Assistant coach Daniel Hunter is in his third season asGardner-Webb’s top assistant in track & field and crosscountry.
Hunter guided four student-athletes to the NCAA East RegionChampionships during his second season with the Bulldogs. JerelLangley and Elizabeth Maxwell became his first two to go inback-to-back seasons. Langley, Maxwell, Caryn Daane and Carrie Longearned a spot at the regional competition. There, Langley recordedan eighth-place finish in the javelin. Hunter also assisted twoother A-Sun champions during the outdoor season, Evan Brusich andJeremy Longshore.
During the indoor campaign, he assisted A-Sun record holderElliott Haynie en route to his winning marks in both the pole vaultand heptathlon while also coaching multi-event winner VictoriaArgus. Haynie earned a 10th-place finish at the NCAA IndoorNational Championships in the pole vault.
Hunter’s student-athletes established seven school recordson the men’s side and six on the women’s side of the2007-08 track seasons.
In his first season, he coached Cody MacArthur, who was namedthe A-Sun Outdoor Championships Field Performer of the Meet, as washis female student-athlete, Maxwell.
Four of the student-athletes he coached, Jake Didion, Haynie,Langley and Maxwell, earned spots at the NCAA East RegionChampionships. There, Didion and Langley each took home ninth-placefinishes while Haynie finished 11th in their respective events.
His student-athletes shattered 20 school records during the2006-07 indoor and outdoor track seasons. On the men’s side,seven were broken indoors and seven outdoors, while thewomen’s team etched one new record during the indoor seasonand five during its outdoor campaign.
Hunter comes to Gardner-Webb from Rend Lake College, where heearned the reputation as a masterful recruiter with an eye fordeveloping elite talent. During his time with Rend Lake, Hunterrecruited two high jumpers who topped the 7-foot barrier, two24-foot long jumpers and a host of tremendous throwers.
Prior to his post at Rend Lake, he coached at former A-Sunmember Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Hunter assistedJSU record holders in the discus, shot put, javelin, hammer, polevault, long jump, triple jump and high jump. He also worked with aconference champion and regional qualifier in the 400m dash.
Hunter competed on the collegiate level in the SEC forMississippi State, where he was a 7,000-point decathlete. Hunterposted top-five finishes at the Texas Relays, Penn Relays and SECChampionships during his career as well.
He also worked as a student assistant coach at Mississippi Stateafter competing, and worked with collegiate-record holder TreyHardee (decathlon) and several other top-flightstudent-athletes.
Hunter is single and resides in Shelby, N.C.
