Sept. 9, 2005
Following Coach Craig Lake's move to Brown University last month, Willy Wood, Columbia's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, has reconfigured his staff with the promotion of one coach and hiring of two others.
Wood promoted Chris Miltenberg, a graduate assistant last season, to a full-time assistant coaching position, and hired Colleen Kelly and Caryn Waterson as assistant coaches.
"It's difficult to replace someone like Craig, but I'm very excited by the people we've been able to add," Wood said. "Chris did a fine job for us last season, his first as a college coach, and I'm confident Colleen and Caryn will do equally well in their coaching debuts."
In addition to replacing Lake, the head women's cross country coach and associate head coach of track & field, Wood had to fill the vacancies that resulted when graduate assistant coach Maurica Powell and her husband, volunteer assistant coach Andy Powell, took coaching positions at the University of Oregon.
Miltenberg is in his second year as a college coach. The Huntington, N.Y., native is a 2003 graduate of Georgetown University, where he was a two-time NCAA All-American and the 2001 Big East mile champion. He came to Columbia after a stint as assistant coach at Wantagh (L.I.) High.
"I'm glad we were able to retain and promote Chris," Wood said. "He had several offers from other schools. In this time of transition for our staff, he is so valuable for his enthusiasm, knowledge, ability to motivate, and skill as a recruiter. He is very popular with our student-athletes."
Like Miltenberg, Kelly also was a two-time NCAA All-American at Georgetown. The 2004 Big East champion twice captained the Hoyas, and was their 2005 track & field and cross country MVP. She played a major role in Georgetown's superb 2001 cross country season, which culminated in the Hoyas finishing third in the NCAA Championships.
Kelly, a resident of Maple Glen, Pa., graduated from Georgetown in 2004 with a B.A. in psychology, and is working toward a master's in social and public policy. She was recently named the 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year for the District of Columbia, and will be honored at the NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner in Indianapolis in October.
Waterson is also a fine student. The Benzonia, Michigan, resident was Academic All-Ivy League and a perennial Dean's List student at Columbia, from which she was graduated in May 2005 with a B.A. in neuroscience and behavior.
Waterson was a standout middle distance runner for the Lions. Among Columbia's all-time top five in several different individual and relay races, she was first team All-Ivy League when her 2002 4x800 meter relay won the Heptagonal Ivy Championships in meet-record time. Her distance medley relay placed 11th at the NCAA Championships that season. She also made first team All-East that year, and first team All-Ivy in 2005.
A fine leader, she was a two-year captain of both the cross country and track & field teams.
Waterson will coach full-time after working in the science field. Formerly a researcher in molecular imaging at the Washington University School of Medicine, she worked this summer as clinical research coordinator at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.
"Colleen and Caryn are tremendous additions to our staff," Wood said. "Both have been highly successful academically and athletically. At Georgetown, Colleen experienced an environment similar to Columbia's; she should have no difficulty coaching here, and our runners will benefit from her athletic skills and pure knowledge of the sports.
"Caryn also should have an easy transition to coaching. She was a natural leader here, and we often felt like she was one of our coaches on the course on the track."
They will join a staff that also includes assistant track & field coach Derrick Adkins. The former world champion and Olympic gold medal hurdler is in his second year with the Lions.
