University of North Carolina Athletics
Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Distance)
Peter Watson is in his third season with Tar Heels as the program's Head Cross Country coach and will be entering his third year as the Assistant Head Track and Field Coach in charge of the middle and long distance events.
In just two years, Watson has turned the University of North Carolina into one of the top cross country and distance programs in the NCAA and has made UNC the destination of choice for many of the top high school prospects in the country. The 2010 men's cross country recruiting class was ranked No.1 in the NCAA by Flotrack.com and in the last two years he has signed eight men and women who qualified for the Footlocker HS National Finals.
In Watson's first two years in Chapel Hill, he has qualified 14 athletes to the NCAA East Regional Track and Field Championships and four athletes to the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Watson's athletes have earned All-Region honors in cross country eight times and All-ACC honors in cross country and track 14 times. His runners have set six freshmen school records and have recorded 12 marks that are in the top-5 ever at UNC, while three athletes (Ashley Verplank in 2010, Jake Hurysz and Isaac Presson in 2011) made USA track and Field national teams. In addition to the success of his athletes on the track in 2010 and 2011, both the men's and women's cross country teams were honored with Academic All-American accolades.
The 2010 cross country season was very successful as the UNC women automatically qualified for the NCAA championships, finishing second at the NCAA Southeast Regional where three Tar Heels earned All-Region honors. The team then followed that up with their highest finish at the NCAA Championships since 1994 when they finished 14th led by Kendra Schaaf, who took 11th and earned All-America honors.
The 2010 UNC men's cross country season was a season of very encouraging growth for the program as the team of six freshmen and two upperclassmen entered the NCAA national polls for the first time in 15 years on October 19th. The men reached their highest ever national ranking for a UNC men's cross country team, being ranked 18th after finishing third at the ACC Championships. That was the program's best finish since 1996 when they were also third.
The success continued on the track for Coach Watson's men and women, as they continued to rewrite the UNC record books. Isaac Presson ran 3:42.59 in the 1,500 meters, which was the top freshmen mark in the NCAA and became the sixth fastest Tar Heel ever in the event. During the indoor season, Presson ran a new UNC freshman school record in the mile with a time of 4:03.81. Jake Hurysz ran two marks that put him top-five all time at UNC when he recorded freshmen school records of 8:01.97 for 3,000m (No.5) and 14:17.03 in the 5,000 (No.3) during the indoor season. Pat Schellberg also became the fifth fastest Tar Heel ever when he set the freshmen school record in the outdoor 5,000 when he ran 13:59.17 at the Raleigh Relays, and Alex Deir also set the freshmen UNC record when he ran 8:52 for the 3,000 steeplechase at the NCAA East Regional Championships. Hurysz and Presson continued their success as members of the USA Junior track and field team that competed at the Pan American games, where Presson won the silver medal in the 1,500 and Hurysz won the gold in the 5,000.
The women were equally as successful, as Ashley Verplank finished ninth at the NCAA indoor Championships in the mile, running a time of 4:36.17 and earning Second Team All America honors and becoming the second fastest Tar Heel in history. Kendra Schaaf took her run at the UNC record books when she recorded the second- fastest 10,000 (33:57.81) and second-fastest 5,000 in 15:52.23 while finishing ninth at the NCAA Championships.
In his first year at UNC, Watson led the women's and men's cross country teams to fifth and sixth-place finishes at the ACC Championship and at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships. At the 2009 ACC Cross Country Championships sophmore Ashley Verplank earned an All-ACC nod with her eighth-place finish and Evan Watchempino and Adam Cunningham ran their way onto the All-ACC team with 11th and 12th place finishes. At the NCAA Southeast region, five Tar Heel runners earned All-Region honors.
On the track, Watson led four UNC athletes into the UNC school record books, while coaching eight athletes to the first round of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Some of his top athletes accomplishments from 2010 included Adam Cunningham running 4:00.92 in the mile to be the first sub-4:01 Tar Heel since 1976 and placing him third in the school record books. Outdoors Cunningham added his name to the record books running 3:42.23, ranking him fifth overall in school history and then he ran 13:59.58 to become the first Tar Heel to run sub-14 minutes in the 5,000 in 23 years. Others moving into the record books were Brie Felnagle, third in the 5,000 in 15:55.29; Ashley Verplank, third in the 1,500 at 4:14.10; and Evan Watchempino, third indoors in the 5,000 at 14:21.79 and fifth outdoors in the 10,000 at 29:23.81.
Watson was the head cross country coach and an assistant with the track team from 2005-2008 at Auburn University.While at Auburn, Watson coached runners to five Southeastern Conference titles, 10 All-America honors, 31 NCAA qualifying marks, and five school and 10 freshmen school records.
The London, Ontario, native led the Auburn Tigers to a school-best fifth place at the 2008 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships. Some of his runners' notable accomplishments include freshman Girma Mecheso winning the 2008 SEC cross country title, Felix Kibioywo winning the 2007 and 2008 NCAA Cross Country South Region Championship and the 2008 SEC 1,500 meter title.
Watson helped the Auburn track team win the 2006 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, where Angela Homan finished fifth in the 10,000, earning All America accolades. While at Auburn, Watson was a coach for teams that finished second in 2008 and third in 2007 at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Watson is a 2001 graduate of West Virginia University where he was also a volunteer coach. He was also a member of the 2000 and 2001 Canadian National Track and Field Team. He is married to the former Kristin Schreiber.
