2012 Coaching Staff

John Crooke - Head Women's Cross Country Coach

(860) 685-5320 - jcrooke@wesleyan.edu

    John Crooke is in his 13th season as head men’s and women’s cross country coach at Wesleyan University heading into the 2012 campaign. Under his guidance both the men’s and women’s team have been elevated in regional and national rankings and are consistently ranked among the top-10 in New England. Wesleyan's women have qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship as a team three times under John's tutelage (2002, 2004 and 2009) with its most recent visit in 2009 resulting in a 14th-place finish.  The men's team qualified for its first national championship in 2005, also coming in 14th, then qualified a second time in 2006 with a 15th-place showing.  Wesleyan has had individual NCAA qualifiers on the men's side in both 2010 and 2011.  John was named NESCAC men's co-Coach of the Year and New England Division III men's Coach of the Year following the 2005 campaign.
    John also serves as an assistant coach for both men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, working with the distance runners. 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 University in Chester, Pa. (1996-98) where he directed the women's programs, and head boys and girls 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.  He is a member of the St. Joseph's track & field Hall of Fame.

Laura Pierce - Assistant Coach

     After a solid cross-country and track career at Oberlin College before graduating in 2003, Laura Pierce will give the Cardinals coaching support for a third time during the 2012 season.  She assisted in both cross country and track at Wesleyan in 2010-11 and 2011-12.  Laura also has coaching experience at both Swarthmore College, where she served as an assistant in both cross country and track for two years (2003-05), and most recently Millikin University. There she was head coach of the cross country squads in 2009 after serving as an assistant in 2008.  She also assisted in track from 2008-10.  Between her stints at Swarthmore and Millikin, Laura received a M.S. in kinesiology from the University of Illinios.
     At Oberlin, Laura was a three-time all-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) performer in cross country while earning a trip to the NCAA Division III Championship as an individual qualifier in 2001. She was a four-time NCAC champion in track, twice making the grade indoors (3k & 5k) and twice outdoors (5k & 10k).  Laura was twice named a USTFCCCA academic All-American in cross country and equaled that effort in track.

David Hunt - Assistant Coach

     A 2011 graduate of Eastern Connecticut, David Hunt will be a new face on the cross country coaching scene at Wesleyan in 2012 as an assistant.  Receiving his degree in sport and leisure management with a concentration in sports performance, David was a school record-setter during the 2009-10 indoor track season, establishing ECSU marks for the mile and as part of the 4x800m relay and the distance medley relay.  He was a member of both the track and cross country squads at Eastern Conn. during 2009-10 after competing in both sports at Central Connecticut from 2005-08, where he started his collegiate education. 
     In 2010-11, David was an assistant coach in both cross country and track at ECSU.  He also had a chance to assist during the 2011-12 indoor season at New Milford (Conn.) High School, his alma mater.  There he was all-state in indoor track, all-conference in outdoor track and a conference champion in cross country before graduating in 2005.