Matt Norminton Named 2021-22 ACAC Cross Country Coach of the Year
Edmonton, AB (November 2, 2021) - The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) is proud to announce Matt Norminton of Concordia University of Edmonton has been named the ACAC Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Matt Norminton has been the Cross-Country and Indoor Track head coach at Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) for 13 years since being appointed in 2009. Since he began coaching the Thunder, Coach Norminton has helped his teams to several top three finishes at the ACAC XC Championships including: 2014 Men's 1st place, 2015 Women's 2nd place, 2015 Men's 2nd place, 2016 Women's 3rd place, 2018 Women's 3rd place and 2021 Women's 1st Place. His teams have finished in the top six at the national CCAA XC championships on two occasions: 2015 Women's 4th place and 2015 Men's 6th place. The Thunder have also had several individual ACAC XC championships medalists under Coach Norminton including: Marriya Jenkins (Silver 2011, Gold 2012, Bronze 2014, Silver 2015), Kirk Sundt (Silver 2015), Leonard Chesoo (Silver 2018, Gold 2019, Gold 2021), Brandon Toal (Silver 2021), and Emma Derbyshire (Bronze 2021). At the national CCAA XC championships both Marriya Jenkins (Silver 2012, Bronze 2013) and Leonard Chesoo (Silver 2018, Gold 2019) have picked up individual medals. In addition to coaching the Thunder, Coach Norminton also heads up the Running Room Athletic Club in the local community where he has coached several national individual medalists and team XC medalists.
Interim Director of Athletic & Recreation, Nathaniel MacLellan, continues to praise the hard work ethic and dedication coach Norminton has for his student-athletes and the sport he loves, stating, "Matt continues to do an outstanding job leading the Thunder cross country running program and championing the sport in the ACAC. He is a great mentor for his student-athletes who are consistently achieving more in the sport thanks to his guidance and support. Matt has been a strong ambassador for the ACAC and Concordia University of Edmonton. We are very proud of all of his accomplishments and are fortunate to have Matt as our cross-country running coach."
Matt Norminton received the award on October 30, 2021 at the ACAC Cross-Country Conference Championship held in Camrose, AB.