Will Thomas returns for his thirdseason with the Harvard track and field program in 2008-09. Thomasworks primarily with the men and women pole vault athletes as wellas assists with the multi-event athletes.
During the2007-08 season, Thomas’ student-athletes added five new marksto the Harvard top-10 list. Becky Christensen ’09 jumped apersonal best 1.84 meters in the high jump final at the U.S.Olympic Trials under Thomas’ direction. Clara Blattler’08 and Sally Stanton ’08 cleared personal bests in thepole vault, with Blattler vaulting a school record 3.80 meters thisspring. Rising-sophomores Dina Emde (high jump and pentathlon) andJessica Fronk (heptathlon) added their names to the Harvard recordbooks as well. Sean Gil '11 used a vault of 4.80 meters to takesecond at the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships and land seventh onthe Harvard top-10 list.
Thomas came toCambridge after serving as a volunteer assistant coach atCalifornia (Berkeley) in 2005-2006.
As astudent-athlete at the University of Connecticut, Thomas earnedthree All-America honors in the multi events including a decathlonrunner-up finish in 2003. In the Big East Conference, Thomas holdsthe decathlon and pentathlon meet records, won eight conferencechampionships and was a two time achiever of the field MVP award.He also was a four-time IC4A Champion in the multi events. Hispersonal records in the decathlon and heptathlon are 7,894 and5,739 points, respectively.
Other coachingexperience includes five years as a counselor for Bill Falk’sPole Vault Camps and numerous other camps along with two years as avolunteer assistant coach with E.O. Smith High School inConnecticut.
Thomas graduatedfrom the University of Connecticut with a B.S. in kinesiology.During his time there he was nominated as “Senior ScholarAthlete of the Year” and numerous other university andconference academic awards.
In 2004, he was an Olympic Trials qualifier but could notparticipate due to injury. He has competed for two USA teams in2003 and 2006; both were the Nike Challenge USA vs. Germanydecathlon.
