New Orleans, La. - June 2, 2010 - Senior Steve Headley capped off his remarkable career as he was selected as The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Track Athlete of the Year for Outdoor Track & Field in Division III. Headley was named the National Male Track Athlete of the Year, while Marie Borner of Bethel University in Minnesota was chosen as the National Female Track Athlete of the Year. The awards were voted on by the nation’s coaches.
Headley, a senior from Wilbraham, Mass., was more than hard to beat in the 2010 outdoor track & field season. That fact is especially true for Headley in the 100 meters this year, an event in which he won the NCAA crown for the second-consecutive year with a 10.33 run in the finals at last weekend’s NCAA Division III Championships. His time in the 100 proved to be the seventh-fastest time in Division III history.
Headley added a second-place national showing in the 200 meters and was the second leg of his squad’s 4×100-meter relay that finished as the national runner-up. All told, Headley accounted for 20 of Springfield’s 26 points at the national championships, helping the Pride to a fifth-place national team finish.
Earlier in the year, Headley won NEWMAC titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters, setting conference records in both, en route to being named the NEWMAC Track Athlete of the Year. He also recorded top finishes in the Division III New England Championships in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meters, and won Eastern College Athletic Conference titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters, both in record times.
Headley is the second student-athlete at Springfield College to earn national player of the year honors this year. Earlier this spring, AJ Nally of the men's volleyball team was chosen as the 2010 American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III National Player of the Year.
Ken Klatka, just inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame in October, 2011, enters his 37th season as head coach of the men’s track and field program in 2012-2013. He ranks among the nation’s most successful coaches, with an overall record of 442 wins, 144 losses, and two ties for an impressive .753 winning percentage. Under his direction, Kevin Coyle '12 won the 2011 Division III Indoor Long Jump National Championship.
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