Concordia’s Mac Wilkins to be honored at U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials
EUGENE, Ore. –– Concordia University assistant track and field coach Mac Wilkins will be one of more than a dozen U.S. Olympic Heritage athletes to be honored during the 2012 Track & Field Olympic Trials held at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field this week.
Wilkins, the 1976 Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder in the discus, will be recognized during the finals of the men’s discus on Thursday, June 28.
Wilkins has been a member of the Concordia University track & field coaching staff since the inception of the program in 2006. In seven seasons as a varsity sport, Wilkins has coached 15 individual NAIA national champions and 72 All-Americans. His throwers produced five individual national champions in 2012 alone, including Olympic Trials qualifier Nate Moses (Fresno, Calif.).
Moses, the 2012 national champion and school record holder in the discus, placed 14th in the preliminary round of the discus on Monday as the second Concordia student-athlete to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Annie Hess, a three-time NAIA national champion in the discus, placed 23rd in the event at the 2008 Olympic Trials.
Olympic gold medalists to be honored at Hayward Field:
Bob Beamon – 1968 Men’s long jump
Gail Devers – 1992 and 1996, Women’s 100 meters
Dick Fosbury – 1968 Men’s high jump
Jackie Joyner-Kersee –1988 and 1992 heptathlon; 1988 Women’s long jump
Roger Kingdom – 1984 and 1988 110 hurdles
Carl Lewis – 1984 100 and 200 meters, long jump, 4x100 relay; 1988 100 meters
Madeline Manning Mims – 1968 Women’s 800 meters
Billy Mills – 1964 Men’s 10,000 meters
Al Oerter, 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968, discus
Wilma Rudolph — 100, 200, 400 Relay
Joan Benoit Samuelson – 1984 Women’s marathon
Wyomia Tyus – 1964 and 1968, Women’s 100 meters
Mac Wilkins – 1976 Men’s discus