Track & Field | Westmont College

TRACK & FIELD / CROSS COUNTRY

THROWS/HURDLES/JUMPS/SPRINTS/DISTANCE

3 Night Prospect Camp

Wednesday July 24th 2:00 pm - Saturday July 27th 12:00 pm - $525

High school level, technical rehearsal and educational camp. The Campers will stay overnight in the dorms and eat meals in the dining commons on campus. Come increase your fundamental understanding of your event.

Registration

"When I arrived at the track at Westmont for the first time my eyes lit up. When you walk down the hill from campus to the track you get a sense of serenity as you look out over the perfectly groomed field towards the foothills and the ocean. It was like finding an oasis in a desert. The campus itself is a perfect little sanctuary tucked into the Montecito hills where I swear I could spend the rest of my life sitting under the oak trees."
-Ashton Eaton, World Record Holder & Olympic Gold Medalist on Westmont College

Coaching Staff

HEAD COACH: RUSSELL SMELLEY

Coach Russell Smelley has served as the head coach in cross country and track and field at Westmont since his arrival in 1979. His tenure has produced numerous NAIA All-Americans and NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes in both cross country and track and field.

Smelley guided the women’s cross country team to national prominence and was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1995. His men’s and women’s cross country teams have won 16 conference titles. Smelley was inducted into the NAIA Cross Country Hall of Fame in November of 1999. Smelley has also served as the President of the NAIA Cross Country Coaches Association.

Asked to describe himself as a coach, Smelley replied, "Hopefully, I am a philosophically grounded, kinesiology based, coach so that there is reason and facts to support my coaching decisions. I seek to be a teacher who can convey hope and concern for the student-athlete as a person in all aspects of their lives."

The Westmont track and field teams have also been successful, with at least one athlete claiming NAIA All-American honors in 30 of the last 33 years, including 25 of the past 26 years. The men’s team has claimed six GSAC Championships while the women have earned three conference titles.

"I would like athletes to be able to compete at a higher level than they have before," continued Smelley. "In the four years they are at Westmont, I would like to see student-athletes maturing and coming to know themselves more realistically. I hope to challenge them to be culturally different in their discipline and in the affections, and to be emotionally healthy, strong, resilient individuals who can follow their dreams. By culturally different, I mean different than the milieu of their peer group – not tied to what their generation considers successes or important."

Besides his coaching duties, Smelley is a tenured professor in the Kinesiology Department. His classroom work earned him the distinction of being named "Teacher of the Year" in 1988 and again in 2002. Coach Smelley carries that quality of teaching over to his work with the Westmont cross country and track and field teams. He takes special pride in developing the potential of each individual athlete academically, athletically, and spiritually.

"Ultimately, it is important to help the students improve their self-image and confidence in order to enable them to become more self-reliant and thus reach their greatest potential," says Smelley. "This is development of the mind, body and spirit and it produces outstanding people who can succeed in academics, athletics and life."

Prior to coming to Westmont, Smelley earned a BA degree in English and Physical Education, and an MEd in Education at the University of Richmond where he was an All-American middle distance runner for the Spiders. He spent two years serving as head women’s cross country and track and field coach at Richmond, and as assistant men’s coach.

Smelley and his wife Allison are the parents of Travis, who is a Westmont alumnus, and of Alyssa who lost her battle with a brain tumor on July 4, 2006 at the age of 15.

COACH DEREK MASTERSON

Coach Derek Masterson just finished his second season as an assistant coach in track and field at Westmont. Masterson coaches the Warriors’ combined events (heptathlon/decathlon) athletes, and directs the jumps, throws, sprints, hurdles training programs.

Westmont student athletes under his leadership have produced school records in the long jump and 100m. During this time Warriors have set a variety of top10 Westmont performances and established new class records.

Masterson assists in coordinating camps and clinics on campus as well serving as the Meet Director for the Klein / Nwaba Combined Events Meet.

As an athlete, Masterson is 2x USA Championship Qualifier in the Decathlon. In 2015 Masterson achieved a 9th place finish at the Pan American Games, representing the United States. During Masters’s time at UC Santa Barbara he claimed 3 conference titles in the decathlon and javelin and left school as the decathlon school record holder.

A native of Placerville, California, Masterson has a passion for the sport of track and field. As the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Track Club, Masterson has been reviving the Youth Club for growing young athletes in the Santa Barbara area. santabarbaratc.com

Schedule

WEDNESDAY JULY 24TH

THURSDAY JULY 25TH

FRIDAY JULY 26TH

SATURDAY JULY 27TH

7:30am - 8:15am | Breakfast8:25am - 9:00am: Dorm Room Clean Up / Checkout

9:00am - 10:15am | Light Training Session Wrap Up

10:20am - 11:00am | College Discussion “Choosing the right School”

Parents welcome/encouraged to attend College Discussion.

11:00am | Camp Concludes

Registration

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