Ryan Petrocchi was named Assistant Coach for the Javelina track and field program in December, 2019.
Petrocchi comes to Kingsville after spending the last six seasons at Birmingham-Southern College as an assistant coach. While at BSC, he had four All-America citations handed out over the final three years along with seven national qualifiers, 31 All-Southern Athletic Association honorees, and helped lead the men’s program to its first-ever SAA Championship in 2016 before repeating the feat at the 2017 SAA Championships.
Petrocchi’s final three years for the Panthers included two First Team All-America accolades doled out to Luke Ballard in the javelin in 2018 and 2019, while Kameren Morgan was named All-American in the hammer throw in 2017 and the weight throw in 2019. Luke Ballard finished third in the javelin at the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a toss of 62.36m (204-7), one year after finishing eighth at the 2018 championships with a throw of 62.35m (204-7). Morgan, meanwhile, took fourth in the weight throw at the 2019 indoor championships with a mark of 19.87m (65-2.25) and finished third at the 2017 outdoor championships in the hammer throw with a final attempt of 58.04m (190-5).
In total, Morgan qualified for the NCAA Championships thrice in the hammer throw and once in the weight throw, while Luke Ballard qualified twice for the javelin and Hank Ballard made the final site once in the javelin.
While at BSC, Petrocchi had 12 SAA individual champions between 2014 and 2019, including four hammer throw titles from Morgan, two javelin trophies from Luke Ballard, three shot put championships and one hammer throw title from Michael Snow, one hammer throw gold medal from Earen Robinson and one javelin crown from Hank Ballard. Both Snow and Hank Ballard were SAA Field Athletes of the Year in 2014 and 2015, respectively, while Morgan and Luke Ballard were both USTFCCCA Southeast Region Field Athletes of the Year in 2019.
Petrocchi’s time at BSC included 13 USTFCCCA All-Region honorees with Morgan gathering six of them between the weight throw and hammer throw. Luke Ballard was a two-time All-Region member in the javelin, matched by two accolades from CJ Lecroy in the same event, while Snow grabbed two shot put All-Region accolades along with one from Robinson in the weight throw.
Among his list of standout throwers, two of them currently own program records for BSC as Robinson is the women’s record holder in two indoor categories, shot put and weight throw, along with three in the outdoor season, shot put, discus throw and hammer throw. Meanwhile, Morgan currently stands as the men’s record holder in the weight throw and hammer throw. In total, seven women and eight men are on the top five list for indoor events for the Panthers’ record book, while 16 women and 13 men have landed in the top five for the outdoor records.
Prior to his career on the coaching side of athletics, Petrocchi was a five-year member of the Nebraska track and field program under the late Mark Colligan. He was the men’s most improved athlete in 2008, was part of the team that claimed the 2009 and 2010 Big XII Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and made the NCAA Division I East Regional in the javelin in the same years.
A five-time member of the Big XII Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Petrocchi was a Second Team Academic All-Big XII in 2007 and made the Academic All-Big XII first team in 2010.
A native of Ralston, Neb., Petrocchi graduated with a degree in nutrition, exercise, and health science from Nebraska in 2010.
