Full list of 2010 USTFCCCA Regional Indoor Track & Field Awards

GREENCASTLE, Ind. - As seven athletes from McMurry University prepare for the 2010 Indoor national championships Friday and Saturday, a banquet precedes the events Thursday night and awards will be passed out by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Among the winners will be McMurry assistant coach Brad Parris who was selected as the men's South/Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Parris, the former five-time national champion in the pole vault, chose a career path to help other collegiate track athletes improve their vaults and jumps as an assistant coach at his alma mater. For the past seven years, Parris has been a full-time assistant to head coach Barbara Crousen and Wednesday his work was recognized by the USTFCCCA for helping three men's pole vaulters and long jumper Gavan Bass reach the national meet.

“I think it was a given. He has two pole vaulters here this year and a long jumper; he has them here year in and year out, and he's very deserving,” said Crousen. “He's known throughout the region and the nation after his college days as a national champion and now he's helping turn out nationally recognized athletes here at McMurry and he's been one of the key contributors to our success here.”

Thomas Dimitri, Corey Altenburg and Gavan Bass are among the athletes that Parris guided to the national meet. Parris' main emphasis is vaulters and jumpers; Dimitri and Altenburg qualified in the pole vault while Bass will compete in the long jump as well as the 60-meter dash.

As far as the meet itself, Crousen said that McMurry has mostly underdogs in the meet.

“They might be underdogs on paper, but they're not acting like it,” she said. “[Gavan] Bass was here last year and he knows what it takes. Anything can happen once you get to the national meet and our group is ready.”

The top eight finishers in each event earn all-America status and McMurry's Kevin Cunningham is the only athlete that is seeded in the top eight heading into the meet. However, the pole vaulters, Bass, and Holly Rollins in the women's pole vault will look to move up for McMurry in the national meet hosted by DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. Also, the 4X400-meter relay team of Cunningham, Terry Smith, Marcus Thompson and Kolby Barnhill will look to move up the ladder.

The preliminary rounds for most events begin Friday with the majority of the final events finishing Saturday. McMurry's men finished fourth in the meet last season.