June 15, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Darryl Anderson, in his eighth year as an assistant coach with the Arizona State track and field program, has been selected as the 2004 Mondo Men's National Assistant Coach of the Year for sprints and hurdles, the United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) announced Tuesday. Anderson is one of nine assistant coaches selected to receive the award following the completion of the 2004 outdoor season.
Under Anderson's guidance, the Sun Devil men's sprinters shined at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships, held June 9-12 in Austin, Texas. The 4x100m relay team of Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Lewis Banda finished as the national runners-up in the meet while the 4x400m relay of Jason Barton, Amoo, Peterson and Banda combined to take fourth in the meet. Individually, Anderson helped Banda finish fourth overall and Barton fifth in the 400m dash. All told, those five men accumulated all 22 of ASU's team points that saw the squad finished tied for 10th in the standings.
Also during the outdoor season, the sprinters contributed to rewriting the record books as nine marks recorded by men's sprinters ranked among the Top 10 times in the history of the program, including the school record in the 4x400m relay, a 3:01.26 recorded to win the team's fourth relay title in as many years at the conference meet. His sprinters also turned in the second-best times in the 4x100m relay and in the 400m dash. Indoors, the 4x400m relay not only set the school record at 3:03.43, they also set the collegiate indoor mark. Individually, Peterson established the 200m mark as a true freshman and Barton set the 400m mark. The women set four Top 5 marks outdoors, including Cassandra Reed's No. 2 400m dash time, while also recording five indoor marks.
Anderson also helped the Sun Devils bring home the gold. At the Pac-10 Championships, not only did the 4x400m relay win the event for the fourth year in a row, several members of the team combined to win the 4x100m event to sweep the men's relays. Banda also won the 400m dash for the second year in a row. Two weeks later, the sprinters shined at the NCAA West Region. Not only did the men win both relays, the women pulled off the same feat, giving ASU titles in all four contested relays.
In his eight years in Tempe, Anderson has mentored four outdoor and three indoor men's 4x400m relay teams to All-America status as well as two outdoor and one indoor women's relay. The men's 4x100m relay also has taken national honors twice. Individually, the 13 indoor and outdoor All-American honors have been earned, including a pair by Jacquelyn Johnson this year. The true freshman won the outdoor heptathlon (100m hurdles and 200m dash included) and was second in the nation in the indoor pentathlon (60m hurdles).
On a conference level, the sprinters have enjoyed great success under Anderson with the men capturing the past four 4x400m relays and added another two crowns in the 4x100m relay. Individually, the men's 100 and 200m dashes have been won once with two men's and one women's 400m dash crown added. Johnson also won the heptathlon this year to add to the gold Anderson has helped capture.
The other coaches honored included Rolondo Greene of Arkansas (women's sprints/hurdles), Irving Schexnayder of LSU (men) and Nat Page of Georgia (women) in the jumps/multi-events, John Zeda of Purdue (men), Brian Blutreich of North Carolina and Carrie Lane of Coastal Carolina (women) in the throws and Jerry Schumacher of Wisconsin (men) and Dena Evans of Stanford (women) in the distance events.