Ron Helmer
	Position: Director, Track & Field/Cross Country Experience: 21st Year

Ron Helmer is entering his 21st season on the Hilltop, and his eighth as Director of the Georgetown University Men's and Women's Track & Field and Cross Country program. Helmer was promoted to director in July of 1999 after serving as associate head coach for the Hoyas for seven seasons and assistant coach for five years prior.

Helmer's impact on the Georgetown program during his time on the Hilltop can be seen with 117 of his student-athletes earning a total of 337 All-American recognitions, including 41 student-athletes receiving 96 certificates since he became director in 1999. In addition, 213 student-athletes have won BIG EAST individual titles, including 61 since the start of the 1999-00 academic year.

At the NCAA Championships, he has guided 27 athletes or relay teams to a top-three finish, highlighted by four national champions - Joline Staeheli (mile, 1995), Miesha Marzell (1500m, 1996) and two distance medley relay champions (1997, 1999). As for team accomplishments, Helmer has coached 20 top-10 finishes in NCAA Championship action, including a streak of 15-straight at the cross country championships that ended in 2003. Among the top-10 fi nishes were seven top-four trophy finishes, including a third at the 1998 NCAA Indoor Championships and, most recently, a fourth-place fi nish at the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

In addition, under Helmer's reign six Hoya teams have won the Penn Relays Championship of American relay, the latest being the 2004 men's 4x800m squad with a time of 7:13.75, the seventh fastest time in collegiate history. Also at Georgetown, he has been part of 37 BIG EAST Championship teams and his student-athletes have been honored 11 times as the Robert A. Duffey Scholar-Athlete award winner.

In 2005-06, Helmer was influential in the Hoyas runner-up finish at the BIG EAST Indoor Women's Championship and their victory at the ECAC Women's Indoor Championship.

Individually, he mentored Elizabeth Maloy to her first All-American honor, placing seventh in the 1500m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and freshman Natasha LaBeaud to the U.S. Junior National Championship in the 5000m, qualifying her for the World Junior Championships in Beijing, China.

In January 2006, Coach Helmer was the recipient of the Coaches Achievement Program award presented by OppenheimerFunds, Inc. The Coaches Achievement Program honors coaches at select BIG EAST member institutions for excellence in coaching, mentoring and community service.

Helmer came to Georgtown from Woodbridge High School in Virginia, where he was head coach for four years. Prior to that, he was the head coach at Virginia High School in Bristol, Va., for eight years.

He was named Virginia Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1983, along with being selected as the Virginia Girls' Track Coach of the Year in 1981. Topping off the honors, Helmer was selected as the Boys' Cross Country Coach of the Decade in Virginia. During his career, Helmer's teams won 45 district, 35 regional and 10 state championships. Individually, he produced nine high school All-Americans and 13 Foot Locker National Cross Country qualifiers.

Helmer is a graduate of Southwestern College in Kansas College located in Winfi eld, Kan., where he received a bachelor of arts in math. In October 2004, he was inducted into the Southwestern College Athletic Hall of Fame. He continued his education at East Tennessee State University, where he earned his Masters degree in physical education, with a focus in biomechanics and human kinetics.

Helmer lives in Woodbridge, Va. with his wife, Mary, a sixth grade teacher. They have three children, Tori, 29, a high school math teacher and track coach, Justin, 26, a high school business teacher and basketball and baseball coach, and Kari, 19, a college sophomore, while also having the addition of a new granddaughter.