Walter Curry begins his third season as head
track & field coach for the Cardinals. Walter brings eight
years of experience as an assistant track & field coach at Boston
College to Wesleyan. Walter had success coaching three Division I
All-Americans and numerous Big East all-conference and all-New England
performers during his stint at B.C. In his two-year tenure at
Wesleyan, Walter has had 10 NCAA qualifiers (six indoors and four
outdoors), five All-Americans (three indoor, two outdoor), one of whom
is a 2003 NCAA indoor national champion in the 55-meter dash.
Walter is a 1987 graduate of Iowa State University
where he was an outstanding sprinter and hurdler for the Cyclones and
was part of their indoor and outdoor Big Eight conference champion
squads with several individual top-three conference finishes, a place on
the 110-meter hurdles top-10 list a trip to the NCAA Division I
Championships in 1986 to his credit.
Walter began coaching while a student at Iowa State,
working with the Cyclones' summer camp in 1985 and 1986. In recent
years he has been a clinician for hurdles events at the Brown University
track & field camp since 1998 and was a guest clinician at the 2000 and
2001 New England High School Track & Field Coaches Clinic. He is
the writer, co-producer and clinician for an instructional video on
hurdling which was first distributed nationally by Championship Books
and Video Productions in 1998.
A U.S.A.T.F. level II certified coach in sprints,
hurdles and jumps, Walter specializes in these events at Wesleyan.
Walter resides in Torrington, Conn. with his wife Judy and their three
children - Olivia (12), Dante (7) and Austin (5).
John Crooke -
Assistant Coach (Distance)
John Crooke is in his fourth season as head
men’s and women’s cross country coach and assistant track coach,
specializing in distance events, at Wesleyan University. Under his
guidance both men’s and women’s cross-country team have risen steadily
in regional and national rankings. The 2002 women’s team qualified for
the NCAA
championships for the first time in school history. The team ended the
season ranked 20th in the nation.
John was acting head coach for both teams during the outdoor season in
2000-01 and guided the women’s team to a third-place finish in the NESCAC championships which was the highest conference finish in school
history.
Prior to his appointment at Wesleyan, John served as head
men's and women's cross-country and track & field coach at Hiram College
in Hiram, Ohio, for the 1998 and 1999 seasons. He was associate head
cross-country and track & field coach at Widener College in Chester, Pa.
(1996-98) where he directed the women's programs, and head boy's and
girl's cross country and track & field coach at Lower Merion High School
in Ardmore, Pa. (1988-95).
Graduating from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia in
1983, John went on to earn his master's degree with a concentration in
sport and athletic administration from West Chester University in 1996.
While a student at St. Joseph's, John was a team captain in both cross
country and track, earning all-Atlantic 10 honors in each while also
receiving all-East accolades in cross country. He is a member of his
alma mater's track & field Hall of Fame.
Tom Bezrutczyk -
Assistant Coach (Throws)
Tom Bezrutczyk enters
his third year with the Wesleyan track & field program as coach of
the throwing events. Coach "B" (as the team members call him)
has had a major impact on the performance of the Cardinal throwers
since he joined the staff in 2001. Tom has coached a 2002
All-American, a 2003 NCAA meet qualifier and the school
record-holder in the women's hammer and 20-pound weight. A
number of Coach B's athletes have come through with top-eight
finishes at the NESCAC meet, the New England Division III meet, the
ECAC Division III meet and the New England Open meet.
A 1976 graduate of Central
Connecticut State University, Tom was a New England high-school
and Connecticut AAU discus champion while a student at New Britain
(Conn.) High School, Tom was active as both a thrower and weight
lifter during his college days before an accident curtailed his
activities. Later, he regained his form and attended the Olympic
Trials in 1976 as a weight lifter. Returning to the discus in the
1980s, he competed locally. Coaching a bit at both Central Conn. and
Southern Conn. during the mid-1990s and active in presenting
seminars at area high schools, Tom competed in the 1995 World
Master's Championship in the discus, placing ninth of 30
participants. Tom runs his own construction firm and he and his
wife, Jacqueline, live in Meriden, Conn., with their two children,
Ian and Meghan.
Walter Curry - Head
Men's Track Coach