FSU Track & Field - Doing well, thank you

By Jim Joanos

Surprisingly, it has been a very good year for track and field at Florida State University. Despite several injuries and other misfortunes, the men's track and field team concluded the NCAA national outdoor championships in a three-way tie for second place, only two points behind the winner, Texas A&M. In addition the women's team finished in fourth place overall in that same competition, the best that an FSU women's track and field team has done since 1985. This followed the indoor season in which in March at the national championships, the men's team finished third and the women, eighth. All of this happened in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

Florida State's track and field history began in the late forties. Sometime during the 1947-48 school year, FSU was looking for a basketball coach who could also teach physical education courses. Kenneth Miller, the head track coach and an assistant football coach at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania was hired to fill the position. However, before Miller, who had long desired to coach basketball, arrived on campus, Howard Danford, FSU's athletic director, appointed someone else to coach basketball. Consequently, when Miller reported for duty, there was no basketball job for him. In order to utilize Miller's talents and experiences, Danford decided to have Miller begin a men's track and field program at FSU. At first, Miller was not happy about it but dug in and began work. Soon he was dedicated to the task. He had to begin from scratch as there was no track, no track team, and very little money. A spot of land was made available at what had been Dale Mabry Army Air Base during World War II. Since there was no money to hire professionals to build the track, under Miller's direction, the university maintenance staff was given the assignment. Soon an eight lane track emerged with wooden curbs. It was not a great track. The surface was clay which would turn to mud when it rained heavily. But for a few years, it served FSU well. Coach Miller recruited a team from the student body as there were no athletic scholarships at the time. Volunteers were recruited from the faculty and the town to serve as officials.

The first year's team struggled but Florida State's 1950 team set the pace for what has become an excellent program. That team won five of its six dual meets. Almost overnight, FSU became a powerhouse among the track and field programs of the small colleges of the south against whom they competed.

Through the years, the FSU program gradually improved to reach the lofty spot that it now holds. In 1950 and 51, the track team won the Dixie Conference (made up of several small southern colleges) championship. Mike Long took over the track team in 1955 and headed up the program through 1977. In 1974, the team first reached the nation's top ten level when it tied for 7th place in the NCAA indoor championships. In 1977, they won their first Metro Conference outdoor crown shortly after the school joined that organization. From 1978 through 1988, Dick Roberts, who himself had been a member of the team, led the Seminoles. In every one of the years that he coached, the team won the Metro Conference. Terry Long, Mike's son and an FSU Track athlete, took over in 1989 and coached the team through 2003. His teams also won the Metro title each year from 1988 through 1991. FSU moved into membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1992. The team won ACC championships in outdoors in 2002 and 03 and indoors in 2003. Bob Braman took the helm in 2004 and has led the program since. He has some great assistants in Harlis Meaders (Associate Head Coach and Throws Coach), Ken Harnden (sprints, hurdles & relays), Dennis Nobles (pole vault & jumps), Jackie Richards (sprints, rlays & hurdles) and Karen Harvey (Head Women's Cross Country and Distance Coach). Braman's men's teams have won the ACC Indoor meet every year since he came on board and the outdoor title every year since 2005. Since 2006, the FSU Men's track and field team has finished in the top three nationally in all of the NCAA meets both outdoors and indoors. In 2006, 07, and 08, they were the national outdoor champions.

In the seventies, FSU expanded the opportunities for women students to participate in intercollegiate sports. Among the women's teams added was a track and field team. It did not take the Lady tracksters long to move into the spotlight. They first participated in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and then the NCAA beginning in 1981. From 1981 through 85, they were in the nation's top three in outdoor competition each year winning the national championship in 1984. They were also the NCAA indoor champions in 1985. The women's team dropped off somewhat after that but recently has come back strong in 2008 with national indoor sixth place honors. They were twelfth at the outdoor meet in 2008. That set the stage for this year's very successful year in which they not only did well at nationals but won both the indoor and outdoor ACC championships.

The Florida State teams will move into the 2009-10 school year with much optimism. The men return several individual national champions including Charles Clark (200 meters), Jonathan Borlee (400 meters), Ngoni Makusha (long jump) and the 4 X 400 relay team (Jonathan and his brother Kevin Borlee, Clark, and Kevin Williams) along with some other very promising underclassmen. The women have lost star distance runner and national champion Susan Kuijken but have double national champ Kim Williams (long jump and triple jump) along with some other very talented veterans. It should be a good year for both teams. Let's look forward to it.

Head Coach Bob Braman	Associate Head Coach Harlis Meaders Throws Coach	Coach Karen Harvey Head Women's Cross Country Coach Distance Coach
Coach Ken Harnden Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Coach	Coach Dennis Nobles Pole Vault and Jumps Coach	Coach Jackie Richards Sprints, Relays and Hurdles Coach