Don Yentes is entering his
fifth season as the head coach of the Wyoming track and field team.
Wyoming's track and field program has experienced a tremendous amount
of success in Yentes' four seasons as head coach. During Yentes' four
seasons at the helm of the Wyoming program, UW has produced 16
All-Americans, 24 conference champions, 33 NCAA Championships
participants, and earned 125 Academic All-Conference awards. Wyoming
athletes have broken or tied 83 school records under Yentes' leadership.
Yentes was an assistant coach with the Wyoming program in charge of
sprints, jumps and hurdles from 1997-2000. As an assistant, Yentes
coached athletes who won six conference titles and earned 18
All-Conference honors. He was hired as Wyoming's head track and field
coach June 30, 2000.
Yentes came to Wyoming from Eastern Michigan University. At Eastern
Michigan, Yentes coached the Eagles to the 1997 Indoor and Outdoor
Championship titles. He also coached the Eagles to their first ever
Michigan Intercollegiate Championship in 1997.
Yentes also served as an assistant cross country and track coach at
Butler County Community College (1987-'89) producing 21 All-Americans.
He was the head cross country coach at Neosho County Community College
(1989-'91) coaching seven All-Americans. Yentes also helped start the
track and field program at Neosho County.
As an assistant track coach at Barton County Community College from
1991-95, he helped the women win seven Indoor and Outdoor National
Championships. Barton's women won the triple crown (cross country,
indoor and outdoor) in back-to-back seasons. He coached 152
All-Americans and 20 NJCAA National Champions while at Barton.
Yentes' coaching resume at the junior college level includes nine NJCAA
Women's National Championship teams and 180 All-Americans.
Yentes will use his experience to oversee the sprints, jumps and
hurdling events for Wyoming. In 1999, Yentes coached four WAC Champions
for Wyoming. During the 2000 season, he coached six Mountain West
Champions. Last season he had nine Mountain West Champions and is
returning five All- Americans into this season.
Yentes is a USATF Level II coach in sprints and jumps and is currently
working on his Level III certification.
Don and his wife, Sande, have two children; Morgan, 22 and Dylan 20.
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Paul Barrett is entering
his 11th year as the Cowboy and Cowgirl Throwing Coach for the
University of Wyoming Track and Field Program. The 2004-05 campaign
mark's Barrett's fifth year back at UW after spending two years
coaching the throws at the University of Kentucky and one year at the
University of Colorado. Barrett previously coached at Wyoming from 1991
- 1997.
Barrett has coached 13 All-Americans and 14 conference champions while
at Wyoming. He has also had 30 conference runner-ups and a total of 67
All-Conference (Top 3) award winners.
Top athletes coached by Barrett at Wyoming include: three-time
All-American thrower Ryan Butler, who was the 1996 NCAA Champion in the
35lb weight throw (71' 1.5"); two-time All-American Matt Spears in the
shot put (61' 5.5"); two-time All-American Jason Hammond in the 35lb
and hammer throws (69' 1.5" / 221' 1") and shot put (61' 10.25");
All-American Andrea Batt with marks of 168' 8" in the javelin, 53'
4.25" shot put, 167' 8" discus, and 64' 10.5" in the 20lb weight;
All-American Julie Thomas in the 20lb (64' 2.25"); conference champion
Kamber Backman in the javelin (170' 6"); current All-American Zack
Schaefer in the 35lb (68' 6') and hammer (213' 10"); and current
All-American Kyle Herl in the 35lb (67' 5.25") and shot put (59'
11.75").
While at the University of Kentucky (1997-1999), he coached two-time
All-American Matt Kavanaugh, who placed seventh in the hammer (221' 4")
at the 1999 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Kavanaugh was the third best
American finisher in that event.
Barrett competed at the college level for Washington State University,
where he was a PAC-10 finalist in the hammer throw and consistent
scorer for the Cougars in the discus and javelin events as well.
Barrett stays competitive by competing in Masters track and field
competitions. In a competition in April 2003, he set an American Record
in the weight pentathlon for the 35-39 age group. The weight pentathlon
consists of five events; Hammer throw, shot put, discus, javelin, and
35lb weight throw. Barrett's score of 3,783 points eclipsed the mark of
3,762 by Dean Crouser of Oregon in 1998. Barrett also won the 2003
National Weight Pentathlon Championships in August 2003.
Barrett graduated from Washington State University in 1991 with a
bachelors degree in Sport Management. Paul has two daughters, Kala (11)
and Kelsey (6).
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Randy Cole enters his second season
with the Wyoming track and field program. Cole was hired as Wyoming
head cross country coach on January 2, 2004. In his first cross country
season, Cole was named the Women's Mountain West Coach of the Year and
guided senior Jennifer Thompson to compete at the NCAA Nationals. This
past spring, Cole directed athletes to two new school records, six
All-MWC performers, and one All-American.
Before accepting his current position at Wyoming, Cole guided the
Kansas State cross country teams from 1997-2003. He led the Wildcats
women's cross country program to three straight regional championships
(1998, 1999, 2000) and a Big 12 Conference championship in 1998, the
first ever in program history. He was named Big 12 Conference Women's
Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1998 and was named the Midwest
Region Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year three of his last four
seasons at Kansas-State. In Coles' six years with the KSU cross country
program, he coached 11 All-Americans, 23 All-Midwest Region honorees
and 17 Big 12 All-Conference performers.
On the track, Cole guided ten distance runners to All-America honors,
six to indoor Big 12 individual titles and five toward outdoor Big 12
individual titles. Also, eight distance school records were established
during his time at KSU.
Before his tenure at Kansas State, he served as the head cross country
coach at Barton County Community College in Barton, Kan. from
1985-1997. While at Barton County he took control of the track and
field program in 1991 and held that position until 1997. He was named
National Junior College Athletic Association Cross Country Coach of the
Year ten times and the Region VI Coach of the Year 12 times. In March
of 2002, he was inducted into the NJCAA Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Cole's leadership took the Barton County cross country and track and
field programs to national dominance. The women's team captured four
national titles in cross country, eight titles in outdoor track and
field and seven indoor track and field titles. His men's program had 23
top-five national finishes under his direction.
Cole's resume speaks volumes for his knowledge of track and field, and
he knows what it takes to build a dominant distance program. The
foundation of his success can be seen when looking at his
accomplishments as a student-athlete. He was an intricate part of a Cal
Poly program that won NCAA Division II national championships in cross
country in 1978 and 1979, and track and field titles in 1979 and 1980.
Cole is USATF Level II certified in endurance events.
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Assistant coach Kristen Thomas
enters her sixth year coaching the vaulters, her fifth season working
with the cross country teams and her fourth year working with the
multi-event athletes.
Thomas began her coaching career at the high school level as an
assistant volleyball and track and field coach at River Valley High
School in Marion, Ohio from August `97 to June `98.
In the spring of 1999, Thomas served as interim assistant coach for the
women's track and field team from February to June. She returned to the
track program in the fall of 2000 to work with the vaulters
She graduated from Ball State University in 1996 with a double degree
in exercise/sport science and ancient Greek. While at Ball State, she
competed on the cross country and track and field teams for four years.
Thomas earned her masters degree in public health education at the
University of Wyoming in 2001. She is a Level I certified track and
field coach as well as an ACSM Health Fitness Instructor.
Kristen and her husband, Jason, welcomed their first child, James
Donald, on Aug. 19th of 2003.
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Qunicy Howe enters
his second season on the Wyoming coaching staff
as a student assistant. He will assist coaching the Cowboy and Cowgirl
long and triple jumpers.
Howe had a brilliant
career as a Cowboy. He earned
All-American honors twice in 2001-02 in the triple jump and was never
beaten in the event during his competition in the WAC and MWC, winning
eight conference titles. He currently owns Wyoming and Mountain West
Conference records in both the indoor and outdoor triple jumps with
marks of 54' 9 14" and 54' 4 3/4".
In 2002 he competed
in the NACAC games where he placed third
and the Commonwealth Games placing ninth, representing his native
country of Trinidad. He was also a 2003 Pan-Am Games team selection.
Howe received
his bachelors degree in bioelectrical
engineering from UW in 2003, and is currently pursuing a masters degree
in biomechanics.
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