W&J ASSISTANT COACH JESSICA COOPER HONORED BY USTFCCA (5/25)

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its Regional Athletes and Coaches of the Year for the 2010 Outdoor Track & Field season Monday and Washington & Jefferson College’s Jessica Cooper was honored as the Division III Mideast Region Assistant Men’s Coach of the Year. 

Cooper helped Washington & Jefferson win its first-ever Presidents’ Athletic Conference Men’s Track & Field Championship on May 1st.  Cooper coached the Presidents’ hurdles and jump competitors who compiled 104 of the squad’s 165 points at the championship event. 

Cooper also helped sophomore Taylor Hockman (Martinsburg, W.Va./Hedgesville) provisionally qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships in the long jump (23’4”).  Hockman narrowly missed out on an invitation to the championship event. 

A 2008 graduate of Westminster College, Cooper came to W&J after spending one season as an assistant coach at Carnegie Mellon University. 

She was a four-year member of WC’s track & field team as well as a three-year letter winner in volleyball.  She was named as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Field MVP during the 2008 season after finishing as the PAC’s high jump champion and runner-up in the triple jump.  Cooper was Westminster’s first-ever female NCAA qualifier and All-American track & field performer.

Cooper serves as assistant coach under Head Coach Mark FitzPatrick, a five-time PAC Coach of the Year.  FitzPatrick begins his eighth season in charge of the cross country and track & field programs this fall. 

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