Thursday, November 7, 2013

LACEY, Wash. - Jim Brewer has been named the head men's and women's cross country and track & field coach at Saint Martin's University becoming the fourth head coach in program history.

"We had a large number of applicants for the position and Jim surfaced as the person who we felt could increase the squad size and at the same time improve on our ability to compete," said Saint athletic director Bob Grisham.

A 20-year veteran of the coaching ranks at both the high school and collegiate level, Brewer joins SMU having served as the head cross country and track & field coach at Concordia University-Irvine, a NAIA Division I program in California, for the past two years.

"Becoming a part of the Saint Martin's family is a tremendous opportunity," said Brewer. "I am very grateful for this privilege to help build up the track & field and cross country programs and establish great winning traditions for years to come."

During his time coaching at CUI, Brewer coached the women's cross country team to an 11th place finish at the 2012 NAIA Championships. In two years with the Eagles he had 42 national qualifiers and nine All-Americans. Most notably last spring a total of 16 athletes qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Prior to his time in California he served as the head cross country and track & field coach at the University of Great Falls in Montana from 2007-2011. Brewer had national qualifiers every year while coaching a nationally ranked men's cross country team in 2010.

Brewer worked at the Division II level as a volunteer assistant coach at Western Washington on two separate occasions - 1996-97 and 2003-07. He was a part of helping coach three cross country teams to the national championships.

He coached at both Mount Baker High School in Deming, Wash. (1990-91) under the tutelage of legendary coach Jim Freeman and at Stanwood High School in Stanwood, Wash. (1998-2000) under the leadership of highly successful head coach Paul Johnson

A successful collegiate runner in his own right he competed at Western Washington from 1993 to 1996. During that time he earned All-American honors at the 1994 NAIA Cross Country Championships and was a five-time national qualifier (3 cross country, 2 track & field).

Brewer holds United States Sports Academy level III coaching certification. He also holds U.S. Track and Field level II certification.