Al Fereshetian is excited.

It is a perfect spring day in Lewiston, Maine, and Fereshetian is finally getting to spend some quality time with his discus throwers after a few weeks of rough weather.

“It’s like we’re in Florida!” Fereshetian says to his charges, who include senior captain Adedire Fakorede ’18 of Newark, N.J., soon to be a three-time All-American. “Hey, after this, who wants to go to Dairy Joy and get some ice cream?”

Today is a great day to coach Bobcats, and Fereshetian makes sure his throwers come over to his tablet after each throw to review video of exactly what they are doing right and exactly how they need to improve.

“It sure beats the old days of using an 8 mm camera,” Fereshetian laughs. “We’d get the footage a week later!”

Fakorede is the latest in the great tradition of �ֲ���ý throwers, and the latest to praise his coach’s knack for bringing out the best in their shot put, weight, hammer, discus, and javelin efforts.

“Coach Fresh is a friend, a dad, a brother, and a mentor,” Fakorede said. “He just does it all.”

With a remarkable record of coaching throwers to national achievement, Al Fereshetian has headed the �ֲ���ý men’s cross country and track and field programs since 1995. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Fereshetian has been doing it all for his �ֲ���ý athletes since 1995, before any of the current Bobcats were born, carrying on — and building upon — the great post-World War II reputation of Walter Slovenski. In 43 years, Slovenski produced 26 All-Americans overall, including five national champions, such as Wayne Pangburn ’66, a national titlist in the hammer throw in 1965 and 1966, whose success was a harbinger of things to come for the Bobcats.

From late in Slovenski’s tenure and continuing through Fereshetian’s — 1991 to present day — �ֲ���ý has produced at least one All-American in either the weight throw, the shot put, the hammer, the discus, or the javelin every year. That is a streak of 28 years and counting. And all told, 16 of the 21 national champions in �ֲ���ý track and field history have been throwers.

�ֲ���ý has 31 varsity sports and among the current head coaches, Fereshetian is the second-longest tenured. His cross country, indoor, and outdoor track teams are regularly among the top handful in New England and, by extension, all of Division III. For example, �ֲ���ý has placed among the top three teams at the New England Division III Outdoor Championships in each of the past nine years.

In March 2016, Al Fereshetian works with Nick Margitza ’16 of Waterville, Maine, and Adedire Fakorede ’18 of Newark, N.J., in their final tuneup before departing for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

But to understand his success, first you have to understand him.

Fereshetian was born in Arlington, Mass. The son of first-generation Armenian American doughnut makers, Fereshetian spent his formative years in New Hampshire playing a lot of hockey. In eighth grade, as he started running to stay in shape for hockey, Fereshetian discovered a passion that changed the course of his life.

“Hockey required a lot of equipment, but with running, as long as I had a pair of shorts and a pair of shoes, I could go out and make myself better,” Fereshetian said. “And I did.”

Fereshetian went to Bentley College planning to major in business.

“I would study for an accounting exam for maybe two minutes, but I found myself constantly thinking about running,” Fereshetian said. He decided he wanted to coach, and developed a 10-year plan, to culminate in a Division I head-coaching job by the age of 30.

It was a far cry from taking over Charlie’s Donuts, the family business.

“It was a shock to my parents but they came around and were very supportive,” Fereshetian said. “At that point, when I talked to my parents, I had already worked out my career plan. I knew what I had to do.” ��

Fereshetian transferred to the University of New Hampshire and didn’t wait for graduation to begin coaching. He headed up the track and cross country program at Somersworth High School and volunteered with the UNH women’s track and field team.

For the first time, he focused on the throws, bringing atomic precision to the task.

“I worked nights as a security guard at the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant when it was under construction,” Fereshetian said. “The beautiful thing about working in a facility like that is they have the most amazing polished concrete floors.”

“My job was to stay awake all night. The best way for me to stay awake was to move! So I did a lot of turns throughout the night. It allowed me to get a great feel for the throws. I had to get that feel so I could convey it to the athletes.”

In October 2016, Al Fereshetian exhorts his cross country runners at the end of the Maine State Championship in New Gloucester. Fereshetian, says a colleague, is the rare coach who effectively trains both runners and throwers at a high level. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Jim Boulanger is in his 33rd year as the head coach at UNH. But when Fereshetian arrived, Boulanger was still an assistant. Boulanger had no background in track at all and Fereshetian, with his running background, was learning to coach the throws. The two became fast friends, bouncing ideas off each other, and growing as coaches together. They are still close.

“Al is a throwback guy like myself,” Boulanger said. “He is not a specialist; he can do anything.”

“I always tell people that if you posted a job description that said ‘cross country and throws coach,’ Al is one of the few people in the country who could do that legitimately at a high level.”

After graduating from UNH in 1983, Fereshetian landed a position at the University of Kansas where he coached, among other athletes, two javelin throwers who qualified for the 1988 United States Olympic Trials.

“I’ll never forget this. My paycheck at Kansas came out to $111.11 per month,” Fereshetian said. “It keeps you humble, but the experience was priceless.”

“The most important people should be the ones you are currently coaching. That has always been my philosophy.”

In 1989, Fereshetian became the head coach of the Division I program at Appalachian State University, where his success eventually earned him a spot in the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

He was 30 at the time of his appointment. He had executed his 10-year plan to perfection.

But seven years at Appalachian State convinced Fereshetian he needed a change of scenery. It was time for a new plan.

“Division I is a business, and we were always so focused on the people we were trying to get to replace our current athletes,” Fereshetian said. “Recruiting is critical and it has to happen. But the most important people should be the ones you are currently coaching. That has always been my philosophy.”

�ֲ���ý College and the Division III ethos were the perfect fit.

Fereshetian succeeded Slovenski, and he knew from experience that the best way to replace a legend is not to.

“I heard all the Walt Slovenski stories. But when I started at Appalachian State I heard all the Bob Pollock stories,” Fereshetian said. “There is always some pressure, but the bottom line is, I can’t be Walt Slovenski. I have to be myself.”

The best way to succeed a legend like Walter Slovenski, seen here with his great trackmen Rudy Smith ’60 (left) and John Douglas ’60, is not to. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

He had the time to be himself thanks to one of �ֲ���ý’ great assistant coaches, Joe Woodhead. A Maine high school coaching legend, he had retired in the mid-1980s and then joined the �ֲ���ý staff under Slovenski. With Woodhead coaching the throwers, Fereshetian was freed up to focus on building his program.

“I knew the throwers were in great hands with Joe,” Fereshetian said. “The truth about track and field is, I love every aspect of it. When I was at Appalachian we had national-caliber triple jumpers, and I loved that.”

“When Al arrived my junior year, the program as a whole shifted.”

Woodhead was a hammer and weight throw expert. When a �ֲ���ý javelin thrower began to open some eyes��— eventual three-time All-American Heather Bumps ’97��— it was time for Fereshetian to take on his first pupil.

“When Al arrived my junior year, the program as a whole shifted,” Bumps said. “My first two years, there was definitely a men’s team and a women’s team. Although we shared the same space, we practiced and competed separately. But when Al got there, he and women’s head coach Carolyn Court worked together to build a feeling that this was one track and field team.”

With his ever-present tablet in hand, Al Fereshetian coaches the hammer throw at the Maine State Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at �ֲ���ý on April 20, 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Bumps had earned All-America honors as a sophomore the year before Fereshetian arrived. Then in the spring of 1996 under Fereshetian’s tutelage, she set a �ֲ���ý record that still stands today, unleashing a throw of 144 feet, 7 inches.

“His really deep technical knowledge was a big change,” Bumps said. “I had kind of been skating by on natural talent up until I started working with Al. I can’t even imagine how many hours I watched video of my throwing. It was a completely different approach than what I had experienced to that point.”

In 1998, Billy McEvila ’99 won the national title in the 35-pound weight throw, the Bobcats’ first NCAA championship in the throws since Steve Ryan ’83 took home the title in the javelin 15 years earlier.

In the 2000s, �ֲ���ý throwers upped their game to a new level, with Liz Wanless ’04 winning national titles in the indoor and outdoor shot put in 2004. Wanless became the first �ֲ���ý women’s track and field athlete to win a national title in any event.

In February 2009, 16-time All-American Keelin Godsey ’06 hugs longtime throwing coach Joe Woodhead during an event dedicating the throwing circle in Merrill Gym in Woodhead’s honor. Godsey won two national championships in the women’s hammer. (Louisa Demmitt ’09/�ֲ���ý College)

Meanwhile, Keelin Godsey ’06 was becoming the most decorated �ֲ���ý track and field athlete ever. Earning an astounding 16 All-America honors in the throws from 2004—06, Godsey took home two national titles and set an NCAA Division III record in the hammer along the way. He later became the first openly transgender athlete to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Woodhead had his throwers clicking on all cylinders, with Jamie Sawler ’02 (weight and hammer) and Noah Gauthier ’08 (weight) winning national titles during this period as well.

And in February 2009, following extensive renovations to Merrill Gymnasium and Slovenski Track, the throwing area was renamed the “Joseph Woodhead All-American Throwing Area” in a surprise ceremony for the beloved coach.

By then, Fereshetian had been on the periphery of the throwers for more than a decade. “Coach Fresh recognized Coach Woodhead’s success in the throws,” says two-time All-American Chris Murtagh ’11. “There was no need for a change.”

And then, for sad reasons, there was a need for a change when, in February 2010, Woodhead fractured his femur in a collision with a Middlebury runner on the track at MIT.

As he recuperated, Fereshetian stepped in to train the throwers. Three-time All-American Rich McNeil ’10 and six-time All-American Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan ’10 finished their careers on a high note with All-America honors that spring.

But in October 2010, Woodhead died at age 76. “We were heartbroken. He was like a grandfather to me,” Murtagh said.

The throwers dedicated the 2011 season to Woodhead, and Fereshetian introduced a “full-scale, disciplined approach” to being a thrower, Murtagh says, one that “included recording everything on video, nutrition, flexibility, and yoga. He went all in. ”

“We went from being big guys who threw the weight to becoming better all-around athletes.”

“Coach Fresh is a thrower trapped in a runner’s body,” McNeil said, referring to his coach’s outsized, big-man appetite (doughnuts, of course, and ice cream) as well as his focus on technique, which is at the core of a thrower’s world. “Al is a technician. He is always willing to adjust certain things to help his athlete out. He evens names drills after student-athletes.”

Al Fereshetian works with Zack Campbell ’19 of Brooklyn, N.Y., during the Maine State Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at �ֲ���ý on April 21, 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“There’s technique to everything,” Fereshetian says. “There’s technique to driving, there’s technique to opening a door. And there’s technique to throwing.”

Just the way Fereshetian created his own plans as a young coach, he creates plans for his athletes, and lets them do the execution. He lays the foundation, says Fakorede, then “builds it up, brick by brick.”

Fereshetian’s coaching talents helped David Pless ’13 go from throwing the shot put 46 feet as a first-year to 56 feet and the indoor national title in 2011 as a sophomore.

“Coach Fereshetian is someone who believed in me at all times even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

For the first time in his �ֲ���ý career, Fereshetian got to present the All-America awards in the shot put because his athlete came in first. So Pless got his award from Fereshetian as did fellow All-American Ethan Waldman ’11. Murtagh, too, received All-America honors at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships, in the weight throw.

Waldman’s father, Ira ’73, was at the meet. He will never forget looking at Fereshetian as he handed out the awards.

“He puts everything he has into making these athletes perform to the best of their ability,” Waldman said. “You could see the pride on his face. You could see the tears welling up in his eyes.”

“Coach Fereshetian is someone who believed in me at all times even when I didn’t believe in myself.” Pless said. “Through all the All-American awards and national championships, the constant was Fresh.”

In never gets old: In March 2013, and for the third year in a row, Al Fereshetian presents the championship shot-put trophy to David Pless ’13 at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. (Video courtesy of Ira Waldman ’73)

Fereshetian cares deeply. He once drove Murtagh and Pless from Washington, D.C., to Lewiston, Maine, after their flight back from nationals got diverted. Normally the 600-mile trip takes 10 hours, but Murtagh was graduating the next morning. So they did it in eight.

Fereshetian has been the steward of the �ֲ���ý throwing legacy, but his throwers have also taken it upon themselves to keep it thriving. The passion for the program �ֲ���ý throwers show every day mirrors their coach’s. ��

During his time as a �ֲ���ý thrower, Fakorede was often reminded of his responsibility to carry on the tradition.

Those reminders came as texts, as Fakorede is part of a group chat that includes McNeil, Waldman, Murtagh, Pless, David Hardison ’13, Eric Wainman ’15, Sean Enos ’15 and Nick Margitza ’16. That is a combined 32 All-America awards, in case you are counting. ����

Their strong back-and-forth with Fakorede kept him focused and motivated to do his best every meet. He heard from them whether he set a personal record or if he underperformed.

Enos, who earned nine All-American awards, was a senior when Fakorede was a first-year at �ֲ���ý.

“I was lucky enough to know Chris and Rich in high school, so they told me about the legacy before I even came to �ֲ���ý,” Enos said. “Pless took me under his wing when I got here, teaching me how to prepare myself, and I did the same thing for Adedire.”

Al Fereshetian gathers his athletes during the 50th Maine State Indoor Championships on Feb. 3, 2018, in Merrill Gymnasium. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Fakorede paid it forward by mentoring first-year John Rex of Andover, Mass. Rex, in turn, broke Fakorede’s freshman record in the hammer.

“I hope he’s the future and face of this program,” Fakorede said. “I’ve been telling him that talent is not the be-all-end-all when it comes to the throws. You have to put in the work inside and outside the circle.”

On that perfect spring day, Fereshetian takes Fakorede and Rex to Dairy Joy following their workout, as promised. They start talking about baseball and Fereshetian brings up one of his favorite pitchers from years ago: Dan Quisenberry.

Neither Fakorede nor Rex has heard of the former Kansas City Royals closer, known for his “submarine” style of pitching.

“Oh,” says Fereshetian taking out his tablet, “you’ve got to see this.”

They look intently, and Fereshetian smiles. ��

“Watch him throw.”

Allison Hill has never felt faster.

Hill, a �ֲ���ý senior and the top-ranked 60-meter hurdler in the nation, explodes from the blocks. It’s the first, and the most anticipated, event for a �ֲ���ý athlete at the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships.

She clears the first two hurdles with ease. In the stands at suburban Chicago’s North Central College, Hill’s teammates scream, “Let’s go, Alley!”

In her 60-meter hurdle preliminary race at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 10, Allison Hill ’17 clears the second hurdle before finding trouble at the third. (Photograph by d3photography.com)

One year ago, Hill finished ninth, just one-hundredth of a second from eighth place and All-America honors. The eight hurdlers who finished ahead of her all graduated, so the unspoken truth of this season is simple: Allison Hill has a very good shot at winning �ֲ���ý’ first-ever national championship in the hurdles.

Hurdling requires perfect timing and Hill is going fast��— maybe faster than ever before. Now approaching the third hurdle, she starts her takeoff too close to the hurdle, and her trail leg doesn’t get up in time. Her knee knocks the hurdle over, she falls, and suddenly everything has changed.

It’s 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 10, 2017��— the first day of the two-day championship meet��— and the story of Hill’s quest for an indoor national title is over before you can say, “It’s a tough day to be a Bobcat.”

But for Hill and her teammates, another story soon begins.

This year, the �ֲ���ý women’s track and field team matched a program record by sending six athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships. Fellow senior captains Jessica Wilson and Claire Markonic, plus junior Sally Ceesay and sophomores Ayden Eickhoff and Sarah Rothmann, join Hill.

All together, �ֲ���ý is represented by a contingent of 15 athletes and coaches who made the more than 1,000-mile trip from Lewiston to Naperville. The men’s team qualified five athletes, including All-American weight thrower Adedire Fakorede of Newark, N.J., a junior who is the college’s student body president.

Hill’s very human moment in the 60-meter hurdles leaves everyone a little stunned, Hill most of all.

Fakorede is an impressive athlete who can throw a 35-pound weight more than 61 feet. Even he is in awe of Hill, a graceful, powerful, and tall (5-foot-9) sprinter who, in the fall, was a tenacious All-New England defender for the women’s soccer team.

“Allison is not human,” said Fakorede, who finished fourth in the nation this year in the weight throw. “Let me say that again: Allison Hill is not human.”

But Hill’s very human moment in the 60-meter hurdles leaves everyone a little stunned, Hill most of all.

Falling in the 60-meter preliminary was “one of the most surreal feelings I’ve ever felt,” said Allison Hill ’17. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

“It’s one of the most surreal feelings I’ve ever felt,” Hill said later. “People might say, ‘Oh, she cracked under pressure,’ but I was so ready, I was so excited. I don’t want to know what I actually would have run if I could have finished because that probably will make me sad.”

Hill does not have any time to be sad now because her next race, the 200-meter dash, is coming up in just a couple hours. The 200-meter dash was almost an afterthought entering the weekend. Now, the race takes center stage for Hill.

“Before the season, we did not plan to have Alley run the 200-meter dash,” head coach Jay Hartshorn said. “But one meet at Boston University we gave her a week off from hurdles, she ran the 200-meter dash, and she qualified for nationals.”

Hill’s parents traveled halfway across the country from the family’s home in Brunswick, Maine, to watch her run. But she does not talk to them or anyone else during the short break between the 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. It is time for Hill to mentally get off the ground.

“I let some emotions out. Then I put all my energy and anger into the next event,” Hill said. “Everyone said I looked so mean running. I think it helped me to have a chip on my shoulder.”

It works: Two hours after the biggest disappointment of her collegiate career, Hill sets a personal flat track record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.27 seconds.

After missing All-America honors in 2016 by a hundredth of a second, she qualifies for Saturday’s finals by the same slim margin.

Fakorede was preparing for the weight throw in the same nearby gym where Hill warmed up for the 200-meter dash. “She was in the zone,” Fakorede said.

Weight thrower Adedire Fakorede ’18 of Newark, N.J., who earned All-America honors at the NCAA meet, saw Hill warming up for the 200-meter dash following her disappointment in the hurdles. “She was in the zone.” (Photograph by d3photography.com)

He saw Hill as she harnessed her emotions and began to refocus. The result: “She was killing her warm-ups. She was so into what she was doing. I’m not surprised that she set a P.R.”

Then Fakorede makes a prediction: “It’s just the beginning because tomorrow she’s definitely going to do something amazing. Because as I said earlier, Allison is not human.”

A day that could not have started any worse for the �ֲ���ý women ends on a high note. Along with Hill’s performance in the 200, the distance medley relay team — which runs legs of 1,200, 400, 800, and 1,600 meters — finishes fourth in the final. It is the best DMR finish at nationals in �ֲ���ý history, good for All-America honors for team members Rothmann, Markonic, Eickhoff, and Wilson.

The All-America distance medley team of Sarah Rothmann ’19, Jessica Wilson ’17, Ayden Eickhoff ’19, and Claire Markonic ’17 pose with their fourth-place trophies at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 10. (Photograph by d3photography.com)

It is now Saturday, day two of the meet. Eight runners are in the 200-meter final, and since the top eight will earn All-America honors, Hill only needs to avoid a false start to win the coveted award. A teammate jokes that Hill should just take a victory lap, do some cartwheels, maybe run backwards. After all, the hard part — qualifying for the finals — is over.

Hill does not false-start. Nor does she do a victory lap. Instead, she breaks her own school record, again. This time she runs to the finish in 25.22 seconds, good for fifth in the nation.

Hill is now the only Bobcat in program history to earn All-America honors in the 200-meter dash.

Sally Ceesay, a native of the Bronx, N.Y., is among the Bobcats who are impressed, but not necessarily surprised, by Hill’s comeback. Ceesay finished seventh in the triple jump for her second career indoor All-America finish earlier in the day.

“Alley is just a rock star,” said Ceesay, framing her admiration with a bit of slang: “She is my senior year goals.” Next year, she added, “I just want to get out there and go after it the way she does every single meet.”

Triple jumper Sally Ceesay ’18 of Bronx, N.Y., earned All-America honors at the meet. Hill, she says, “is just a rock star.” (Photograph by d3photography.com)

Everyone gets to watch Hill run in the finals except for Cumberland, Maine, native Jessica Wilson, who is preparing for her individual event, the 3,000-meter run. Like Hill, Wilson is a Mainer and senior captain, majoring in environmental studies. But the similarities end there.

Standing 5-foot-6, Wilson is a middle-distance runner, a grinder who, in the fall, led the women’s cross country team to an NCAA championships appearance for the fourth time in program history. In the winter and spring, she is a track star in her own right, twice earning All-America honors with the DMR team.

What really stands out about Wilson is that every time you speak to her about her sport, you come away feeling that you learned something. She is cool, calm and very analytical.

Wilson makes it look easy in the 3,000-meter run, coming in fifth place, good for another All-America finish. But it was not easy, not easy at all.

The previous day, Wilson anchored the DMR team’s All-America finish by running the final 1,600 meters. Tack on an additional 3,000 meters less than 24 hours later and her fifth-place finish becomes even more impressive.

“I’m exhausted,” Wilson said. “It hurt, it really hurt. About halfway through you come to the realization how much it’s physically and mentally hurting you. But you just have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s less than 10 minutes of running and you can do anything for 10 minutes.”

Jessica Wilson ’17 (No. 5) competes in the 3,000-meter run en route to a fifth-place finish. “It hurt, it really hurt,” she said. “But you just have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” (Photograph by Lynda Kelley / d3photography.com)

Wilson learns after her race that Hill finished fifth in the 200 meters and her face lights up. Wilson’s voice goes up an octave in happiness: “That’s amazing, I’m going to cry! I didn’t know Alley got fifth, I am so proud of her!”

Reflecting on what transpired the day before, Wilson says that “the whole team really felt for Alley, and we really wanted her to do well. She, out of anyone, deserves to be an All-American and she, out of anyone, deserves to be happy. She’s worked so hard for this.”

Her teammates’ support is not lost on Hill.

“The fact that my teammates were emotional that I was emotional after my race, it really meant a lot,” Hill said. “We care so much for each other because we see how hard we all work in practice, everything we put on the table and everything we do every day. I was cheering for Jess when I was cooling down in there, and to see both of us get fifth as captains and as Mainers is awesome.”

Allison Hill competes in the finals of the 200-meter dash, in which she posted a surprise fifth-place finish on March 11 at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. (Photograph by d3photography.com)

Hill’s sudden failure in the 60-meter hurdles could have been overwhelming for both her and the team. But it didn’t overwhelm either. In fact, it inspired them to do even better.

“I think Alley’s ability to overcome helped motivate everyone to make the most of the meet,” said Hartshorn.

The women finished the two-day event with 15 points and a tie for 11th place out of 70 scoring teams and 112 participating schools. Their seven All-Americans are the most in program history, and the team’s 11th-place finish is their best since 2006.

The indoor season is now over, and the outdoor season quickly approaches.

Last year, Hill finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Already an outdoor All-American in that event, she wants more for the final chapter of her college career.

“Once I got my composure back after the 60-meter hurdles, I immediately thought: ‘Time for outdoors,’” Hill said. “The NCAA Championships actually conflict with graduation. But after what happened here, there is no way I’m not going to nationals. When it’s right there, you just want to take it.”

For Hill and her teammates, another story soon begins.

�ֲ���ý track and field throwers have been winning national titles and earning All-America honors since 1935.

Nick Margitza ’16 of Waterville, Maine, and Adedire Fakorede ’18 of Newark, N.J., are �ֲ���ý’ latest All-America throwers, and they talk about their friendship, the alumni tradition that encourages them, and how they “like to scrap a little, to get riled up.”