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2010 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH
OF THE YEAR
2010 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CO-COACH OF THE
YEAR
2009 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH OF THE
YEAR
2005 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CO-COACH OF
THE YEAR
2004 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH OF
THE YEAR
Helen Lehman-Winters enters her ninth season as the head men's
and women's cross country and track & field coach at the
University of San Francisco. Lehman-Winters brings an exceptional
coaching resume to the Hilltop with a history of building programs
from the ground up at the prep level and also coaching the
nationally elite at the collegiate level. Before arriving at USF,
Lehman-Winters spent three successful seasons working at UCLA with
the men's and women's middle and long distance corps and fifteen
years coaching at the prep level.
Since Lehman-Winters arrival to the Hilltop, she has transformed a
long dormant cross country program into a contender in the West
Coast Conference and has built a men's and women's track program
from scratch. She has won WCC Coach of the Year Award five times.
Under her guidance, the women have claimed back to back WCC
championship team titles in 2009 and 2010 and the men have turned
in three runner up performances. The 2010 season was a
record-breaking year in terms of times, team performances,
post-season honors and national recognition. San Francisco's
women's cross country team became nationally ranked for the first
time in program history when the Dons appeared at No. 26 in the
United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
national poll on Oct. 19. The women's team continued that momentum
into the NCAA West Regionals by turning in its best finish in
program history. USF was seventh out of 31 teams; just missing an
at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
Also, under Lehman-Winters guidance, Cheyne Inman claimed the
2007 individual WCC Championship title, snapping University
of Portland's 28 year individual win record. Lehman-Winters has
coached 26 All-WCC athletes, eleven NCAA Regional finalists and two
NCAA finalists on the track. In addition, her teams excel in
the classroom and have consistently earned All-Academic status from
the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches
Association.
Dons' Accomplishments under Lehman-Winters
Michelle Born: Improved significantly under
Lehman-Winters guidance- in her senior track campaign, Born set two
school records in both the 3000m and 5000m improving her personal
bests to 9:50.18 and 16:38.87 respectively; she also posted a
personal best of 4:30.41 for 1500m; Born earned two time ALL-WCC
honors in cross country and posted the third highest finish (4th
place) for a Don at the WCC Championships; she left the program
with a personal best of 21:25 for 6000m achieved at the NCAA
Western Regional Championships.
Nicole Bowler: Still competing for the Dons, during her
career, she set four school records in the 800m, 1500m, mile and
3000m steeplechase; she is a two time NCAA regional qualifier in
the 1500m and was also 3000m steeplechase qualifier in 2009...with
prep bests of only 2:19 (800m) and 5:06 (1600m), she has improved
to collegiate bests to 2:12.33, 4:2366 and 16:36.90.
Jeannine Hagedorn: 2005 runner up at the WCC
Cross Country Championships, the best finish in school history and
the seventh fastest time in WCC history; Hagedorn also turned in
USF's highest finish at the at the 2005 NCAA Western Regional
Championships, narrowly missing qualifying for the NCAA
Championships and was an all conference performer at 5000m on the
track.
Jennifer Hartford: Improved tremendously under
Lehman-Winters guidance- Hartford was a 5:26 miler and 19:40 5K
runner in high school and concluded her career on the hilltop
competing at the NCAA Regional Championships on the track; she
posted times of 16:49.50 (5000 meters), 36:51 (10K) and 4:41.93
(1500 meters) on the track; she earned All WCC honors three times
in cross country and posted school 6000m record of 21:18 in her
senior year.
Cheyne Inman: Earned all WCC honors four
straight years, culminating with a WCC Championship individual
title in 2007 when he snapped University of Portland 29 year streak
of individual WCC titles.
Eva Krchova: Still competing for the Dons…she has
qualified for NCAA Championships in the 3000m steeplechase in back
to back seasons and posted a personal best of 9:55 at the European
U-23 championships…she was also a finalist this past summer
at the World University Games in Shenzhan, China; she has also run
personal bests of 4:20.43 and 9:17.57.
Alex Nelson: Improved from 3:56.89 in the 1500 in his
freshmen campaign to 3:44.76 in his junior year; he was an NCAA
Regional finalist in 2008 and earned WCC Cross Honors in 2007.
Lehman-Winters' Coaching Career Prior to the
Hilltop
Lehman-Winters owns an exceptional coaching resume with a history
of building programs from the ground up at the prep level and
coaching the nationally elite at the collegiate level. Before
arriving at USF, Lehman-Winters spent three successful seasons
working at UCLA with the men's and women's middle ad long distance
corps. While at UCLA, Lehman-Winters assisted the Bruins in
qualifying for back to back berths in the NCAA Cross Country
Championships (2001-02). Lehman-Winters also assisted UCLA's
Distance Medley Relay team to the 2002 NCAA Indoor Championship
title and Lena Nilsson in two individual NCAA titles (2003 Indoor
800 and 2002 NCAA outdoor 1500). In addition, Lehman-Winters served
on the coaching staff for the Bruins' 2001 NCAA Indoor Championship
team, runner up team finishes on the 2002 and 2003 NCAA Outdoor
Championship teams.
Lehman-Winters built dominant teams from scratch as a head coach
of the cross country and track programs at Carondelet High School
from 1989-2000 and El Cerrito High School from 1985-89. At the prep
level, Lehman-Winters guided her cross country teams to nine
California state meet cross country berths, eight North Coast
Section titles and 12 league titles.
Lehman-Winters also coached Kristen Gordon, 1996 Footlocker
National Champion. Gordon posted a 17:01 (5000m) on the Woodward
Park course, 4:46.18 (1600m), 10:19.84 (3200m), and also posted a
runner up finish at 3000m in the 1997 USATF Junior Nationals.
Gordon went on to become a three-time collegiate All-American. On
the track, Lehman-Winters' squads enjoyed even greater success,
posting an unprecedented 109-1 league dual meet record, five North
Coast Section titles, and two national rankings (Carondelet #11 in
1997 and #24 in 1998). Lehman-Winters coached 23 distance runners
to the state meet, nine of which earned top four finishes. Her
distance medley relay team won the National High School Indoor
Championship title in 1996 and in 1997 achieved a #4 national
ranking in three distance relays.
Lehman-Winters also coached Tiffany Roberts, a runner up at 800m
(2:11.81) in the California State Championships in 1995 and a
three-time California State Meet Qualifier in three different
events. Roberts was a Gold Medalist for the United States Women's
Soccer team in 1996.
A highly decorated coach, Lehman-Winters earned the 1998 Contra
Costa Times Women of the Year Merit Award, North Coast Section
Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1996 and was named American Athletics
Coach of the Year in 1991. In addition to her coaching duties, she
was director of athletics at Carondelet (1993-96).
Lehman-Winters competed in cross country and track at UC Santa
Barbara before graduating from California in 1987. Lehman-Winters
earned her master's degree in sport psychology from John F. Kennedy
University in 1997. She and her husband of 14 years, John, have
three children- Miles (nine), Mathias (seven) and Milana (five).
They reside in Richmond.
