SE TRACK COACH GETS REGIONAL RECOGNITION

Southeast Missouri State University track and field coach Joey Haines has received plenty of awards during the course of his highly distinguished career.

But the most recent honor to come his way is one of his most cherished.

It was announced Wednesday that Haines has been voted the United States Track Coaches Association Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year.

The annual award is voted on by Division I track coaches in the region that covers the states of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.

Haines guided the Southeast women's team to a second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship this year, with the Southeast men's squad placing third in the OVC outdoor meet.

"This is a special honor because it is voted on by your fellow coaches," said Haines. "To be honored in a region that includes several Big 12, Big 10 and Missouri Valley teams makes it a coveted award."

And an award that Haines said he definitely didn't expect to receive.

"It was really a big surprise," he said. "I remember voting on it and thinking it would be nice to win something like this, but it's really hard to get, especially on our level."

Haines said the award is a tribute to what Southeast's outstanding women's team was able to accomplish during the 1998 season. Not only did the Otahkians win the OVC title, they also performed extremely well in numerous major meets while competing against some of the nation's track and field powers.

"It's really a tribute to the women's team, to the young ladies in our program and what the program has done," he said. "What it means is the other coaches (in the region) have watched our girls run and realize the level that they've competed on.

"This last season, in scored meets, we beat Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri a couple of times, a lot of schools like that. And it's not just the kind of athletes they are, they're also super young ladies and people see that."

Haines has won numerous other awards during his 16 seasons as Southeast's coach. While guiding the school's national powerhouse Division II men's and women's programs of the 1980s, he claimed five MIAA Coach of the Year awards and also was named Division II National Coach of the Year in 1987.

Since Southeast moved up to the Division I level in 1991, Haines has won five OVC Coach of the Year awards, on the women's side in 1995, 1997 and 1998 and on the men's side in 1995 and 1996.

"The (national) award in 1987 was big, but this ranks right up there," Haines said. "We've had a lot of OVC coaching awards, but it's the first Division I type thing that our program has had and that makes it special."