Gulliver announces Mike Ward as girls trackGulliver has hired Mike Ward as the new head coach for its girls track and girls cross country teams for the 2015-16 school year.
Ward joins the Gulliver Athletic Department from the University of Miami (UM), where he spent a total of 16 years, including 11 seasons as head coach of the men’s track and field program and assistant coach with the women’s program.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mike to the Gulliver community,” said Mark Schusterman, Gulliver’s athletic director. “Mike has extensive experience working with top-level athletes who have gone on to professional careers in their sports. He is a valuable asset to our girls track and cross country programs.”
Under Ward’s guidance, the UM track program won 28 individual and relay conference titles and saw six athletes earn All- American honors. Ward took over as head coach of the UM program prior to the 1998 season, and led the team to one of the most successful campaigns in school history. He enabled the team to finish second at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1998, matching the Hurricanes’ highest finish rankings at the conference meet. Additionally, Ward was named the Big East men’s track and field coach of the year in 1998.
“As the school year begins, my goal is to make the Gulliver girls track program consistently competitive,” Ward said. “This is a group that cares passionately about their school and the track program, and I am enthusiastic to take it to the next level.”
Before taking on the head coaching job at UM, Ward was in charge of the Hurricane men’s and women’s cross country teams and directed its long-distance programs for five years as a full-time assistant coach to both the men’s and women’s track programs. He guided the long-distance runners as they rewrote the school’s record books, setting new marks in nine men’s and six women’s long-distance events.
During 2010, Ward was head girls coach at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, MD, where he guided the girls indoor and outdoor track teams to 14 school records and guided two relay teams to the national high school championships.
For more information about Gulliver, visit www.gulliverschools.org.
