McGuire Named Regional Assistant Coach of the Year
6/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
June 5, 2017
» Associate head coach Mike McGuire, who specializes in the distance events, was voted the top women's assistant coach in the Great Lakes Region for the 2017 outdoor track and field season.
» McGuire guided Gina Sereno to an undefeated outdoor season with two Big Ten titles and led Jaimie Phelan to a Big Ten title.
» Three women coached by McGuire -- Sereno, Phelan and Claire Borchers -- will compete in this week's NCAA Outdoor Championships.
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- University of Michigan women's track and field associate head coach Mike McGuire was announced as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Great Lakes Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2017 outdoor track and field season, the association announced Sunday (June 4).
On the strength of a combined three Big Ten titles and three NCAA Championships qualifiers from among the endurance student-athletes he coaches, McGuire earned a regional honor in track and field for the second year in a row and the sixth time overall in his 28-year career in Ann Arbor.
McGuire swept the indoor and outdoor awards during the 2016 season. He also won the regional award during this past 2016 cross country season, his 10th such honor in that sport.
This outdoor season, he guided three women to the NCAA Outdoor Championships -- set for this week in Eugene, Oregon -- in Gina Sereno, Jaimie Phelan and Claire Borchers, all three of whom are ranked top-15 nationally in their respective events. Sereno will compete at 5,000 meters, Phelan at 1,500 meter and Borchers in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Sereno is in the midst of an undefeated season, including Big Ten titles at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters for the second year in a row. She is the first woman to sweep those titles in back-to-back seasons since former Wolverine Mindy Rowand in 1989 and 1990.
Phelan won the Big Ten title at 1,500 meters and then proceeded to become the third-fastest woman in Michigan history with a 4:12.55 clocking at the NCAA East Preliminaries to book her trip to Eugene.
Borchers became just the second woman in school history to break 10 minutes in the steeplechase, running as fast as 9:56.57 at the East Prelims to clinch her first-ever berth to the NCAA Championships. She was the Big Ten runner-up in her event.
Those three women amassed 44 of Michigan's 79 team points at the Big Ten Championships last month, but his student-athletes' contributions came from more than just that three-woman core. Sarah Zieve added a fourth-place finish in the steeplechase, and Jamie Morrissey and Haley Meier were fifth in the 800 and 1,500, respectively.
All told, McGuire's women accounted for 57 of U-M's total point output at Big Tens.
Communications Contact: Kyle Terwillegar
Players Mentioned
