Jon Bell enters his second season as head coach of the Saint Louis University cross country and track and field squads. After serving the 2007 as interim head coach, he was officially named head coach in the summer of 2008. Last year, Bell led the cross country and track and field squads to arguably their best seasons in school history. In the fall, the women's cross country squad finished seventh at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, easily its best finish since joining the league three years ago. In addition, a youthful men's squad posted school records and had its first student-athlete claim weekly conference honors when Steve Vargas was named A-10 Cross Country Performer of the Week in October. The steady improvement under Bell's watch carried over into the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, as the Billikens continued to break school records and establish personal-best marks. For the first time in track and field's two-year existence, SLU entered student-athletes in a variety of field events and was able to field a team in the majority of the relay events. Bell's student-athletes also succeeded in the classroom. Five Billikens were tabbed Academic All-Conference in the indoor track and field season, while three earned the honor following the outdoor season. Laura Coyer achieved ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honors, the first time in school history a cross country or track and field athlete earned such an honor. Bell was named interim head coach of the Billikens in August of 2007 following Mike Nelson's resignation to take a similar position at Marquette. Bell joined the Billikens as a volunteer assistant coach prior to the 2007 track and field seasons after spending one year as an assistant track and field coach at Utah Valley State. At UVSU, he was a recruiting coordinator for the NCAA Division I institution and assisted in all facets of the program. Bell worked with four student-athletes who broke school records, and one who claimed an NCAA Independent championship. Bell was a graduate assistant coach at Emporia State (Kan.) University from 2003 to 2005. He coached two NCAA Division II All-American long jumpers and sent 10 student-athletes to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Bell began his coaching career at his alma mater, St. Mary's (Minn.) University, in 2002. He also served as head girls' track and field coach at Winona High School in 2003. After graduating from St. Mary's with a bachelor's degree in 2002, he went on to earn a master's in health, physical education and recreation from Emporia State in 2005. |
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