Mike Maynard

Associate Head Coach

Throws

13^th Year

With worldwide connections, Arizona associate head coach Mike Maynard has brought some of the top international throws talent to the Wildcat program. Entering his 13^th year with at UA, Maynard will oversee the throwers and decathletes throughout the season.

Maynard has coached NCAA scorers each year that he has been at Arizona. His student-athletes have also established new school records on a regular basis.

Last season, two of Maynard's javelin pupils qualified for and threw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight season. Esko Mikkola and Ola Larsen finished 1-2, respectively at the Pacific-10 Conference meet and then moved on to the NCAA meet in Boise, Idaho. There, throwing into a strong headwind, Mikkola finished second and Larsen finished ninth.

Another Maynard coached athlete scored at the NCAA Championships. Freshman Maureen Griffin finished eighth in the hammer throw at the NCAA meet, and also competed in the 20-lb. weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Under the direction of Maynard, Griffin won the Pac-10 hammer throw title and the MPSF Indoor 20-lb. title.

A number of Maynard's athletes earned high national honors in 1998, including two national champions. Mikkola won the javelin at the NCAA meet as only a freshman and shattered the school record with a throw of 268-7, an NCAA meet record. Klaus Ambrosch won the national championship for the Wildcats in the decathlon with a score of 7,825 points. Dominic Johnson was also one of the best decathletes in the country last year. He scored a high of 7,764 points early in the season. Larsen and Christian Banken also competed at the NCAA Championships, but did not score..

In addition to Ambrosch and the trio of javelin throwers, Arizona boasted the best 1-2 combination in the discus and shot put with Chima Ugwu and Doug Reynolds. Ugwu finished second in the shot put with a throw of 62-5 1/4 at the NCAA Championships. Reynolds set a new school record earlier in the year in the discus with a throw of 206-11. Both Ugwu and Reynolds won the Pacific-10 Conference titles in their respective best events.

In addition to his work at Arizona, Maynard has served as the USA Track and Field regional decathlon development coordinator and as a committee member for the USA Track and Field regional throws development. He has also been involved with the Elite Decathlon Project as a clinician for the throwing events and as a speaker. He has also worked as a clinician for each of the elite throws projects.

Maynard was also the United States head coach at the U. S. vs. Germany decathlon in July 1996 - a team that set a new world decathlon team score.

Maynard came to Arizona after competing at Azusa Pacific University outside Los Angeles and coaching at Mesa Community College. As an athlete at APU, Maynard earned four NAIA All-American honors and won the NAIA hammer throw. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in philosophy and was named the College of Philosophy's Outstanding Senior Graduate. He also earned NAIA Academic All-America honors in 1986.

Maynard was a coach at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College from 1982-84. While at MCC, Maynard coached four JUCO All-Americans and a JUCO national champion.

Maynard was ranked among the top 10 in the United States in the hammer throw for five years (84-88). In 1988, he was ranked as high as fourth in the nation. He finished ninth at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, despite suffering a broken ankle two weeks prior to the event he was one of only four Americans to reach the Olympic standard that year.

In 1987, he represented the United States in the World University Games and later finished sixth at the Athletic Congress Meet. As a competitor, Maynard owned a personal best of 238-6 in the hammer throw, 60-11 in the shot put and 181-4 in the discus.