Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Cross Country/Distance)
Michael Whittlesey is in his 11th season as the assistant track coach in charge of cross country and middle distance/distance running and his fourth as the assistant director for men's and women's track and field and cross country. Under his direction, North Carolina has become a force in the middle distance/ distance disciplines producing nine NCAA individual and relay titles in just the past SIX years, 65 All-Americas and 33 ACC Champions. North Carolina continued its recent success in 2007 with its unprecedented back-to-back NCAA titles in the distance medley relay and the third in the past six years at the indoor NCAA Championships. In capturing the title, the relay team broke its own American and school records. In addition to 2007's distance medley relay title, anchor sophomore Brie Felnagle captured the individual NCAA title in the outdoor 1500. Felnagle has blossomed under the tutelage of Whittlesey and has captured three NCAA titles and been named an All- America 10 times in her career.
Additionally, in the 11 years Whittlesey has led the cross country program at UNC, the Carolina women's team has advanced to the NCAA Championships 10 of those years, including a program-best sixth-place finish in 1999. With a 10th-place finish in 2004, the Tar Heel women posted backto- back top 10 NCAA finishes for the first time in school history. In the 11 years under Whittlesey's guidance the program has produced four individuals to a total of seven Southeast Regional Cross Country individual titles, most recently with Brie Felnagle's victory in 2007. After assisting the Tar Heels to a fourth place indoor finish and another top-10 outdoor finish and producing four NCAA individual and relay titles, Whittlesey was awarded the first-ever NCAA Division I Track and Field National Assistant Coach of the Year for women's middle distance/ distance. Whittlesey received the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East Regional Assistant Coach of the Year honor last year.
On top of the great team success the Tar Heels have experienced during the Whittlesey era, Carolina has seen some of the greatest individual distance athletes in school history during his tenure.
Perhaps no other athlete thrived under Whittlesey more than Shalane Flanagan. Flanagan was the NCAA cross country champion in 2002 and 2003. Not only was Flanagan the first Carolina woman to ever take the cross country national championship, but she was only the third woman in NCAA history to successfully defend her title. A three-time recipient of the NCAA Cross Country Athlete of the Year award, Flanagan also excelled on the track. She won a pair of indoor national championships in 2003. Individually, she claimed the title in the 3000 meters then teamed up with teammates Erin Donohue, Anissa Gainey and Alice Schmidt to take first-place honors in the distance medley relay. Flanagan also earned a spot on the 2004 US Olympic 5,000 team before claiming a bronze medal in the 10,000 at the 2008 Olympic Games.
But Flanagan is only one of Whittlesey's success stories. Schmidt was a two-time national champion in the outdoor 800 and the first Carolina track and field athlete to win an NCAA title in the same event twice. Both Schmidt and Flanagan went on to earn places on the 2005 US Track & Field World Championship team, while Donohue earned All-America status in both cross country and track. All three athletes earned a spot on the 2007 US Track and Field World Championship team as well as the 2008 US Olympic team. Carol Henry stepped into the vacancy left by the departure of Flanagan in 2004 and helped maintain the national prominence the women's cross country team had gained. During her outstanding season, Henry was an All-America with her seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships, the NCAA Southeast Regional champion and the runner-up at the ACC Championships. Last year's NCAA-winning distance medley team produced four All- Americas, with junior Georgia Kloss also earning All-America recognition for her performance in the 800.
Whittlesey has twice won both the ACC Cross Country Coach of the Year and Southeast Region Coach of the Year awards, earning each in 1999 and again in 2003.
A native of Morris, Conn., Whittlesey came to North Carolina after serving two years as an assistant coach at Charlotte. While with the 49ers, Whittlesey coached his athletes to 53 new school records in 18 different events and coached all-conference performers in the triple jump and javelin. Before his time at Charlotte, Whittlesey coached at the University of Connecticut for six years and also served as an assistant strength coach.
Whittlesey's competitive experience includes being the first American finisher in the 1995 Boston Marathon. He also qualified for the 1996 Olympic Trials in the marathon after competing as a non-recruited athlete at the University of Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 1990 with a bachelor's degree in sports medicine/athletic training and later earned a master's in biophysical science/exercise physiology in 1993 and a doctorate of philosophy in sports science/ exercise physiology in 1997.
The Whittlesey family consists of Michael, his wife Carol, their 5-year-old daughter Samantha Paige and 2-year-old son Ryan Allen.
