LEXINGTON, Ky. – Former standout Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Year John Mortimer has been named the University of Kentucky?s assistant track and field coach for distance, head coach Don Weber announced Tuesday.
Mortimer joins the University of Kentucky from Boston College where he served five years as the Eagles? distance coach.
During that time, he coached 13 men and six women who now rank among BC?s all-time top five in middle distance and distance events.
?I am certainly excited about working with the track and field and cross country program at the University of Kentucky,? Mortimer said. ?I look forward to helping guide and mentor the distance runners on both the men?s and women?s sides.?
At Kentucky, he will be charged with coaching Kentucky?s men?s and women?s distance runners and cross country squads. He inherits a women?s cross country squad that posted an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional last season.
?I am extremely pleased to have John join our coaching staff,? Weber said. ?He was a national caliber athlete in high school and a role model student-athlete at the University of Michigan. I have tremendous respect for what he accomplished academically and athletically at Michigan and he personifies college athletics at its highest level. He was a student-athlete that made everyone proud at Michigan and I am equally proud he now represents track & field at the University of Kentucky.
?John brings that same focus, commitment and record of accomplishment to his coaching and recruiting I have no doubt our current and future athletes and parents will be extremely impressed.?
As a student-athlete at the University of Michigan, Mortimer was a seven-time All-America selection in track and cross country and a six-time Big Ten Conference Champion. He twice was selected as the Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Championships and once as the league?s Athlete of the Year. His success extended to the classroom as he was a four-time Academic All-America and Big Ten All-Academic selection.
Following his collegiate career in 1999, Mortimer signed a contract as a professional runner and also has represented the United States at the 1997 World University Games and the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Mortimer and UK throws coach Doug Reynolds were teammates on the 1997 U.S. Team at the World University Games.
As a prep, Mortimer was a 12-time New Hampshire State Champion in track and cross country, a three-time national track champion – twice in the indoor mile and once in the steeplechase – and he also was the 1996 Footlocker Cross Country national runner-up.
Mortimer still runs professionally, finishing seventh at the 2004 U.S. Championships and Olympic Trials after third and fifth-place finishes in 1997 and 1998, respectively.
Despite coaching for the only non-scholarship men?s track and field program in the BIG EAST, he directed a men?s 4×800 relay team that broke a 30-year-old school record and the New England Collegiate record. He also led the men?s cross country squad to a top-five finish at the 2003 BIG EAST Championship.
Last season, under Mortimer?s guidance, Patrick Mellea broke a 27-year-old school record in the indoor mile. He also mentored steeplechaser Jennifer Donovan, who earned All-America status at the 2003 NCAA National Championships and holds the school record in that event.
At BC, he also served as the liaison to the school?s business and media relations offices and coordinated team travel and equipment.
Additionally, Mortimer spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at Harvard.
In 1999, he co-founded and currently serves as the race director of the country?s largest 1-mile road race – the Millennium Mile Road Race. In that capacity, he is responsible for event operations, sponsorships and publicity.
Mortimer also spent time as the coach of professional runner Amy Mortimer (no relation) from 2004-06 while she was in graduate school at Boston College. Under his direction, she qualified for two consecutive IAAF World Cross Country Championships, had five top-five finishes at U.S. Championship events and ran a personal-best 1,500-meter time of 4:07 to capture the bronze medal at the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championships.
From 2003-06, Mortimer served as the track and field chairman of the USATF?s New England Executive Board of Governors. His responsibilities included the promotion and development of track and field and running throughout New England.
Mortimer earned a B.S. in architecture from the University of Michigan in 1999 and, as an undergraduate, had the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy.
Mortimer is married to Jennifer Kramer and resides in Lexington.
