42 / ’southern
ATHLETICS
Track and field runner brings home national championship;
adds to banner year for program
The Birmingham-Southern
track and field teams competed
in seven indoor meets and eight
regular season outdoor meets
this past spring, leading up
to the 2013 Southern Athletic
Association Championship,
where the Panthers won seven
individual conference titles and
medaled in 22 events.
At the conclusion of the
indoor season, senior
Robert
Willett
and junior
Tiarra
Goode
repeated as NCAA
Division III All-Americans,
placing second in their events
at the NCAA Indoor National
Championship in Naperville,
Ill., on March9. Goode ran
the 60-meter hurdles in 8.61
seconds to place second after
winning the national title in the
same event last season. She also
placed third in the 60-meter
dash, earning All-America
accolades for both events.
Willett ran the 800-meters in
1:50.6, also finishing second,
and was named Regional
Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of
the Year by the U.S. Track and
Field/Cross Country Coaches
Association (USTFCCCA) for
his efforts.
Goode and Willett returned
to the national stage at the
end of the outdoor season,
along with teammates
Hank
Goode
(Courtesy of Jimmy Mitchell)
Willett
(Courtesy of Frank Poulin)
Ballard
, a junior, and
Aaron
Sherrill
, a senior, who both
qualified in the javelin throw.
All posted marks high enough
to earn berths to the NCAA
Division III Outdoor National
Championship held in La
Crosse, Wis., May 24-25. Willett
brought home the national
crown in the 800-meters, BSC’s
third national championship
at the Division III level, after
posting a time of 1:49.95.
Goode, who also won the
100-meter hurdles national title
last season, qualified nationally
in three events, finishing second
in the 100-meter hurdles with a
time of 14.24 seconds, third in
the 100-meter dash with a mark
of 12.29 seconds, and eighth in
the 200-meter dash with a time
of 25.11 seconds.
Sherrill placed fourth in the
javelin with a mark of 65.44
meters, and Ballard was 18th
in the nation with a distance of
57.50 meters.
Goode and Willett earned
All-American honors again,
with Goode qualifying as an
All-American in all three of her
events, one of only 15 student
athletes in the nation to do
so. Sherrill was also named an
All-American after his fourth-
place finish. Goode went on
to earn USTFCCCA Regional
Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete
of the Year honors, and Ballard,
Sherrill, and Willett were named
to the USTFCCCA All-Academic
Team.
“Having a family of student-
athletes who are willing to raise
the bar each year with their
unwavering desire to be the best
in the conference, region, and
the nation makes me proud to
be their head coach,” said BSC
Cross Country/Track And Field
Coach Kenneth Cox. “We have
experienced amazing growth
each year, and I still believe that
the best is yet to come for BSC’s
cross country/track and field
program.”
Casey Kear tapped to lead BSC men’s lacrosse program
Birmingham-Southern has hired Casey Kear as head coach of its men’s lacrosse program.
“We are very pleased to have Casey leading our men’s lacrosse program,” said Joe Dean, BSC director of
athletics.“ He has been extremely successful as both a player and coach during his career, and we feel he is
the right person to take our program to the national level.”
Kear had been an assistant men’s lacrosse coach at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., since
2006. His main responsibility was coordinating the defense, along with recruiting.
Kear coached two NCAA All-Americans at FMC and helped lead the Diplomats to top-20 national
rankings in each of the past three seasons and 21 total wins in the last two seasons.
He is a 2006 graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, where he majored in history. He
played varsity lacrosse there, helping lead the Great Danes to the America East championships in 2004 and
2005. Prior to SUNY Albany, he attended Herkimer County Community College, winning the 2003 Junior
College National Championship; before that he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from
2001-03.
Kear has also helped direct Tom Cavallaro’s All-Star Lacrosse Camps in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania,
and Texas over the past five years.
Kear
