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Entering the 2007 season, Greg Kraft's Arizona State University track and field program will look to continue to excel as it has under his direction. In his time with the Sun Devils, the 11th-year head coach has brought the programs up in prominence by adding solid depth and creating an all-around product that will continue to shine for years to come. In recent years, Kraft's teams, especially on the women's scene, have developed into national powers. The Sun Devil women captured the 2006 Pac-10 Championship while also becoming just the second program in the history of the NCAA to earn a trophy at each of the three NCAA events in the same academic year (fourth in 2005 cross country, third indoors and tied for fourth outdoors). For his efforts, Kraft was selected as the 2006 USTFCCCA Women's West District Coach of the Year and the 2006 Pac-10 Conference Women's Coach of the Year, his second conference coaching honor (1996 SEC Coach of the Year).
The men also have enjoyed success during Kraft's time in Tempe, including Aaron Aguayo, ASU's distance standout. Aguayo, who finished ninth in the nation at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships, will look for his fourth Pac-10 steeplechase title this year. Kraft also has helped with the efforts put forth by Joshua Kinnaman, a two-time All-American in the multi-events during the 2006 season. Kraft's influence on the success of the program also was honored as two of his assistants earned recognition in 2006. David Dumble (women's throws) and Louis Quintana (women's distances) were both selected as the USTFCCCA West District Assistant Coach of the Year before being tabbed as the USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year for their respective areas. During his tenure, Kraft's student-athletes have combined to collect 75 individual All-America honors, 14 relay All-America honors and five NCAA Championships. Regionally, seven individual and eight relay crowns have been earned with the Pac-10 Championships having seen 39 individual events and eight relays captured by Sun Devil athletes. Academically, the program has been equally impressive with Sun Devil athletes combing to earn 116 selections to the Pac-10 Academic First and Second teams in cross country and track & field. At the end of the 2006 season, Jackson was selected as the USTFCCCA Women's Outdoor Student-Athlete of the Year while 13 Sun Devils earned national academic recognition from the USTFCCCA as well. The 2005 calendar year was another banner campaign for the Sun Devils as three women and eight men attained individual All-America honors while one men's relay also earned the national accolade. The women's cross country team finished fourth to earn the first trophy finish in the history of the program while Hastings became the first harrier to earn All-America honors three times in a career. The 2004 season saw many great accomplishments, but none more impressive than the victories recorded by one current and one former student-athlete. In June, Kraft coached true freshman Johnson to the NCAA Heptathlon title, the first national title won by a track and field athlete since 1996. Two months later, former Sun Devil standout Dwight Phillips traveled to Athens, Greece, where he claimed Olympic gold for the United States. Several of the more successful student-athletes in the history of the program have accumulated numerous All-America honors under Kraft. Those athletes, which were recruited by Kraft and his staff, include the likes of Marcus Brunson (seven), Tony Berrian (six) and Phillips (five) for the men and women's athletes Tiffany Greer (eight), Lisa Aguilera (six) and Kelly MacDonald (four). Recent graduate Seth Amoo capped his career with eight honors while current runner Hastings has totaled seven in her career. Kraft's athletes have fared well internationally as well. Prior to Phillips claiming gold in the 2004 Games, he won the 2003 indoor and outdoor World Championships and also finished eighth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In the summer of 2006, Sarah Stevens and current redshirt freshman Ryan Whiting represented the United States at the Pan-Am Games with both winning the shot put competition while Whiting, the 2005 Gatorade National High School Track & Field Athlete of the Year, also won the discus. Since his first Pac-10 Championship meet at the helm of the Sun Devil program in 1996, numerous titles have been brought back to Tempe while both teams have been very competitive in the overall standings. The women have finished in the Top 4 in each of the past five seasons while their male counterparts have done so in five of the last seven seasons. In that same stretch, the men scored 100 points or more five times. The men's relays have enjoyed remarkable success during the Kraft years as the 4x400m relay title resided in Tempe for five years in a row (2001-05) while the 4x100m relay attained gold in 2005 as well. Student-athletes have become multiple champions under Kraft, including the conference's first three-time long jump champion in Greer, two-time steeplechase winner Lisa Aguilera, two-time 5,000m run champion MacDonald and two-time high jump champion Fiona Daly while Johnson won both the high jump and heptathlon in 2004 before adding the 2006 heptathlon crown. For the men, Marcus Brunson won the 100m and 200m in the same year while Phillips took home two long jump crowns and Aguayo is the three-time defending 3,000m steeplechase champion. After spending his first two years at ASU rebuilding the program one event at a time, constructing a foundation that focused on recruiting the high school ranks, the recent seasons have shown Kraft's continued breakthroughs. In that span of time, the men's team scored over 100 points five times and the first time since 1981 while the women broke the century mark for just the third time ever, amassing a school-record 154 points on its way to winning the Pac-10. Since the 1999 indoor and outdoor seasons, the men and women have combined to make numerous additions to the Sun Devil record book. Both teams have combined to record 53 school records, including 12 during the 2006 season. In 2005, two of those outdoor marks bettered much older marks, including the 4x100m relay of Steven Koehneman, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love Jr., broke the 1979 mark of 38.79 with their run of 38.71 and Jessica Pressley's shot put mark beating out Leslie Deniz' throw from 1983. The shot put mark is now owned by Sarah Stevens. The 2004 season was filled with All-American performances, with 11 Sun Devils combining for 11 national accolades. On the women's side, Johnson led the charge as she collected honors for her national title in the outdoor heptathlon and runner-up finish in the indoor pentathlon. Banda, Barton and Peterson each collected four honors each. The men finished third in the Pac-10 Championships (120 points) while the women captured fourth (97) to again finish among the top tier of the conference standings. The men's 4x400m relay was victorious for the fourth year in a row while Banda (400m), Johnson (high jump/heptathlon), Aguayo and Hastings (3,000m steeplechase) all recorded individual crowns at the meet. At the NCAA Outdoor Championship meet, the women finished tied for 20th with 12 points while the men scored 22 points and a tie for 10th place to record the best finish under Kraft. The cross country team posted two solid performances at nationals with the men setting a school record for finish (8th) and low points (315) while the women advanced to the national meet for the seventh year in a row after having never making the national field in the history of the program. In 2003, the men, following three years of 100-points or more at the Pac-10 Championships, slipped below the mark while the women registered a school-record 109 points. Cassandra Reed (400m), Banda (400m), the men's 4x400m relay, Aguilera (3,000m steeplechase), Greer (long jump) and Sandra Orsund (discus) each won titles. In 2002, the track team again shined. The women saw Greer and Aguilera garner All-America honors in both indoor and outdoor after winning the Pac-10 Championship in the long jump and 3,000m steeplechase, respectively. For the men, the 4x400m relay team of Lorenzo Parham, Steve Fitch, Pete Lopez and Seth Amoo won the Pac-10 Championship and also were All-Americans in the outdoor event. Indoors, David Wood (shot put) and Trevell Quinley (long jump) were All-Americans. Also in 2002, the harrier women, led by a strong group of first or second year athletes, advanced to the NCAA Championships where they placed tied for 23rd. Jessica Scalzo earned Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year honors while helping guide the team to the NCAA Championships. For the men, Fasil Bizuneh and J.J. Duke advanced to the national meet as individuals to give the men a presence at the championships. The 2001 season saw the ASU men record their highest national finish (tied for 15th) since the 1981 squad placed fourth. The men also racked up 109.5 points at the Pac-10 Championships, their second-highest point total since the same `81 squad took home the conference crown with 133. Under Kraft's guidance and 103 points earned by the men's team last year, ASU has had three years in a row with a 100-point finish at the Pac-10 Championships. Prior to his arrival, the team had only once broken the 100-point plateau. On the women's side, ASU earned its best national finish (tied for 14th) since 1994 when the squad took 10th. In 2001, both men's and women's cross country teams made appearances at the NCAA Championships, with the men setting a school record with a second-place team finish at the Pac-10 Championships, which ASU hosted. Kelly MacDonald was the driving force behind the women's success in 2001. MacDonald earned All-America honors and won Pac-10 titles in two events, the 3000m steeplechase and the 5000m. Tiffany Greer also assisted the women's cause, placing third at the NCAA Championships in the long jump and earning her fourth straight (indoor and outdoor) All-America honors in the event. Upon graduating from the program, Brunson won gold in the 100m at the World University Games, while MacDonald captured third place in the 3000m steeplechase at the USA Championships. During the 2000 indoor season, the ASU men tied for 10th and the women placed 23rd at the NCAA Championships. The women broke five school records, more than any other year since 1991 when they broke four, while the men snapped three ASU standards. On the outdoor track, the men tied for 17th at the NCAA Championships, while the women tied for 38th. At the 2000 Pac-10 Championships, the men's squad took home the highest finish since 1983, a third-place standing, while the women placed fifth, the first top-five finish since 1995. In 40 years of competition, Dwight Phillips became only the seventh man to repeat as the Pac-10 long-jump champion. Also taking home conference titles were Jeremy Rasmussen (3,000m steeplechase), the men's 4x100m relay team, Kelly MacDonald (5,000m), and Greer (long jump). During the 1999 indoor season, ASU's men finished 11th and the women tied for 32nd at the NCAA Championships. Marcus Brunson (60 meters) and Dwight Phillips (long jump) were NCAA runners-up after Brunson had broken the collegiate record in the 60 meters earlier in the year. Six indoor school records were broken. The outdoor season saw three school records eclipsed as the men finished fifth in the Pac-10 -- just 0.5 points out of fourth place -- and 18th at the NCAA Championships. Phillips captured both the long jump and triple jump Pac-10 titles and Fiona Daly recorded her second straight women's high jump conference crown. Kraft was introduced as ASU's head coach July 28, 1996, after spending seven years guiding the track and field and cross country programs at the University of South Carolina where he was the 1996 SEC Coach of the Year. During Kraft's tenure at South Carolina, he rebuilt the men's program into a league power and constructed the women's program from scratch. Kraft also headed up the men's program transition from the Metro Conference to the Southeastern Conference. The result of Kraft's work was both quick and remarkable. The Gamecock men's squad took just three years to climb from 22 points and a 10th-place finish to 74 points and a fourth-place finish at the 12-team conference meet. The three teams ahead of South Carolina were recent NCAA champions Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU. South Carolina had consecutive NCAA top 20 finishes. On the women's side, the South Carolina climb was as impressive as it was quick. In four years, the Gamecock women went from a basic walk-on program that finished 10th in the SEC (13 points) to a second-place finish (103 points) behind eventual national champion LSU. The USC women then went on to score 26 points at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to tie UCLA for ninth place. And the Gamecocks were to return 102 of their 103 conference points, plus all 26 of their NCAA points. What made building of the women's program even more astounding was South Carolina had yet to be funded to the NCAA scholarship limits. "We are extremely excited to welcome Greg to the ASU family," then-ASU Athletic Director Dr. Kevin White said at the time he introduced Kraft. "He built South Carolina into one of the nation's top track & field programs virtually from scratch. He is also nationally regarded as a coach of remarkable class and integrity, which is precisely what we were looking for at Arizona State." Kraft, who is now entering his 27th year of Division I coaching and 18th as a head coach, has long been associated with successful track and field and cross country programs. As an assistant, Kraft tutored 26 All-Americans and 36 individual conference champions while helping guide his schools to four conference titles and three NCAA Top 10 finishes. He started his coaching career in 1979 as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. During Kraft's one-year stint at Cal Poly, the Mustangs won the NCAA Division II championship in both track and field and cross country. Kraft's next stop was a one-year stint as the field events coach at Indiana State University. In 1981, he moved on to a highly successful stint as an assistant at Kansas State University. During his four years at KSU, Kraft tutored 14 Big Eight champions and 16 NCAA All-Americans. One of the Wildcat pupils was 1996 Olympic triple jump champion Kenny Harrison. During his stint in Manhattan, KSU won a Big Eight championship in cross country and posted two top-10 NCAA finishes in track, as well as four other top-20 finishes. Kraft then headed to the University of Virginia in 1985, where his initial responsibilities included all field events. His duties were later expanded to include the sprints and hurdles. During his four-year stint in Charlottesville, his student-athletes won 20 individual Atlantic Coast Conference titles and earned seven All-America honors while capturing three ACC team championships. After 10 years as an assistant coach, Kraft was ready for a head coaching job and he was named South Carolina's head coach in 1989. At South Carolina, Kraft's cross country teams were twice named Academic All-America squads. Overall, 38 student-athletes were honored as Academic All-SEC selections and 11 student-athletes would earn All-America honors. Gamecock student-athletes won individual titles in the Metro Conference, SEC, NCAA Indoors, NCAA Outdoors, USA Indoors, USA Outdoors, the Olympic Festival, the Pan American Juniors and the 1996 USA Olympic Trials. He also mentored current ASU sprints coach Terry Winston, a two-time All-American and SEC runner-up in the hurdles for South Carolina. Kraft is married to the former Maggie Keyes of Mill Valley, Calif. Maggie is a former collegiate record-setting miler who won AIAW, TAC and Millrose Games titles. She was also a member of the USA's first-ever World Championship team in 1983. The Krafts have two sons, Kyle, a second year engineering student in ASU's Barretts College, and Cory, a high school junior. |
 
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