Feb. 18, 2013

USA Track and Field Release

TUCSON - University of Arizona Wildcat track and field assistant coach Francesca Green was named head manger of the women's team by USA Track and Field for the 2013 World Outdoor Championships in Moscow, Russia. The meet will take place on August 10-18. Green is one of six coaches selected for the women's team. This will mark the third time Green has worked on a USA Track and Field staff.

"It's an honor," Green said. "Not very many people get the privilege of having this responsibility and it's a huge responsibility. Most people won't know what my job is until something goes wrong; I'm essentially that behind-the-scenes person. But it means a lot, it means a lot because the process to put me in this position has to be voted on and my peers are the ones that help make that decision. So, to know that people out there have trust and faith in me to do this job is really humbling and exciting. It's an honor, I'm representing my country, I'm a part of a sport that I love and I'm just beyond excited to have this opportunity."

Early in the 2013 indoor season, under Green's guidance, two individual sprinters and a relay team ranked among the nation's top-25 in their respective events. Junior Shapri Romero holds the No. 20 time in the country for the 200-meter dash at 23.65. She also the 20th-best time in the country in the 400 meters with a mark of 53.65. Junior Sean Delfani has the No. 21 collegiate time in the 400 meters, clocking a time of 46.88. The women's 4x400-meter relay holds the 11th-best time, running 3:36.35, the second-fastest time in UA history.

During the 2012 collegiate season, Green had another successful year leading the Wildcat sprinters and relay teams. Senior Echos Blevins was an All-Conference honoree in the 400 meters, earning a fifth-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships with a time of 53.80. Romero has made vast improvements under Green's tutelage, improving her personal-best time of 57.09 in high school to 53.48 at the end of her second year. The men's and women's 4x100-meter relay team also earned All-Conference accolades. However, Green's most impressive work on the year came with the women's 4x400-meter relay team. They earned first-team All-American honors in the event, taking sixth place at the NCAA Championships. No other women's 4x400-meter relay team has earned first-team All-American honors in school history. The quartet of Romero (52.55), Blevins (52.28), Tamara Pridgett (54.90) and Georganne Moline (51.76) also set the school record with a time of 3:31.06.

During the summer of 2009, Green was an assistant coach for Team USA at the Pan-American Junior Games held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where she coached the men's sprints and relays. Green helped guide several student-athletes to exceptional results including a 1-2 Team USA finish in the men's 100 meters and runner-up finishes in both the men's 200 meters and 400 meters by American male runners. The Team USA men's 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays were Pan-Am Junior Champions, running 39.06 and 3:03.25, respectively.