Colonels' track & field coach Stegmaier resigns after 12 seasons

WINCHESTER — Matt Stegmaier is looking forward to spending more time with his own children, but he’ll always cherish the time he spent trying to get the most out of other people’s kids as James Wood’s head track and field coach.

Stegmaier — a two-time Winchester Star Track and Field Coach of the Year (2009 and 2015) who coached five district/conference championship teams in 12 seasons with the Colonels — is leaving his coaching position so he can focus on helping the new Potomac Brigade Soccer Club that is based in Inwood, W.Va.

Stegmaier is also resigning as the head cross country coach at Frederick County Middle School, where he is a civics and economics teacher.

Stegmaier said he and his wife Andrea are one of about a half-dozen families that are helping with the operation of the club, which will feature his son Ethan, a rising sixth-grader, on an Under-12 team and his daughter Lizzy, a rising fourth-grader, on an Under-10 team.

Potomac Brigade — which will also compete in Under-14 play — is scheduled to start practice this month and begin competition next month.

Stegmaier said he let his athletes and assistants know during the first week of practice in February that this would be his last season, and he then informed the school’s administration.

“[My] kids are getting older and getting more involved in their sports, and it’s getting a little bit more competitive,” said the 40-year-old Stegmaier, who graduated from a West Virginia high school (Hedgesville, in 1995) and lives in the state as well (Gerrardstown). “With that, I just want to be there for them and work with them.

“I don’t want to miss stuff with them because I’ve got a track meet or I’m coaching cross country.”

Stegmaier certainly created plenty of memorable moments while he coaches track, guiding some of the best stretches that the boys and girls have ever had in the school’s 67-year history.

He’s quick to point out who deserves the most credit for that success though.

“It comes down to the kids,” Stegmaier said. “You can have Bill Belichick roll down into any high school, but that doesn’t mean the football team is going to get better. Kids are going to have to buy in.

“The kids have trusted us. We’ve always been thankful of that and appreciate that, and we let them know that. The staff and the athletes have a really good relationship, and those big things happen because of those kids. They’ve got a never-quit attitude and a fighting attitude. A lot of that stuff you can’t coach.

“[The accomplishments] our teams and athletes have had, that’s just a testament to them and the staff that we were surrounded by. I’ve had a lot of pretty good consistency with staff over the years, and we’ve had some really good coaches come through over the years.”

Stegmaier is a former decathlete at NCAA Division I Marshall University, which he graduated from in 1999. After coaching middle school track for three years, he was the throws coach for Millbrook in its inaugural 2003-04 school year, moved to James Wood for a year as a hurdles coach in 2004-05, then took over as the Colonels’ head coach in 2005-06.

The James Wood boys took eighth at the eight-team Northwestern District meet in 2005, the year before Stegmaier took over. In his second year, the Colonels took second. In his fourth year in 2009, James Wood won the meet for the first time since 1968.

The 2009 title would start a stretch of three straight district championships for the Colonels boys.

In 2015, the James Wood girls won the Conference 21 meet title, the program’s third postseason title ever and its first since winning the Northwestern District title in 2002. The Colonels won a second straight conference title by taking the crown in Conference 21 West in 2016.

“He obviously had a lot of success while he’s been the coach,” said James Wood coordinator of student activities Craig Woshner, who directed the Colonels girls to that 2002 district title. “It takes a lot of good athletes to have the type of success that we’ve had, but it also takes a good coaching staff.

“The assistant coaches have a done a great job, and Matt’s done a great job overseeing things. I hate to see him go, but I certainly understand why he made the decision he made.”

Along the way, James Wood also ended some long droughts in the prestigious local meets. At the Colonels’ Apple Blossom Invitational, the boys ended a 19-year title drought by winning it in 2009, and the girls ended a winless streak of least 25 years by taking the ABI in 2016. This past season saw the James Wood girls win the Handley Invitational for the first time since 2002.

As a decathlete, Stegmaier had to become familiar with all the various disciplines involved in track, and he thinks what he went through as an athlete helped him as a coach.

“I think experiencing events are overwhelming more important than clinics and books,” Stegmaier said. “You can learn a lot from books, but if you’ve done it before and you know the mental side of things and the physical side of things, I think that’s helped me have the athletes ready.”

Stegmaier actually has the title of director of strength and conditioning with the Potomac Brigade, so he hopes to help the players improve their speed and agility.

Stegmaier — who recently earned a fitness instructor certificate from ACE Fitness — would like to eventually work with children outside of the Potomac Brigade on their athleticism.

He plans on helping out some of his former James Wood athletes as well. Stegmaier has been talking with rising senior Rene Rosso — who earned all-state honors in five events this spring — because of his desire to see her finish her career strong and find a good fit for her at the college level.

Rosso helped Stegmaier end his James Wood career in memorable fashion. The Colonels girls took sixth as a team, with senior thrower Hannah Cavanagh (headed to George Mason) and freshman distance runner Kenzie Konyar also earning all-state honors.

Cavanagh, Emma Hammond and Chris Vitagliano (all-state in the long jump) were also part of the graduation ceremony that the Virginia High School League held at Harrisonburg High School on June 3 for all the athletes that couldn’t attend their graduations on campus. James Wood was the only school to participate.

“It was great to see the girls do as well as they did. It was the best showing we’ve had at the state meet since I’ve been a coach,” Stegmaier said. “I kind of left on a pretty high note. It was pretty special. It was fun.”

Woshner said the school hopes to have a new coach hired in the next couple of weeks.

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