Amy Deem Named Regional Coach of the Year
NEW ORLEANS – University of Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem was named the 2016 USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Indoor Head Coach of the Year.
Deem, in her 26th year as head coach of the Hurricanes, led them to their first ACC Indoor championship since 2006 and third in school history. Her athletes earned 14 All-ACC honors, with nine of those being first-team mention. Miami is currently ranked 21st in the latest USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings and will have six entries at the upcoming NCAA meet.
“It’s always great to be honored by your peers,” Deem said. “This was definitely a group effort. Our coaching staff, student-athletes and support staff all contributed greatly to the championship and this award.”
Under Deem’s guidance, junior Shakima WImbley was named the ACC Women’s Indoor Track Most Outstanding Performer after she won gold medals in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m at the 2016 ACC Indoor Championships. Wimbley will compete at the NCAA Championships in the 200m, an event which she is currently ranked 13th nationally with a time of 23.20 seconds.
ACC 60m hurdles silver medalist Ebony Morrison will also be competing at the NCAA Championships. Morrison, who transferred to Miami after two years at Auburn, qualified for the NCAA meet with a personal-best time of 8.18 seconds that ranks fifth in UM history and 16th in the country.
Four Hurricanes will compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the field events. ACC gold medalist Dakota Dailey-Harris’ mark of 1.83m set a school record in the women’s high jump and clinched her spot in the NCAA indoor Championships, ranking 16th nationally.
Alysha Newman, who earned a silver medal in the women’s pole vault at the ACC Indoor Championships, enters the NCAA meet with the fourth-best mark in the country: a school-record 4.50m.
The Canes also have two of the 16 competitors in the women’s weight throw and both have Top 10 marks in the NCAA this season. Tiffany Okieme’s mark of 21.42m ranks ninth in the country, earned the senior a silver medal in the weight throw at the ACC Indoor Championships and moved her into third place in UM history. Fellow senior Precious Ogunleye ranks 10th in the country with a throw of 21.27m.
Deem’s Hurricanes will spend this week training in preparation for the NCAA Indoor Championships, scheduled for March 11-12 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama, and the upcoming outdoor season that will begin on March 18-19 with the Hurricane Invitational.
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