TSU COACH TO LEAD WORLDS: Tennessee State head track and field coach Chandra Cheeseborough will serve as the women's head coach for Team USA at the 2009 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany, USA Track & Field announced Monday.

Cheeseborough and the Team USA staff will guide the World's #1 Track & Field Team at the World Championships, August 15-23 in Berlin.

At the most recent World Outdoor Championships in 2007 in Osaka, Japan, Team USA tied the all-time World Championships record for gold medals with 14, matching its feat from 2005, and tied the American all-time medal tally at a World Outdoor Championships with 26. In Osaka, Team USA led a medal table in which a record 46 countries won medals. When Team USA last won 26 medals at a World Outdoor Championships in 1991, just 29 countries appeared on the medal table.

Currently the head women's and cross country coach at her alma mater Tennessee State University, Cheeseborough, a National Track & Field Hall of Famer broke onto the international track scene as a 16-year-old when she won two gold medals at the 1975 Pan American Games, taking the 200 meters in American-record time of 25.77 seconds. A three-time Olympian under the tutelage of National Track & Field Hall of Fame coach Ed Temple of Tennessee State, Cheeseborough won two gold medals (4x100 and 4x400 relays) at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman ever to accomplish that double-relay feat, with both finals staged less than an hour apart. She also won a silver medal in the 400 meters at the 1984 Games, and twice set the American record in the women's 400 meters.

Cheeseborough was named Tennessee State's men's and women's coach in 1999. Internationally, she has served as an assistant coach at the 2008 Olympic Games, the 2001 World Outdoor Championships and the 1999 Pan American Junior Championships. University of Alabama head coach Harvey Glance will serve as the men's head coach.

NEW HOOPS COACH AT FSU: Fayetteville State introduced Eva Patterson-Heath Wednesday as its new head women's basketball coach.

Patterson-Heath served as the head girl's basketball coach at Red Spring High School in Red Springs, N.C. for the past 13 years. Under her leadership, the Lady Devils had a 503-128 record. This outstanding record led her teams to 17 conference titles, 11 conference tournament championships, and 23 state playoff appearances with two state championship appearances.

In 2009, she was inducted into the Robeson County's Inaugural Sports Hall of Fame and in 2006 she was chosen as the North Carolina High School Athletics Association Female Coach of the Year.

Coach Heath's career began as an activities coordinator in 1977 with the Robeson County Parks and Recreation Department; she later became an athletic director, which led her into her coaching careers in basketball as well cross country and track. She began her path into education at North Carolina A&T State University where she received her Bachelor's of Science in History with a concentration in education. She later received her certification from Fayetteville State in Special Education and her Master of Arts Degree in Education from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

CONWAY RETURNS TO A&T: N.C. A&T alumnus Toni Conway has been pegged by Athletic Director Wheeler Brown as the school's new head volleyball coach. Conway spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Bowie State.

Conway coached at Bowie State from 2005-08. Three out of those four seasons saw the Bulldogs finish with a winning record in the CIAA.

During Conway's playing days, N.C. A&T went 31-7 in the MEAC, including an 8-0 conference record in 1998. It was the first and only time in school history the Aggies finished the conference season undefeated. Conway was also a two-year member of the Aggies swim team.

A&T LADY AGGIES TO WNIT: The Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) has invited North Carolina A&T to its prestigious 2009 Preseason Tournament.

"An invite to a tournament of this magnitude is truly an honor," said head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs, who is heading into her fifth season. "Out of roughly 300 Division I schools, we are one of 16 teams invited. It shows the women's college basketball world is paying attention to this program, and what it has accomplished over the past few seasons. This will be an outstanding experience for my ladies."

The Lady Aggies will open the tournament at Marist on Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Marist is in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The winner will move on in a traditional tournament format to play the winner of the Towson at West Virginia matchup.

"Our players really deserve this,'" said Bibbs, who is 77-47 as the Aggies head lady. "In order to be considered for this tournament you must have a pretty good RPI. That means our young ladies have put in the work it takes to win a lot of games. I'm proud of them."

In each of the last two seasons, the Aggies have broken the school record in wins. Last season they went 26-7 overall, and for the second straight season they were 15-1 in the MEAC. The 26 wins were not only the most wins in school history; the seven losses were the fewest in school history. The Aggies capped off the 2008-09 season by winning the MEAC Tournament for the first time in 15 years, thusly earning an automatic bid to the WNCAA.

NC A&T will join 15 other teams including 10 who advanced to the WNCAA last spring. Among those teams are Arkansas-Little Rock, Bowling Green, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia Tech, New Mexico, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Winthrop and Marist. Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Northern Colorado, Towson and UTEP also accepted invitations.

Five seniors, including three-year standouts Lamona Smalley and Ta'Wuana Cook, will lead the 2009-10 team.

© 2009 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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