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Baptista Named Track and Field Assistant Coach
9/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Sept. 26, 2002
Tulsa, Okla. - Chris Baptista has been appointed assistant track and field coach at The University of Tulsa, as announced by TU Head Coach Steve Gulley.
Baptista comes to Tulsa from Shasta College in Redding, Calif., where he was the head track and field coach for the past two years. He led the women's team to back-to-back Golden Valley Conference Championships. The 2002 women's squad finished second at the NorCal Regional and fifth at the state meet, earning Baptista a NorCal Coach of the Year nomination. He earned conference coach of the year honors in 2001 and 2002, as well.
Prior to coaching at Shasta, Baptista served one year as the assistant coach at the University of South Alabama and three years as an assistant coach at Troy State University.
Over the past five years of coaching, Baptista has been a coach of 5 conference championship teams, produced 23 individual conference champions and 56 all-conference performers in the areas of sprints, jumps and hurdles. He has coached the past two California Community College Champiions in the Heptathlon and the third place finisher at the 2001 USA Junior National Track and Field Championships. During his final outdoor season at Troy State, he coached the first female national qualifier in the school's history.
Baptista earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education with a minor in health education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1997. While attending UAB, he competed in the jumps and relays. Baptista still holds the second best marks in the long and triple jumps for the Blazers. In 1995 Chris earned All-Great Midwest Conference honors in the triple jump and in 1997 All-Conference USA honors in the triple jump.
