Dan Ireland Completes Staff For 2014-15 Season
9/11/2014 12:35:00 PM | Cross Country, Track and Field
NEW YORK - Director of cross country/track & field Dan Ireland has completed his staff for the 2014-15 cross country and track & field seasons with the hiring of three coaches. Brian Chenoweth and Michelle Chewens join both the men's and women's teams, while Sarana Hyatt returns to Columbia after previously coaching here from 2011-2012.
Chenoweth comes to Columbia fresh off of a stint at Iona College in the same position. While at Iona from 2010-14, Chenoweth assisted in coaching the four-time men's and four-time women's MAAC Championship teams in cross country. In 2012, Iona was the Northeast Regional Champions in cross country, while also being ranked second in the nation by the USTFCCCA.
In 2014, Chenoweth helped train seven men's events and three women's events that qualifyed to the NCAA East Prelims on the track & field side. Overall, Chenoweth has helped coach 20 combined men's and women's All-American awards in cross country and track. Also at Iona, Chenoweth is taking classes to earn his Masters in Business Administration.
Along with his experience at Iona, Chenoweth has served as a volunteer at the USATF National Meet, hosted at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. No stranger to Iowa, Chenoweth began his coaching career in 2010 at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa as a volunteer assistant.
A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Chenoweth earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in finance from nearby Wartburg College, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a standout on the oval. He was a five-time NCAA Division III All-American in cross country and track for the Knights. Chenoweth also earned three All-Region selections in cross country and was a nine-time IIAC champion in both cross country and track.
Chewens comes to Columbia having most recently served as an assistant coach at the University of Toledo. During the 2013-14 season, Chewens aided in the coaching of one NCAA Outdoor Track All-American honorable mention, as well as three NCAA Outdoor East-Prelim qualifiers. Additionally, Chewens is also a USATF Level 1 Certified Coach.
Prior to her time at Toledo, Chewens helped out at UNC Greensboro as a cross country and track & field assistant coach. From the spring of 2012 until July 2013, Chewens coached three All-Americans on the track and one in cross country, while also coaching six qualifiers in the NCAA Outdoor East-Prelims.
As a student-athlete, Chewens was a four-time letterwinner in both cross country and track, earning Academic All-SoCon honors all four years, and was a part of UNCG's first SoCon Championship in 2011.
Chewens graduated from UNCG in August 2011 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a concentration in sports medicine. A native of Cornwall-On-Hudson, N.Y., she is the daughter of Robert and Lucy Chewens, and has one sister, Nicole.
Hyatt first teamed up with Ireland at LaSalle in the winter of 2013 before making her way back to Morningside Heights. She first was a member of the Columbia staff as a volunteer assistant coach in the summer of 2011. She was an accomplished collegiate pentathlete and heptathlete at Sacred Heart University and will work closely with Columbia's sprinters and jumpers. From 2006-11, Hyatt was one of the most dominant pentathletes/heptathletes in the Northeast.
For the 2011 outdoor season, Hyatt garnered All-Northeast Conference honors in the high jump and All-New England honors in the heptathalon. In 2008, she earned All-NEC recognition in the 4x400m, 100 m high hurdles and the long jump. In 2007, she was All-New England as a heptathlete and All-NEC in the 400m intermediate hurdles, the 4x100 m and the 4x400 m.
Hyatt received All-ECAC honors as an indoor pentathlete in 2008-09. She was All-NEC for indoor high jump, long jump, 55m high hurdles and 4x400m and All-New England for the pentathalon for three straight years (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09).
