Bloom Named MAC Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year
5/18/2022 11:29:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
CLEVELAND – Kent State track and field assistant coach Alex Bloom has been named Mid-American Conference Men's Assistant Coach of the Year, the conference office announced on Wednesday. Bloom's athletes earned five All-MAC honors and totaled 66 points to lead the Golden Flashes to their first MAC Outdoor Championships title since 2004.
Alexander Shields (7,168) and Jacob Mally (7,154) posted a 1-2 finish in the decathlon and were the first teammates to eclipse 7,000 points at the conference meet since 2015. Both athletes posted a new personal-best in the event to claim the fifth and sixth spots on Kent State's all-time performance list. The duo also scored in the 110-meter hurdles, with Shields placing third and Mally finishing fifth. Mally added fifth-place efforts in the high jump and pole vault.
The Flashes scored 12 points in both horizontal jumps, as Del'Mario Hairston won the long jump and Alexandre Malanda took second in the triple jump. Malanda added a fifth-place finish in the long jump to earn Freshman Field Performer of the Year honors. Anthony Milliner took fourth in the triple jump with a personal-best mark, punching his ticket to the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
Bloom also helped Lukas Van Der Watt finish second in the pole vault and Jack McElligott take fourth in the high jump.
Immediately following the conclusion of the conference meet on Saturday, Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Bill Lawson was named MAC Coach of the Year, the 12th overall of his career. Kent State has won 13 team championships in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field combined during Lawson's 17 years leading the program.
The Flashes will continue postseason competition with qualifying student-athletes in action at the NCAA East Preliminary in Bloomington, Indiana from May 25-28.
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