Dave Fritz in his fifth year with the William and Mary track and field program, and his second as Head Assistant Coach, Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country. He is responsible for the development of the Tribe's track and field athletes, as well as significant responsibilities in recruiting and administration of the entire program.
During Fritz's four years so far with W&M, he has coached several athletes to ECAC and IC4A qualifying marks, as well as seen his charges collect several All-CAA and All-East accolades. Nicole Kazuba was a four-time CAA Champion and three-time NCAA qualifier in the pole vault, culminating with a 16th-place finish at the 2010 outdoor Championships. Kazuba graduated in 2010 with 55 of the top-75 vaults all-time and W&M, and earned a spot on the CAA 25th Anniversary team even before her career had completed.
Emily Jeremiah improved her career-best in the vault by more than three feet under Fritz's tutelage, and qualified for six of eight ECAC Championships during her career. In 2011, Chris McIntosh wrapped up his four-year career in the hurdles with his first IC4A qualifications, and all-conference honors at the CAA Championships. Matt Clark has also progressed significantly during his three years on campus, ranking highly on W&M's high hurdles lists. Last year also saw the emergence of Nicole Dory as three-way threat at the CAA Championships, after she set the freshman records in both the pole vault and long jump as well as making the best W&M mark in the outdoor triple jump since 2001.
Fritz also coaches two post-collegiate athletes in Nicole Kazuba and Janice Keppler. Keppler, who had trained with Fritz and Rick Suhr in high school, qualified for the 2011 U.S. Indoor Championships where she placed seventh with a then-best height of 4.25 meters. During the summer, she set new heights of 4.30m to break the provisional standard for the 2012 Olympic Trials, and then later jumped 4.42m (14-6) in late July. That later mark beat the provisional standard for the London Olympics, and ranks Keppler just outside the top 100 vaulters ever.
From 2002-07, Fritz worked as the assistant jumps coach at Suhr Sports in New York, helping both professional and amateur pole vaulters to unprecedented heights. Most notably, he helped to develop Jennifer Stuczynski from an absolute novice to become the reigning U.S. record holder in the women’s pole vault and one of the top vaulters in the world. Along the way, Stuczynski also captured four national titles, indoors in 2005 and 2007, and outdoors in 2006 and 2007.
Among amateur athletes, his success has been equally compelling, helping to produce the top-two high school girl’s pole vaulters. Mary Saxer was the first high school girl to clear 14 feet, and set the national high school girl’s record indoors of 14-3.25. Tiffany Maskulinski also cleared 14-0 under Fritz’ tutelage, only the second girl to do so. At the collegiate level, he coached at the Rochester Institute of Technology during the 2006-07 year, producing a pair of school records and the school’s first NCAA qualifier in the pole vault.
A three-time All-Big East vaulter at Virginia Tech, Fritz graduated in 2004 with a bachelors degree in computer science. In the summer of 2006, he was the head clinician for pole vault at the Region II Junior Olympics clinic. Fritz is a USAT&F Level II coach in the jumps, and in 2009 added a Level II certification in the sprints, hurdles, and relays. He is also nationally certified by the Pole Vault Safety Board. In 2010, Fritz was selected as an "Emerging Elite" coach and chosen to take part in a camp held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.
