Director of Track and Field Dan Stimson

01/01/00

- In his 22nd year as Director of Track and Field at William and Mary, Dan Stimson oversees a program that has demonstrated success both in the classroom and on the track, and has served as an exemplary model for what collegiate athletics should be all about. In recognition of his years of service, the College honored Coach Stimson in 2007 by naming the new throwing facility in his honor, the Stimson Throwing Events Area. Made possible through a generous donation from Mr. And Mrs. Joe Showker, the facility includes an Olympic throwing cage with circles for both the hammer and discus, two shot put circles, and javelin runway.

The men’s and women’s programs have combined for 15 Colonial Athletic Association titles out of 20 possible since the 2002-03 school year, and have garnered numerous CAA Athlete and Rookie of the Year awards. The 2006-07 season was another banner year for the squads, as Stimson’s program captured both CAA cross country titles: the seventh consecutive conference title for the men’s team and fourth in a row for the women’s squad. Punctuating the season was the 10th-straight NCAA team qualification for men’s cross country, an achievement only four other schools can claim. To date, Stimson’s programs have produced 54 All-Americans and one Olympian.

Stimson, who works primarily with the throwers, jumpers, and multi-eventers, has mentored many W&M athletes to national prominence in his tenure. Due to the absence of the javelin or the hammer throw at the high school level in Virginia and other nearby states, Stimson has earned a reputation for his ability to develop young talent.

His coaching credits include W&M hammer throw record-holder Mike Howell, who started with the hammer in his rookie season at W&M, and progressed through the ranks until his senior year, when he posted the eighth-best mark by an American collegian (206’1”). Decathlon record-holder Todd Doughty (7,240 points) benefited from his time with Stimson as well, working his way from a walk-on to one of the top 20 decathletes in the country over the course of his career at W&M.

On the women’s side, Stimson coached All-America high jumper Lisa Rayner to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships and a school-record mark of 5’11.25” in 1994. Wendy Warren, the school record-holder in the javelin (153’6”), was discovered in a physical education class and went on to earn All-East honors and place sixth at the ECAC Championships. Stimson coached pole vaulter Charlotte LaRoche to second place in the ECAC Championships and a school record of 13’1” in her freshman season. He then guided steady improvement throughout her career, culminating in 2004 with her second conference title and double All-East honors. Stimson has had numerous All-East performers in all of the field events.

A recent example of Stimson’s coaching ability can be seen in 2004 graduate Chris Parsons. As a freshman, Parsons made a powerful debut, winning CAA titles in both the shot put and the javelin, enabling him to be selected for the United States Junior National Team. He followed up his impressive freshman season with a sophomore campaign that featured top CAA finishes in the discus (fourth), javelin (third), hammer (second) and a second straight first-place showing in the shot put. Parsons went on to garner All-East honors in the hammer at the IC4A meet. In 2003 Parsons was named CAA Scholar-Athlete of the year, after earning a pair of all-conference honors by finishing second in both the shot and the hammer at the CAA Championships. Parsons capped his career in style, winning the 2004 CAA title in the shot and hammer and breaking the NCAA Regional mark in both events.

More Stimson-guided athletes litter the W&M and CAA record books. In 2005, Ayanna Jones claimed her second shot put title at the CAA Championships, the fifth-consecutive year a Tribe woman had won the event. She would go one to shatter the 23-year old school record in the event, putting the shot 48’ 6” in the ECAC Championships. 2006 graduate Andy Smith became one of only two athletes in school history to claim four CAA crowns in one event (joining Tyler Steel, winner of the hammer throw from 1997-2000) after winning the javelin for the fourth time at the 2006 conference meet.

Perhaps no event in recent years shows the effect of Stimson’s tutelage more than the women’s heptathlon, where four athletes in the Green and Gold have won the last five CAA titles, and six of the seven ever contested, along with the last two ECAC crowns. Alarice Cesareo earned a pair of titles in 2001 and 2003, and Phi Beta Kappa-graduate Sarah McHale won in 2004. In 2005, Bonnie Meekins won her first title with a then-record score of 4,763 points, before giving way to classmate Brenna Blevins in 2006, who scored 4,806 points. In 2007, Meekins came back again with another meet record, 5,192 points. Similarly, Blevins won the 2006 ECAC crown with a then-school record total of 5,229, the highest point total not invited to the NCAA Championships that year. Meekins provided the breakthrough this past spring, powering to a score of 5,457 to claim the Eastern title, and a trip to the NCAA meet, where she would place 16th.

In the 2006 CAA hammer throw, Liz Hager capped her career in heroic fashion. Cleared to throw only an hour before the event started because of a back injury, Hager threw 151’ 9” with her only attempt, good for second place and the third-best throw in school history. Freshman Abby Lemon took her lead from Hager, setting a personal record with each of her six throws and finishing with a toss of 149’ 2” to take third place in her first conference championships.

The 2007 throwing corps provided another feather in Stimson’s cap, providing a school record and numerous top-10 marks despite having a grand total of two upperclassmen. Sophomore Alex Heacock captured his first CAA title in the javelin, throwing 25 feet farther than anyone else in the meet. Abby Lemon was only four inches shy of her own conference title in the hammer throw, but did claim the Colonial Relays title with a then-school record throw of 161’ 9”, a mark she bettered at the ECAC Championships with a prodigious heave of 163’ 11”. Senior Jen Showker capped her career with lifetime-best marks in the shot put, discus (144’ 9”), and hammer (142’ 0”). Her put of 45’ 0.5” at the CAA Championships guaranteed her third and berth at the ECAC meet, and makes her one of only four women to ever best 45 feet in the shot put.

Stimson began his career at perennial national powerhouse Tennessee, where he helped Volunteer athletes finish in the nation’s top 10 on seven occasions and collect 12 Southeastern Conference titles. His coaching career started at Tennessee as a graduate assistant, helping the Vols win the 1972 NCAA cross country championship. From Knoxville, he moved to J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia for one year, then on to Miami University (Ohio) for nine years before coming to Williamsburg.

A native of Falconer, New York, Stimson graduated with honors from Ohio University in 1971 and holds a master’s degree from Miami (Ohio). As an undergraduate, he was the All-Ohio and Central Collegiate shot put champion, as well as a two-time MAC shot put champion. He concluded his athletic career by competing in both the NCAA and AAU national championships in the shot put.

Dan and his wife Rosemary, also a Falconer native, have two children. Their son, Clare, is a local college student. Daughter Krista Crider graduated from W&M in 1996 with a B.S. in biology and earned her master’s degree at the College in 1998. She earned a Ph.D. in the field of genetics and molecular biology at Emory University, and works for the Centers for Disease Control. Krista is a former W&M record holder in the hammer throw, and recently welcomed the newest addition to the Stimson family, when Samuel Daniel Crider was born in April of 2006.