James Lemieux recently completed his third season as the head men’s and women’s track and field coach at Utica University. He was elevated to that position in July 2019 after five seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach. Lemieux heads up the day-to-day operations of a highly competitive men’s and women’s track and field program. He works directly with the Pioneer throwers and multi-event athletes, and also assists Head Coach Sam Catterson with the Cross Country program.
In 2023-24, Lemieux guided Utica to a tremendous season, highlighted by All-American shot put thrower Jane Fahy. She was the national runner up at the 2023-24 Indoor NCAA Division III Championships. For the men, Justin Swavely and Hunter Logan earned Division III All-American honors as Swavely finished in seventh place in javelin while Logan placed sixth in shot put. Logan previously garnered All-American honors following the 2021-2022 indoor season and the 2022 outdoor season.
The 2022-23 track and field season was full of high notes, the mens team came in 2nd and the women's team earned 3rd at the Empire 8 Conference indoor championship. 17 athletes qualified for the AARTFC Championships. Mackenzie Mix and Zuriel Wright competed at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. 26 athletes received All-Conference selections for the indoor season.
The 2021-22 track and field season was highlighted by the men's program winning its third Empire 8 Conference Outdoor Team Title, and the coaching staff earning Empire 8 Men's Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. Three athletes, Mackenzie Mix, Hunter Logan, and Ka'Sean Watlington, earned a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and Logan also attended the NCAA Indoor Championships. Logan snagged All-American honors indoors and outdoors in the men's shot put. Mix was named the Empire 8 Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. The squad claimed a total of 30 outdoor All-Conference honors, and also secured ten All-Region honors outdoors. Indoors, Utica claimed three All-Region honors, and nineteen All-Conference honors from seventeen different athletes. During the season, the Pioneers also had the honor of holding their first-ever outdoor home meet.
The spring 2021 indoor and outdoor seasons had plenty of high notes for the Pioneers, despite the challenging and compressed schedule. The Utica women were third in the team championship at the Empire 8 Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the Utica men turned in a third place and second place performance, respectively, at the same championship events.The Pioneers won eight different individual titles in outdoor track, and two indoor titles, while there were a total of seventeen All-Conference honors awarded to the program over the course of the indoor and outdoor seasons. Four members of the squad were picked to All-Region teams, and long jumper Kelsey Wands went on to compete at the NCAA Championships in the Long Jump.
Additionally, Lemieux directly oversaw throwers Jane Fahy and Arthur Bittel, and multi-eventers Chase Pecoraro and Kyle Swiecki in their very successful seasons. Fahy and Bittel swept the Empire 8 indoor shot put titles, and Fahy went on to break the indoor and outdoor school records in that event. Pecoraro won the E8 Championship in the javelin throw in addition to claiming the outdoor pole vault crown. Kyle Swiecki also set a new school record in the decathlon while under Lemieux's watch. The program also recorded the first dual meet wins in its history.
The 2019-20 indoor season was a successful one in Lemieux’s first year leading the program. The Pioneers sported three NCAA Championship qualifiers with sprinter Eshone Cofield-Jackson (200 meters), and jumpers Kelsey Wands (long jump) and Ka’Sean Watlington (triple jump) making the national field. Cofield-Jackson and Wands each set school records on their way to nationals, while the All-American Watlington qualified for a second straight indoor championship and his fourth in total. Four school records fell over the course of the season, with new marks set by Cofield-Jackson (60 Meters), Wands (Long Jump), Mitchell Marlow (One Mile) and Antwan Kelly (Weight Throw). Cofield-Jackson was the AARTFC Women’s Champion at 200 meters. The Empire 8 major awards featured great representation from Lemieux’s squads, with Zuriel Wright hauling home the Men’s Rookie of the Year award. For the women, Wands was the Field Athlete of the Year and Cofield-Jackson was selected as the Track Athlete and Rookie of the Year. The programs totaled nineteen All-Conference selections. At the Empire 8 Championships, Cofield-Jackson and Marlow were chosen as the Track Athletes of the Meet, while Katrina Cornick turned in a throwing performance worthy of the women’s Field Athlete of the Meet award. The Pioneers won eleven events between their men’s and women’s squads as both teams placed second. The men’s triple jump group was ranked seventh nationally in the USTFCCCA EventSquad rankings at the end of the season. The men’s and women’s programs totaled six national top 50 performances.
2018-2019 was a banner year for Coach Lemieux, highlighted by Keanu Heedram’s 3rd place finish in the Shot Put at the 2019 NCAA DIII Indoor National Championships, becoming the program’s first All-American in a throwing event, as well as having three throwers qualify for the 2019 NCAA DIII Outdoor National Championships: Heedram in Shot Put, DeAndre Fyffe in Discus and Jordan Smith in Javelin. Fyffe was also named Empire 8 Rookie of the year for 2019 having broken the conference record in the Discus, and winning the AARTFC title in the discus. On the women’s side, Three-Sport athlete (volleyball, basketball) Nicole Herringshaw became the program’s second DIII NCAA Top-50 finisher in a throwing event (javelin) while Emily Fales won the AARTFC title in the shot put. By the time the season ended, the Utica throwers broke the UC records in the Men’s and Women’s shot put, discus and javelin during the spring 2019 campaign, as well as the Empire 8 Records in the shot put and discus. As a result of his throwers’ successes, Coach Lemieux was voted USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year for 2019.
Coach Lemieux was hired in the fall of 2014 as an assistant coach to head up the coaching of throws and combined events groups as well as oversee the strength and conditioning for the program as a whole. In the fall of 2015, Coach Lemieux was elevated to Associate Head Coach for Track and Field and Cross Country.
Since his arrival, the Pioneer throwers and multis have re-written every school record, several Empire 8 conference records, have seen tremendous success within the Empire 8 and Atlantic region and have garnered recognition at the national level. The 2016 Men's Discus and Shot Put squads both finished the season ranked top 10 on the USTFCCCA National Event Squad Rankings. The 2017-2018 Indoor and Outdoor seasons saw Dual-Sport athlete (football) Keanu Heedram become the program's first ever NCAA Qualifier in the throws, representing UC in the Shot Put at both the Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Championships.
National Notables from Lemieux’s Event Groups (Throws & Multis)
NCAA National Qualifiers**: 9
NCAA Top 50 Athletes (throws/multis): 29
2022 Outdoors: Hunter Logan (Shot Put**, 6th), Jane Fahy (Shot Put, 43rd), Justin Swavely (Javelin, 27th)
2022 Indoors: Jane Fahy (Shot Put, 32nd), Hunter Logan (Shot Put**, 9th)
2021 Outdoors: Jane Fahy (Shot Put, 25th), Chase Pecoraro (Javelin, 29th & Decathlon, 48th), Kyle Swiecki (Decathlon, 27th)
2021 Indoors: Arthur Bittel (Shot Put, 45th), Jane Fahy (Shot Put, 36th), Cora Maxwell (Pentathlon, 25th)
2020 Indoors: Kyle Swiecki (Heptathlon, 38th)
2019 Outdoors: Keanu Heedram (Shot Put**, 14th & Discus, 31st ), DeAndre Fyffe (Discus**, 10th ), Jordan Smith (Javelin**, 21st), Nicole Herringshaw (Javelin, 32nd )
2019 Indoors: Keanu Heedram (Shot Put**, 3rd, All-American), Kyle Swiecki (Heptathlon**, 14th )
2018 Outdoors: Keanu Heedram (Shot Put**, 20th & Discus, 31st ), Jude Manford (Discus, 47th ), Tyler Mosher (Shot Put, 50th ), Jordan Smith (Javelin, 40th )
2018 Indoors: Keanu Heedram (Shot Put**, 9th )
2017 Outdoors: Jordan Smith (Javelin, 33rd )
2017 Outdoors: Jordan Smith (Javelin, 33rd )
2017 Indoors: Samuel Kaczmarek (Shot Put, 28th )
2016 Outdoors: Keanu Heedram (Shot Put, 34th & Discus, 34th )
2016 Indoors: Samuel Kaczmarek (Shot Put, 40th )
2015 Indoors: Samuel Kaczmarek (Shot Put, 25th ), Bria Hilliard (20# Weight Throw, 38th )
Prior to Utica College, Coach Lemieux spent four years at Worcester State University in Massachusetts as the men's and women's throws coach as well as the last two years as the women's head coach. In his time at WSU, Coach Lemieux's throwers developed into one of the most competitive groups in DIII New England. His group broke school records in Women's Shot Put (indoors/outdoors), Men's and Women's Javelin, Women's Heptathlon, Men's Heptathlon and Men's Decathlon. This success was highlighted by sending Alyssa Jasper to the DIII National Championships for three consecutive years in the javelin throw. Coach Lemieux also coached Jasper in the heptathlon, where she finished with All-American accolades by placing 8th at the 2014 NCAA Championship meet.
As head coach, Lemieux had one of the most successful women's programs in New England, placing in the top 10 in the region as well as placing seventh at the 2013 Outdoor ECAC Championship meet. The WSU women's program also received USTFCCCA All-Academic team accolades in both 2013 and 2014 as well as naming seven women as USTFCCCA All-Academic individuals in that span.
Prior to his time at Worcester, Coach Lemieux spent eight years heading up the throwing events at Lowell High School in Massachusetts. In his time at LHS, Lemieux's throwers were some of the most successful in the state, highlighted by breaking the MA Division 1 record in the girl's discus relay, as well as the MA All-Division record in the boy's shot put relay. In his final year at LHS, Coach Lemieux led senior Ryan Davila to All-American accolades by placing fifth in the shot put at the Nike Indoor Nationals in 2010. Davila's mark of 61'1.5" was good for #4 All-Time in MA High School history.
Coach Lemieux has several coaching certifications including:
IAAF Level 5 - Throws, With Distinction
USATF Level 3 - Throws
USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach
Note: The IAAF Level 5 and USATF Level 3 are the highest levels of certification offered in the sport of Track and Field, both nationally and internationally.
Coach Lemieux is a 2005 graduate of UMass Lowell, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He was a four-year member (1998-2002) of the Men's Track and Field team and was named team captain in his final season. Post-collegiality, Coach Lemieux competed for GBTC and finished 5th in the hammer throw at the 2005 USATF Club Nationals.
Lemieux is a 1998 graduate of Whittier Regional Vocational High School in Haverhill, MA where he was a four year member of both the Football and Track and Field teams, being named captain of both as a senior. Lemieux was also the Valedictorian of his graduating class.
Coach Lemieux currently resides in Johnstown, NY with his wife Kim, and their son Lucas.
