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Jim Garnham Sr. Throws Coach Seventh Season E-mail: jgarn44263@aol.com

Jim Garnham Sr. enters his seventh season as UB’s throws coach. He brings an impressive resume to UB having coached over 35 high school state champions, NCAA All-Americans and NCAA Regional and Championship meet qualifiers. During his time at Buffalo, he has turned the UB throws program into one of the best in the Mid-American Conference.

Under Garnham’s tenure over the previous six seasons, the Bulls have competed in postseason competition at the USATF Junior National, ECAC, IC4A and NCAA Championship meets. Nearly all his men’s and women’s throwers have posted conference, league championship, school or personal records. In the past six years he has had seven throwers qualify for the NCAA Regional Championship meet. Garnham guided Sarah Vance to the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. Vance posted school records in the shot put (52-8.75), ranked 16th nationally, and in the discus (161-0). Vance is the first UB track and field athlete to qualify in two different events, shot put and hammer (198-1), for the NCAA Outdoor Championship. He also guided Faith Thompson to MAC records in the weight (65-6.75) and hammer (199-6) throws. Thompson also ranked 12th nationally in the hammer and 15th in the weight throw, qualifying for the USATF Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships. He coached Sheldon Battle, for one year, who competed as an unattached freshman as he went from high school marks of 57-0 (shot put) and 184-0 (discus) to 59-0 and 192-0 collegiately.

Garnham also coached 30 years at the high school level, 10 years at Tonawanda High School and 20 years at Sweet Home High School. As a boys assistant coach at Tonawanda, he coached four state qualifiers and his throwers set records in the shot put (58-4)and discus (160-11) that still stand after more than three decades. At Sweet Home as a head girls and assistant boys coach he coached 17 state track and field champions and in the last 10 years there, between 1992 through 2001, he coached at least one state champion each year. He coached Stacey Schroeder, who won the High School Indoor National shot put championship (49-6) and Outdoor National discus championship and is still the New York State discus record holder (172-0), Others under his tutelage include Steve Mesler, an Indoor High School National Pentathlon Champion and member of the USA l bobsled team, two-time olympian Jim Garnham Jr., the former New York State record holder in the pentathlon, Ron Andrews (110 high hurdles) and Jared Vogler (400m hurdles).

Garnham also brings with him collegiate coaching experience, having served as an assistant at his alma mater, Buffalo State, from 1979-81. While with the Bengals, he coached 17 NCAA Division III All-Americans. His throwers set top marks in the shot put, discus and hammer throws that remain school records.

Off the track, Garnham was a technology instructor in the City of Tonawanda school system, teaching eighth graders for 33 years.

He earned his bachelor's degree in education from Buffalo State in 1968 and was a top member of the track and field team. Garnham won the Atlantic Coast NCAA Regional championship in the shot put in 1968 and finished fifth in both the javelin and discus throws.