, High Performance Development Committee and the Women's Long Distance Running Committee. AVP and Insurance Counsel for Pacific Life Insurance, McKinney received her law degree from Loyola in 1981. Monica Gary - Assistant Coach (sprints/hurdles): Gary has been an assistant coach at Purdue University for the past eight seasons, where she has helped the Boilermaker sprinters and hurdlers to several honors. Gary's coaching experience includes participating as a staff member on three international U.S. Junior teams. In 1995, she accompanied the Women's Junior National Team to Chile and was on the coaching staff for the 1995 Olympic Festival Team North Team in Colorado Springs, Colo. In 1998 she was an assistant manager for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Annecy, France. Gary earned a B.A. from Bowling Green State University and received a master's in motor behavior from Kent State. Annie Bennett - Assistant Coach (distance): Bennett is in her seventh season at the helm of the Wake Forest University track and field team. She served as the head women's track & field coach at Wake Forest for two years and then became the Director of Wake Forest Track & Field following the 2001 season, when the men's and women's programs merged. Bennett has also served as the head coach of the U.S. Junior Women's Cross Country team and in 2005, led the U.S. Senior Women's Cross Country team to a bronze medal in France. An accomplished distance runner while competing as Annie Schweitzer, she was a six-time All-American and the 1987 NCAA 5,000m champion while at the University of Texas. Edrick Floreal - Assisant Coach (jumps): Floreal has been a key figure in the resurgent Stanford track & field program and was named the Director of Track & Field during the fall of 2005. 2007 marks his ninth season overall with the Cardinals. Floreal served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2002 IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships. Floreal graduated from Arkansas in 1990, where he captured five NCAA triple jump titles and four NCAA team championships. Men's team staff members include: Tonie Campbell - Head manager: The head coach at Southwestern College since 2001, Campbell expanded on his coaching duties and is also now the Programs Manager/coach at USATF's High Performance Center at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. A three-time Olympic Team qualifier, Campbell's most notable performance was a bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1988 Olympic Games. Nat Page - Assistant Coach (jumps): Page is in his 11th year as an assistant coach for the Georgia Tech track and field program, where he is responsible for coaching field events, including high jump, long jump, triple jump, and the men's and women's sprint hurdle events. Page was an NCAA champion high jumper at the University of Missouri in 1979. He was ranked in the top 10 in the world from 1979-81. Page is also the coach of 2005 World silver medalist Chaunte Howard, a former Tech athlete. Lance Deal - Assistant Coach (throws): A four-time Olympic hammer thrower, national record holder, 21-time national champion and 1996 Olympic silver medalist, Deal is in his sixth year as an assistant coach at the University of Oregon. He was ranked #1 in the world in 1996 by Track & Field News and was top-10 five other seasons. John McNichols - Assistant Coach (sprints/hurdles): McNichols is in his 24th year as the Indiana State University men's track and field and cross country coach. McNichols served as the head coach for the U.S. men's team at the 1999 Pan Am Junior Track and Field Championships in Tampa, Florida, and in 2005 was the distance coach for the U.S. at the Pan-Am Junior Track and Field Championships held in Windsor, Ontario. He served as a meet official at the 1984 Olympic Games, 1987 Pan-American Games and the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. He was head marshal for the 1996 Olympic Games. Relay staff: Orin Richburg: Following a nearly two-decade coaching stint at the University of Washington, where he was the head coach from 1998 until 2002, Orin Richburg has had several national coaching appointments including serving as head men's coach for Team USA at the 2001 World Outdoor Championships and the 1997 World Indoor Championships. Latanya Sheffield: A 1988 Olympian, Sheffield won the bronze medal at the 1987 Pan Am Games in the 400-meter hurdles. She was also the assistant women's sprints/hurdles coach at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships and is a member of USATF's Athletes Advisory Committee. For more information on the 2007 Pan American Games, visit www.usatf.org.