Season Nine for OWU’s Coach: Kris Boey
Kris Boey. (Photo courtesy of OWU’s Office of Marketing and Communication)
Coach Kris Boey is starting his ninth season at Ohio Wesleyan with a new title: Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, as he continues his role as head coach of men’s and women’s track and field.
Part of his new responsibility includes helping to plan for the 2011 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s outdoor track and field championship with Assistant Track and Field Coach Seth McGuffin. The event will be hosted by Ohio Wesleyan on May 26-28 at the newly renovated Selby Field.
“The NCAA national championship is a big event for the University as well as the community,” says Boey. “There will be more than 800 student athletes, coaches, and athletic affiliates attending.” Planning for the event started over a year ago, and it is one of the largest athletic events Ohio Wesleyan has ever hosted.
“Ohio Wesleyan has a great tradition of hosting events, but this will be unlike anything we’ve done before. We’re proud to be doing it and be a catalyst for OWU and the Delaware community on a national level,” Boey says.
As he explains, preparation is a daily commitment.
“Every day we are working on something for the championship. We have a manual a half-an- inch thick.” Community involvement, housing for the coaches and athletes, working directly with the NCAA on policies and protocols, finding vendors, coordinating key workers as well as the media, and working with OWU’s buildings and grounds staff members are just a few of the components involved in preparing for the championship.
“We hope to be done with preparation by January 1 so that we will be well prepared by the time May comes around,” says Boey.
The track and field team has already won many titles, and hope to add more to the list. The team has produced 58 NCAA qualifiers, five All-Americans, eight intercollegiate Cross Country All-Academics, 17 NCAC Athletes of the Year selections, 456 All-NCAC honorees, and have broken 64 school records, along with many other awards, all within Boey’s first seven years at Ohio Wesleyan.
As for the runners, Boey says there is a great deal of enthusiasm about competing on such a large scale in front of a home crowd.
“We are still using the same training techniques as in the past, but I’m focused on building excitement among the team. Our group is awfully motivated. There’s nothing like standing on a podium in your own home field.”
The NCAA is a great opportunity for not only runners to receive recognition, but it is a chance for Ohio Wesleyan to be seen on a national level, Boey says. “This will be a first class championship event that will allow a different clientele to see what a wonderful and unique place Ohio Wesleyan is.”
More about Kris Boey…
Along with being head coach of track and field for Ohio Wesleyan, Boey has served as head coach of men’s and women’s cross country from 2002-09. He is also an instructor in Ohio Wesleyan’s department of physical education as well as the advisor for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Prior to coming to Ohio Wesleyan, Boey served as the head coach of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country at Muskingum College. He also spent two seasons at Rhodes College as the assistant coach for men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams. He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1998 with a B.A. in history and secondary education, and went on to earn his M.S.Ed. in sport and leisure commerce from the University of Tennessee. He is originally from Grafton, Ohio and now resides in Delaware with his wife, Leslie, and their daughter Abbie, and son, Alex.