March 8, 2007
Release courtesy of Mark Adkins, Wartburg College sports information director

WAVERLY, IOWA . . . Wartburg College head men’s and women’s track and field coach Marcus Newsom was named the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) Division III women’s indoor track and field Coach of the Year Thursday, March 8. It’s the second time since 2004 that the Knights head coach has been tabbed as the national recipient.

The honor was presented at the annual indoor national championships pre-meet banquet at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.

“I’m truly blessed to have the type of student-athletes that are dedicated to hard work and wanting to develop and keep Wartburg at a high national level,” Newsom said. “(The national Coach of the Year award) is very special to me. It’s voted on by our peers in the region and then by a national committee. It shows the respect our program has in NCAA Division III.”

Newsom, a native of Kansas City, Kan., also earned the women’s Central Region Coach of the Year award for a combined ninth time in indoor and outdoor track and field since he took over the Knights’ programs in 1998. Senior women’s middle distance runner Heidi Porter of Manson was named the Central Region’s indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Porter goes into the weekend with the second-fastest qualifying time in the 800, bettering former standout Missy Buttry’s school record in the event during the regular season, and is part of the distance medley relay squad that has the one of the six-fastest qualifying times prior to nationals.

Wartburg opens the 2007 NCAA Division III indoor national championships Friday, March 9, with a combined eight men’s and women’s events in action. The Knights women’s team has one of the largest event representations in the field with seven and is looking to place within the top 20 of the team race for the sixth time since 1997 and within the top six for the fourth time since 2002.

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