Women's Track & Field Coaches

Tim Springfield was named the Interim Director of Track & Field/Cross Country in September of 2012.  He joined the Brown staff as the head men's cross country coach in September, 2010, and has made an immediate impact on the distance program. In 2011, the cross country team improved from eighth to fifth in the NCAA Northeast Region and eighth to fourth in the Ivy League. At the 2011 Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, Brown had two runners earn first-team All-Ivy honors, equaling the best in the league. 

Springfield's impact has been even more evident in the track season. In the 2012 track season, five distance runners qualified for the first round of the NCAA Championships, and two athletes advanced to the NCAA National Championships. Cross Country and Track All-American Dan Lowry broke a twenty-five-year-old school record in the 5000m, running 13:34.49 and qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

In addition to the strengthened national presence for Brown's distance runners, the team's quality depth has greatly improved as well. In Springfield's two seasons at Brown, the distance squad placed 25 marks on the all-time Brown top-ten list, including two school records (5000m and 4x800m) and ten all-time top 4 performances. Bolstered by strong recruiting success, the future looks very bright for Brown's distance program.

Before coming to Brown, Springfield coached at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and at the University of Wisconsin.

At St. Thomas, Springfield had a hand in 53 conference team titles over a span of 13 years for men and women in cross country and track. His women's distance medley relay was the 2010 DIII National Champions, and his athletes established 32 school record performances in 11 middle- and long-distance events. He also coached 14 different middle- and long-distance runners to 45 All-American awards. For his efforts, Springfield was named the Division III National Men's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009.

Springfield also served as an Adjunct Professor of English at St. Thomas, teaching literature and writing.

Prior to his tenure at St. Thomas, Springfield was an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin, during which time the Badgers won six Big Ten Cross Country titles, two Big Ten Track titles, and one NCAA National title. Among the athletes Springfield helped recruit to Wisconsin were two eventual NCAA champions.

Springfield competed collegiately at the University of Virginia, where he was a cross country All-American and led his team to an ACC team title and a 5th place national finish. He also broke the Virginia school record in the indoor 5000m and was twice ACC runner-up. As a freshman at Virginia, he earned a spot on the USA Junior National Team and competed in the 1500m at the Junior Pan-American games in Venezuela.

He graduated with a degree in English Literature from Virginia and also holds a graduate degree in Literature from the University of Wisconsin. As a post-collegiate, he placed 6th in the US Cross Country Championships.

Springfield is married and lives with his wife Mary Heather Smith in Providence.

Mitchell Baker joined the Brown staff as Head Coach of Women's Cross Country and Assistant Coach of Track and Field in charge of women's middle and long distance events in August 2011. Prior to arriving on College Hill, Baker spent four years as an assistant coach at Williams College in Massachusetts, serving first as a cross country assistant and then four years as the primary event coach for the men and women competing in the middle distances.

At Williams, Baker assisted teams that garnered seven finishes in the NCAA top-ten, eleven Division III New England Regional Championships, and eleven New England Small College Athletic Conference titles. As the day-to-day coach of the middle-distance events, ten student-athletes earned a total of twenty-two All-American awards. Of those, ten came by virtue of top-three NCAA finishes, including the men's outdoor 5,000-meter champion in 2010, later named USTFCCCA Outdoor Track Scholar Athlete of the Year. Another of his student-athletes raced to runner-up NCAA Outdoor 1,500-meter finishes in consecutive years, was named New England Regional Athlete of the Year and qualified for the 2009 USATF Senior Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with the eighth fastest time in Division III history. In addition to the All-American performances, student-athletes from his group competed at the NCAA Championships eleven additional times, and fifteen more performances made the NCAA provisional or automatic cut.

During the two fall seasons that Baker assisted Pete Farwell, his former coach and the long-time Head of Cross Country at Williams, the men and women's squads earned third-place, podium finishes in 2008 and three athletes earned All-American honors. Academically, the teams nabbed USTFCCCA Academic honors both years with the 2008 men's team earning National Academic Team of the Year.

One of four children of Drs. Edward and Molly Baker in Macomb, Illinois, Baker followed his oldest sister into running and by the end of high school had placed runner-up at the state meet three times. He was All-New England and competed three times at the NCAA meet for Williams and, as a senior, was cross country captain and recipient of the program's endowed Plansky (cross country) and Creem (track and field) Awards. He studied Art Studio and, after an archaeology fellowship to France upon graduation, pursued architecture in New York City. Inspired by a winter academic term studying public art at Stanford but also shadowing Coach Frank Gagliano, then of The Nike Farm Team, he coupled architecture with coaching high school, first at LaSalle Academy and then Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.

Baker completed the USATF Level 1 Education School and was certified by the USTFCCCA Track and Field Academy for the jumping events. Encouraged by his former boss at Williams, Fletcher Brooks, in the fall of 2009 Baker traveled to Kenya and learned from Renato Canova, former Head Coach of Italy, Qatar, and current IAAF Lecturer on Endurance. In his personal life, his greatest influence has been the example and support of his parents.

J.J. Riese joined the Brown staff in October 2012. Riese coaches the sprints and hurdle events for men and women.

Riese came to Brown from Syracuse University where he worked with sprints, hurdles, and jumps events. In 2012, Syracuse hurdler Jarret Eaton won Syracuse's first-ever individual NCAA Championship. Eaton also ran the second fastest 60-meter hurdles time in NCAA history (7.49). Riese also assisted in the development of Michael LeBlanc, who placed 10th in the 60m at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.

"I'm very excited to have a J.J. join our staff," says interim director of track and field Tim Springfield. "He brings tremendous passion and energy to coaching, and he has a very strong technical background as well. He will be a great asset to Brown Track and Field."

Riese graduated from SUNY Cortland in 2009 where he was a four-year letterwinner while earning his Bachelor's degree in education and history. Riese also holds a Master's Degree from California University of Pennsylvania in exercise science. He also assisted with academic programs at Syracuse.

Riese is certified by the National Strength and Condition Association and has completed USATF Coaching Association Level 1 training. Riese has been a featured clinician at multiple clinics and camps. He lives in Providence with his wife, Christina.

Darcy Wilson joined the Brown Track and Field staff as Assistant Coach in 2012, after three years at UMass Amherst. Coach Wilson is responsible for coaching all the throwing events for men and women.

At UMass, Wilson's athletes rewrote the record books, setting all-time bests in the discus, shot put, weight throw, and javelin. She also coached a hammer thrower to the NCAA Regional Championships and worked with several top post-collegiate athletes.

Prior to UMass, Wilson coached at Keene State, where she coached an NCAA DIII national champion in the men's hammer throw. She also coached NCAA qualifiers in the men's javelin, women's javelin, men's weight throw, and men's hammer. Her athletes set school records in the men's discus, hammer, shot put and javelin along with women's discus and javelin records.

Wilson also coached at Keene High School, where she produced the New England record holder in the discus.

She is an active member of both the National Throw Coaches association and the United States Track and Field Federation (USTAF). She is a USATF Level 2 certified coach and is a veteran of the US Olympic Committee Emerging Elite Coaching Camp.

A New Hampshire State champion and school record holder in the shot put and discus while at Keene High School, Wilson was awarded a full scholarship in track and field from Boston University. A top regional competitor for the Terriers, Wilson graduated with a bachelor of science from BU.

Darcy is married to Paul Wilson and together they have five children.

Ken Hunt joined the Brown staff in 2012. Hunt coaches the horizontal and vertical jumping events and multi-events.

"Coach Hunt brings a wealth of experience with him, both as an athlete and a coach," says Interim Director of Track and Field Tim Springfield. "He's a high-energy person and very technically minded."

Hunt spent the 2011-2012 season at LSU, having a hand in the team's NCAA National Outdoor Track Championship and 12 NCAA Individual Qualifiers. Prior to his year at LSU, Hunt coached the sprints, hurdles and jumps at Georgia Southern University. During the 2010 season, his event group won four individual titles and scored 163 of the team's 184 points at the Southern Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. As a result, Hunt was a finalist for the 2010 NCAA Southeastern Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Prior to his time at Georgia Southern, Hunt coached at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where his athletes set SIUE records in the pentathlon, long jump and pole vault. Hunt was also an assistant track and field coach at Marquette University. During his two years with the Golden Eagles, Hunt coached 10 Big East qualifiers and 4 NCAA Regional qualifiers.

Prior to his career in college coaching, Hunt led the track program at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his four years as head coach at Rufus King, Hunt coached 100 all-conference athletes, 20 state champions and 15 all-state athletes. He built the team from an initial roster of 45 to more than 150 participants.

Hunt competed collegiately for UW-Milwaukee, where he set the Horizon League indoor and outdoor triple jump records.

Hunt has a bachelor's degree from UW-Milwaukee in History and a USATF Level 2 coaching certificate for jumps. He lives with his wife LaTricea McClendon-Hunt in North Providence.

Nicholas Lam joins the Bear's coaching staff after a successful five year javelin career at Montana State. While competing for the Bobcat's, he was a three-time Big Sky All-Conference, a two-time Mid West All Region and a three-time NCAA Division I national qualifier with a personal best mark of 68.80m.

Lam decided to join the staff at Brown to pursue his goal of becoming a college track coach as well as to continue his javelin training under Coach Eisenreich. His primary coaching responsibilities will be with the multi-event athletes in the javelin.

After the 2010 season, Bryan joined the Brown Track and Field staff as a volunteer assistant coach. He currently coaches the multi-event athletes in the throwing events while continuing his own training with Coach Eisenreich. Narrowing his focus to discus for 2011, Bryan's recent training is promising of his most successful season thus far in his track and field career.

2009-2010: Bryan started off the indoor season with consistent marks until he finally connected and threw a NCAA Provisional Qualifying throw in the shot at 17.79m. He went on to place 2nd place at Indoor Heptagonals.

During his outdoor season, Powlen consistently threw over 54 meters in the discus and won both the outdoor Heptagonal meet and IC4A's to be named First team All-Ivy and All East Region. He went on the throw a season best of 55.52m at the Regional meet to earn him 3rd place and give him another berth to NCAA Nationals in Eugene, OR, where he placed 17th overall.

2008-2009: In the 2009 outdoor season, Powlen steadily improved up until the Ivy League Championship meet where he exploded for a first place finish in Discus, and a close second finish in shot put, setting personal records in both events (17.42m / 57'2" shot put, 55.86m / 183'3" discus.) ... He continued to perform consistently at a high level with a fourth place finish at NCAA East Regionals and an 18th place finish at Nationals ... Powlen was also selected as an USATFCCCA Academic All-American.

2007-08: Although training was going well, Bryan had a very slow start and struggled throughout the indoor season ... All the work paid off in the outdoor season by hitting a Personal Best in the Brown Invitational and eventually continuing onto the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships where he placed 3rd in the shot put and 5th in the discus. His current personal bests are 16.25 (53'3.75") in shot put and 49.78 (163'4") in discus.

2006-2007: Had a great start to the season throwing 15.56m in shot...He has now posted personal records of 16.05m (52' 8") in shot put and 47.43m (155' 7") in discus.