News & Notes - September 10, 2020

Book releases feature Coach Joe Vigil and guide for young runners
 
Girls Running – by Melody Fairchild, USATF Women’s Coach at 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
 
Girls Running offers the guidance and tools girls need to thrive on their running journey, right from the start. With straight talk on training, physiology, menstruation, sports nutrition, a winning mindset, body image issues, gear, team-building, and competition, Girls Running educates and empowers young runners to achieve their potential and love running more.
 
Inspired by high-school phenom Melody Fairchild’s groundbreaking running journey, and with the coaching insight from Fairchild and coauthor Elizabeth Carey, Girls Running is a valuable toolkit for middle- and high-school runners.
 
Chasing Excellence – The Remarkable Life and Inspiring Vigilosopy of Coach Joe Vigil by Pat Melgares
 
Dr. Joe I. Vigil—known simply as “Coach” to virtually everybody he has ever met—rose from poverty to become a towering figure in the running world, a co-founder of the USATF Coaching Education Program and a USATF Legend Coach recipient. Coach has won 19 national championships and coached 425 All-Americans, 22 Olympians…and an army of “Vigilantes” who seek to emulate his unique blend of compassion, competitive spirit, and commitment to others.
 
In this biography about America’s preeminent distance-running coach, author and Vigilante Pat Melgares shares Coach Vigil’s tale not just through the consummate storyteller’s own words but also through those of more than 50 family members, friends, former runners, and foes who have been shaped by his presence over a lifetime.
 
Olympian Sheila R. Ingram passes away at age 63
Sheila R. Ingram, 1976 Olympian died on September 1, 2020. She was born March 23, 1957 in Washington, DC.

While a senior at Calvin Coolidge High School, she and her teammates won a silver medal in the 4X400 meter relay at the 1976 Olympic games after taking 6th in the 400m finals. She set four national high school records in the 400-meter dash, plus two American women's records.

The Olympic experience in Montreal was the culmination of years of training with coach Adrian Dixon and the Pioneer Athletic Club in Washington, DC. The club was providing opportunities to girls in the sport before the days of Title IX and Ingram soon became one of the sports most outstanding talents. As an 8th-grader, she was already running 10.8 in the100 yard dash, 24.8 in the 220-yard dash, and 54.5 in the 440-yard dash. At the age of 15, she qualified for the 1972 USA Women’s Olympic Trials in Frederick, Maryland.

By Ingram’s sophomore year of high school, she was down to 53.01 in the quarter, the fastest high school female time that year. Also, that same year, she was a member of the USA Junior National Team that competed against Russia in Houston, Texas, where she placed first in the 400-meter dash. As a senio, she gained more speed with a 100-yard dash personal best of 10.6w. She placed 2nd in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.52 at the AAU Senior National Championships and then, remarkably, she won the 400-meter dash at the USA Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon with a time of 52.69.

Then it was off to Montreal Olympic Games, where Ingram ran a dream series of races in qualifying for the quarterfinals, the semis, and the Olympic Final. She obtained four personal bests and new HS records of 51.83, 51.31, 50.90 and another 50.90 for 6th place in the Final. The 51.31 and the first 50.90 times were American women’s records. Sheila and teammates, Debra Sapenter and Rosalyn Bryant traded American records back and forth during the rounds.  Bryant’s 50.62 in the 2nd semi, after Ingram’s 50.90, was ultimately the final record. Those three along with Pamela Jiles won the silver medal in the Olympic 4x400 meter relay.

After several years off from running, in 1982, Sheila went to St. Augustine College in Raleigh, N.C. and competed. There, she was coached by George Williams.

Sheila was a Class of 2019 Inductee into the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame.  She was also inducted into the District of Columbia State Athletic Association High School Hall of Fame in 2020.

Expressions of sympathy may be expressed to:
James Ingram (Brother)
Email communications@usatf.org for contact information
Or
Adrian Dixon (Coach)
addixon14@yahoo.com