Women's Indoor Track & Field Coaches

In 2011-12 Mark FitzPatrick begins his first season as the head men's and women's track and field coach.  FitzPatrick comes to Denison from Washington & Jefferson College where he has spent the last eight years as the head cross country and track & field coach. A six-time Presidents’ Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, FitzPatrick has led his squads to four PAC championships during his tenure. 

FitzPatrick is coming off one of his finest seasons at W&J, having led his women’s track and field squad to their third PAC title on April 30. The Presidents’ captured nine event titles en route to a 10-point victory over Westminster.  Following the meet FitzPatrick was presented with his sixth Coach of the Year award. 

Last season he guided the men’s track & field team to their first PAC Championship powered by seven event championships. In 2008, he coached W&J’s first male All-American, Doug Melton, to an eighth place finish in the discus at the national championship meet. A year later he coached the second female in school history to an All-American finish in the high jump.

FitzPatrick is no stranger to the NCAC. Prior to accepting the position at Washington & Jefferson he spent three seasons as the head track & field coach at Hiram College. While at Hiram he led the Terriers to their best finish in conference history and coached five individual conference champions. 

Before taking over at Hiram, FitzPatrick served as the assistant women’s cross country and track and field coach at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse from 1998-2000 where he coached seven Division III All-Americans and helped the Eagles to three Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. FitzPatrick also spent two seasons as the assistant cross country and track and field coach at Allegheny College from 1996-1998, helping train five national qualifiers in cross country and track.

A 1995 graduate of Fairfield (Conn.) with a double major in philosophy and political science, FitzPatrick went on to earn a master’s degree in exercise and sports science from UW-Lacrosse.

In 2011-12, Phil Torrens will be starting his 33rd season as men's cross country coach and his 19th season as women's cross country coach. Torren's women's team have won six North Coast Athletic Conference championships (1998-2000, 2003, 2004, 2005) and his men's team captured a conference title in 1998.  Torrens also serves as an assistant coach for the Denison indoor and outdoor track & field squads.

In 2011 the Big Red men posted a fourth place finish at the NCAC Championship in Crawfordsville, Ind. and were paced by Dee Salukombo's third-place finish and Alex Chappars who crossed the finish line in 11th place. The DU men went on to finish 10th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional and Salukombo advanced to the national championship race where he posted a career-best finish of 29th place to earn his second-straight All-American certificate.

In 2010, Salukombo and junior Katie Navarre both became All-Americans after outstanding performances at the NCAA Division III Championship.  Salukombo placed second at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional and placed 33rd at the national championship meet.  Navarre won the Great Lakes Regional championship and logged a sixth place finish at the D-III Championship.

In 2005 the women's team won not only the NCAC Championships, but also the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The squad eventually went on to finish 24th in the NCAA Division III Championships. The men's team placed second in the NCAC Championships and a very respectable 10th place in the Great Lakes Regional meet.

In 2004, Torrens' women's cross-country team made school history, claiming not only their second consecutive NCAC championship, but winning the NCAA regional meet for the first time in school history. With the team win at regionals, the women went on to make their first appearance at the NCAA national meet, placing eighth in the country.

In 2008, senior Grant Russo and freshman Dee Salukombo consistently paced the Denison men's cross country team.  Russo earned NCAC Male Runner of the Year honors after winning the NCAC Men's Cross Country Championships, while Salukombo took third in the event.  Russo became just the fourth Big Red individual to win the event, and the first since Joe Dunham did so in 1999.  Both runners advanced to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Torrens' last 17 men's teams have earned four firsts (1990, '91, '92, '98) and six seconds (1989, '93, '97, '99, '04, '08),  in the North Coast Athletic Conference, and his women's team won its first-ever conference crown in 1998 and repeated the feat in 1999 and 2000. The consistent prowess of DU's teams has earned Torrens five NCAC Cross Country Coach of the Year awards. In addition, the men have qualified for a spot in the NCAA regional meet in 10 of the last 11 seasons, and the women have traveled to regional competition for the past nine years.

Torrens graduated from Muskingum College in 1968. He began his coaching career at Utica High School from 1968-1972 and continued at Newark High School from 1972-1979. In 1979, he accepted the opportunity to come to Denison as head cross country coach and assistant track coach.

In order to further his coaching expertise, Coach Torrens has completed the TAC Level II training seminars held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  He has also served as an official at the NCAA Division III Indoor and Outdoor Championships at various times over the last 25 years.

Torrens and his wife, Sarah, reside in nearby Utica.

Ashley Shaffer begins her first season as an assistant track and field coach at Denison in 2011-12 and will coach jumpers.

Last season, the Lancaster, Ohio native served as the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field intern for the championship meet hosted by her alma mater Ohio Wesleyan University.  Her duties included helping with meet set-up and management, and organizing meet workers.  Shaffer also completed, organized and filed all purchase orders.

Prior to her NCAA internship, she earned her master’s degree at Muskingum University in 2010.  While serving as a graduate assistant for the Muskies, Shaffer coached a four-time national qualifier in the triple jump.  She also assisted in the training of cross country athletes.

Shaffer earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2008.  The product of Lancaster High School was a five-time national qualifier, and earned All-American honors in the Heptathlon in 2007.  She was a 31-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection, a 13-time conference champion, and was named NCAC Indoor Sprint/Hurdle MVP in 2005 and 2006.