May 19, 2008

MILWAUKEE - Steve Cottingham, Director of Athletics at Marquette University, recently announced that Bert Rogers has been named head coach of men's and women's track and field. Rogers served as the acting head coach of both programs during the 2007-08 campaign. He spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at MU.

"Bert Rogers has proven that he is the right person to lead our track and field programs," said Cottingham. "He has effectively gained the respect of the student-athletes and his colleagues in the Marquette community through his passion of helping our student-athletes succeed in and out of the classroom. I'm happy Coach Rogers will continue to be an integral part of our department as Marquette Athletics continues its pursuit of excellence in the BIG EAST Conference and at the national level."

Under Rogers' direction the Golden Eagles set seven school records during the indoor season, while seven marks have fallen thus far during the outdoor season. Thirty-seven Marquette student-athletes qualified for the 2008 BIG EAST Indoor Championships and 30 Golden Eagles qualified for the Outdoor Championships earlier this month.

The Marquette men's squad was recently recognized by the NCAA, as they were one of 20 Division I programs to post multi-year Academic Performance Rate (APR) scores among the top 10 percent of teams in both indoor and outdoor track and field. Since 2005, the APR has measure eligibility, retention and graduation of NCAA division I student-athletes for all sports. Senior Cassie Peller also garnered a selection to the DI USTFCCCA All-Academic team.

Six Golden Eagles will compete in the upcoming NCAA Mid East Regional, including a school-best five women qualifiers.

"I am both excited and humbled to continue on as the head coach of the track and field programs here at Marquette," said Rogers. "I feel it is a tremendous honor to be the custodian of a program with such a rich history and tradition. I am looking forward to working with the administration, Coach [Mike] Nelson and Coach [Mike] Koenning to build this program into one that is competitive in the BIG EAST for years to come."

Rogers was also an assistant coach at UMKC and UW-Milwaukee prior to his arrival at MU. He was the head boy's coach at Cedarburg High School from 1999-2001 and was the sprints coach for the Greater Milwaukee Track Club.

He earned a master's degree in sports science from the United State Sports Academy in the summer of 2007 and received his bachelor's degree in psychology and ethnic studies from UW-Milwaukee in 1999, where he was a four-year letterwinner and three-year team captain.

A graduate of Parker High School in Janesville, Wis., Rogers and his wife, April, and son, Duncan, live in Milwaukee.

Marquette Golden Eagles Track & Field

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