2012 UNCG C r o s s C o un t r y in the event too. Taylor Hurst was named All-SoCon in the 800 meters and Kerry Hartman was named all-freshman in the mile. During the outdoor season, Thompson was named All-SoCon in the 1,500 meters and AJ Savoia earned All-SoCon honors in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. TJ Wyatt was also named All-SoCon in the 800 meters after earning runner-up honors. In 2007-08, Sherrika Jordan became the seventh runner in UNCG women’s cross country history to run sub-23:00 in the 6,000-meters. Jordan ran 22:58.65 at the NCAA Southeast Regionals, which was the eighth-fastest time in UNCG history. The 2008 indoor season saw four men’s runners earn All-SoCon honors, including the men’s distance medley relay team earning All-SoCon honors for the fourth time in five seasons. Jess Weber broke the school record in the 800 meters and Josh Wyatt recorded a new record at the 5,000 meters. During outdoor, the men saw Clyne (800m) and AJ Savoia (3,000m steeplechase) race their way to All-SoCon distinctions, earning UNCG’s first All-SoCon honors for outdoor in two year. For the women, Weber concluded her career by setting a new record in the 800 meters in her final meet of the season, clocking 2:17.81 at the Duke Asics Twilight and becoming just the second Spartan in program history to run sub-2:20 in the 800 meters. In his first season as head coach of the cross country teams, the men posted their highest finish at the SoCon Championship meet, placing third out of 11 teams. Individually, Josh Wyatt and Nick Vaccaro finished fifth and eighth, respectively, garnering All-SoCon honors and becoming the first set of Spartans to receive cross country All-SoCon honors in the same season. For the women, Jess Weber and Sherrika Jordan each registered a 6K time that ranked among UNCG’s top-25 times. During the 2007 indoor season, Jeff Williams won his third-straight title in the 800 meters en route to earning All-SoCon status. The distance medley relay team of Vaccaro, Terry Wyatt, Williams and Xavier Rutz also earned All-Son honors with a second-place finish at the SoCon Championships. Nguyen was named head coach of the Spartans at the start of the 2006 outdoor season. In his inaugural season at the helm, both Jeff Williams (800 meters) and Charles Jones (triple jump) qualified for the NCAA East Regionals. Prior to being named head coach, Nguyen served as an assistant coach and as a volunteer assistant coach for the Spartans. In his four years as an assistant, Nguyen produced 24 All-Conference honorees, one NCAA Regional qualifier and one NCAA National participant. Charles Jones became UNCG’s first NCAA Regional and National qualifier in 2005. As a volunteer assistant, Nguyen coached Heidi (Sloop) Pinkerton to All-SoCon cross country status in 2002. Prior to UNCG, Nguyen was a volunteer assistant coach at Lynchburg College, his alma mater, for one season. During the 2000-01 school year, the Hornets swept the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor. Nguyen was an eight-time All-ODAC selection. He led Lynchburg to a pair of top-five finishes at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional Cross Country meet, including one third-place finish. He also took the Hornets to a conference title in 1999, while capturing ODAC Runner of the Year Honors. Nguyen, a native of East Hampton, N.Y., graduated from Lynchburg College in 2000 with his bachelor’s degree in sports medicine. He received his master’s in exercise physiology from UNCG in 2007. Nguyen and his wife, Christina, reside in Greensboro, with their son Khoi.
FIRST SEASON • UNCG, 2012 Michelle Chewens enters her first year as assistant coach with the UNCG cross country and track and field programs. Chewens, a four-year letterwinner in both track and field and cross county, spent last season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Spartans during the track and field seasons. She concluded her running career last fall with the cross country team running a season-best 6,000-meter time of 24:56 in the Panorama Farms Invite and a 5,000-meter season best at the Southern Conference championships in a time of 19:03. Chewens, a native of Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., was a four-time Academic All-SoCon recipient during her career. She posted a career-best 18:59 in the 5,000-meters at the Wake Forest Relays in 2009 while posting a 24:39.8 in the 6,000-meter cross country race at the Colonial Inter-Regional in 2007. In indoor track, she posted a personal best and the then fourth-fastest time in school history in the mile clocking in at 5:16.80 in the 2008-09 SoCon Championships. In outdoor track, she posted personal bests in the 1,500-meters (4:48.14) her senior campaign while posting a best time in the 3,000-meters (10:45) her sophomore year.
FIRST SEASON • NC STATE, 2004 Chad Pearson enters his first season as an assistant coach with the UNCG cross country and track and field programs. Pearson joins the Spartans after spending time as a volunteer assistant coach at Charlotte (2012) and North Carolina State (2010-11). He also was the graduate assistant coach at North Carolina State from 2004-2006 working with both the cross country and track and field programs. Pearson was a standout at NC State where he was a three-time NCAA All-America honoree in cross country and track and field. He helped the Wolfpack win back-to-back ACC cross country team championships as well as earning Academic All-America honors during his career. He was a United States Olympic Trials track and field qualifier and was the United States 10,000-meter Road National Champion. Additionally, he was a member of the United States Junior National Cross Country Tram.