2010 DRAKE RELAYS RELEASE #3 MARCH 20, 2010
DES MOINES, IOWA -- Gary Winckler, highly successful head women's track and field coach at Florida State and Illinois, will be inducted into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame during an April 22, Thursday reception at Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main on the Drake campus.
Winckler will be the 77th inductee into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame which was established in 1977 with charter members John L. Griffith (Drake), Harry Gill (Illinois), Tom E. Jones (Wisconsin), Clyde Littlefield (Texas), Leo Johnson (Illinois) and Bill Easton (Drake, Kansas).
Winckler came to Illinois from Florida State, where he was head women's track and field coach from 1982-85. After the Seminoles won the 1984 outdoor and 1985 indoor NCAA titles, Winckler was named NCAA Coach of the Year in consecutive years. In addition to those team titles, his squads also placed second in the 1983 and 1985 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the 1981 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Winckler's teams won 11 Big Ten Conference championships at Illinois from 1986 until his retirement in 2008. He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year 11 times.
Winckler saw his athletes win 10 individual titles and six relays championships at the Drake Relays. Celena Mondie Miller was named the outstanding woman performer of the 1988 Drake Relays after winning the university-college 100 meters and anchoring the Illini to victory in the 4x100 relay.
Winckler is recognized as one of the top hurdle coaches in the world. Perdita Felicien became a household name at the Drake Relays after being named the outstanding women's performer in 2002 and 2003. Felicien also anchored Illinois to a world record in the shuttle hurdle relay in 52.85 seconds at the 2001 Drake Relays. Felicien and teammates Susanna Kallur, Carmee Williams and Jenny Kallur were named as co-recipients of the outstanding women's performer at the 2001 Drake Relays.
Under Winckler's leadership, Illini athletes won 265 individual Big Ten titles and 46 earned All-America recognition.
Over his career at both Illinois and Florida State, Winckler has turned out over 300 All-Americans, and has coached athletes to eight collegiate record-breaking performances, including Felicien's 60 hurdles indoor time of 7.90 seconds set in 2002.
Winckler coached 13 athletes who reached the Olympic Games in the sprints, hurdles or relays and have won gold, silver and bronze medals. Dating back to 1992, athletes coached by Winckler have appeared in every World Championships and Olympic Games. Included in that group are former Illinois greats Felicien, Yvonne Harrison, Susanna Kallur and current Illini head coach Tonja Buford-Bailey.
Winckler was named 2007 Big Ten Outdoor Coach of the Year after leading the Illini to the team title and the 2007 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Outdoor Coach of the Year.
Illinois achieved back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the 1995 and 1996 NCAA Outdoor Championships and a sixth-place national indoor finish in 1996. Prior to coming to Illinois, Winckler directed Florida State to the 1984 NCAA Outdoor national title and the 1985 NCAA Indoor crown.
Following their Illini collegiate careers, Winckler continues to have a hand in his athletes' successes. Winckler coached Felicien to a gold medal in the 100 hurdles at the 2003 World Championships, the first-ever gold medal for an Illini athlete at the World Championships. In the spring of 2004, Felicien set a personal best and established a new Canadian national mark of 12.46 at the Prefontaine Classic. Felicien earned a silver medal in the 100 hurdles at both the 2007 World Championships and the 2007 Pan American Games.
Felicien, a two-time Olympian, capped her brilliant collegiate career by winning her second NCAA 100 hurdles crown in 2003. She left Illinois as the NCAA record holder in the 60 hurdles, a three-time NCAA champion and a 10-time All-American.
Sprinter Mondie-Milner, who won 19 Big Ten crowns under Winckler, earned a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships as part of the 4x100 relay. While still training with Winckler, Mondie-Milner also was a member of the 1997 United States World Championship team.
Winckler was head coach of the United States World Championship team at the 1997 Outdoor Track and Field World Championships in Athens, Greece. Under Winckler's tutelage, the USA won the gold medal in the 4x100 relay, while setting an American record. Winckler also served as the United States head women's track and field coach at the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Winckler has served as director of the USA Track and Field National Coaching Education Program, as national hurdles coordinator for the USATF Olympic Development Committee and as coordinator of the USATF's Coaching Education sprints and hurdles curriculum committee. He is a Level II and Level III coaching instructor for the International Amateur Athletic Federation and has instructed at various clinics throughout the United States.
Prior to his time at Florida State, Winckler was an assistant coach at Oregon State and Seattle Pacific. He received his bachelor of science degree from Seattle Pacific in 1974 and earned his master's degree in numerical analysis from Oregon State in 1980.
