Kurt Dunkel '98/'04M enters his 26th season as an assistant track & field coach at Shippensburg University in 2024/2025.
Dunkel is a member of the Shippensburg University Athletics Hall of Fame, a two-time PSAC place-winner, and a two-time All-American javelin thrower – finishing second at the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Championships. As an undergraduate student-athlete, Dunkel was coached by Tammy Butler-Staver and was part of two PSAC title winning teams (’95 & ’97) and two runner-up teams (’96 & ’98). In 1997, Dunkel was one of four SU javelin throwers who competed at the NCAA Championships at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where he joined teammates Jason McMullen, Mike Crago, and Shane Shantzenbach. Dunkel, McMullen, and Crago would go on to earn All-American honors, which was the only time in which three SU student-athletes would earn All-American honors in the same event at the NCAA Championships. In 1998 Dunkel would serve as team captain and go on to repeat as runner-up at the NCAA Championships. This time he would be joined on the podium by fellow SU javelin thrower Dana Harrington who finished in seventh place.
Upon graduation in 1998, Dunkel was hired by Steve Spence who was in his first year as head coach of Track & Field and Cross Country. Dunkel has served as part-time assistant since 1998 with the exception of the 2002/2003 season in which he would serve as the full-time assistant. In 2001 Dunkel started SU’s first ever event-specific camp for track and field. This camp focused exclusively on the throwing events. Dunkel directed this throws camp for three years until newly hired Head Coach Dave Osanitsch took the directorship of the throws camp.
Dunkel was responsible for coaching all the throwing events from 1998 until 2009 and built SU’s throwers into a very formidable squad. Led by outstanding throwers such as Sonia Spriggs, Mike Sage, Mark Anderson, Nate Reider, Alyssa Kilgore-Sage, Kelly Frick, Brian Haupt, Carrie Timmons, Megan Schweigofer, John Pacovsky, Dan Maha, Matt Peters, and Adam Escamilla. These athletes earned tremendous accolades such as All-American, PSAC Champion, School record holder, and PSAC Outstanding Field Athlete of the Meet. Many of these athletes still have marks in the top ten in school history.
In 2009 Dunkel shifted his responsibility to focus exclusively as coach of the javelin throwers. It was at this time that Dunkel advocated for adding Glenn Thompson and Alison Freas to focus on the discus/shot, and hammer events respectively. Dunkel, Thompson, and Freas would split throws coaching duties for more than a decade and became affectionately known as the ‘Triangle of Power’. The SU throwers would enter into a golden era the likes of which have not been seen in the history of the PSAC. During this time, the record books would be completely re-written by some of the most legendary throwers in the history of the PSAC.
Since Dunkel’s hiring in 1998, SU throwers have consistently contributed to the success of both the women’s and men’s teams. Dunkel regularly had articles published in the world’s only throws-based publication, The Long and Strong Throwers Journal - the publisher of which was SU Athletic Hall of Fame member Glenn Thompson ('85).
Dunkel remains a passionate fan of track and field. An attendee of the 2012, 2016, and 2024 Olympic Games, 2017 IAAF World Championships, and 2018 European Championships Dunkel has also published three technical articles on the topic of javelin training, development, and mechanics. He has also written meet reports for national and world class track meets such as The USATF Championships, The U.S. Olympic Trials, and The Zurich Weltklasse Meet. In addition, he has interviewed some of the best javelin throwers in the world; such as Christina Obergfoell, Andreas Thorkildsen, Kara Patterson-Winger, Stefi Nerius, Chris Hill, and Rachel Yurkovich. He has also presented on the topic of javelin technique at the USTFCCCA national conference in Phoenix, Arizona. His article, “Javelin Delivery Alignment” was published in the November 2018 Edition of “Techniques Magazine”, the official publication of the USTFCCCA. In 2019 Dunkel attended Olympic Javelin Champion Thomas Rohler’s coaching/training clinic in Jena, Germany where he was able to learn from Thomas and some of the best coaches and javelin throwers from around the world.
2017 was a banner year for SU javelin throwers – as three throwers earned first team All-American honors. Morgan DeFloria finished 3rd, Crystal Hartman 5th, and Derek Nothstein 4th. Dunkel was named the 2017 USTFCCCA East Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year. Also, in 2017 the USTFCCCA created a metric to rank each team by event. SU ranked as the number 1 javelin program in Division II (combined men and women).
In 2018 Morgan DeFloria and Ben Hurda each earned NCAA All-America Second Team honors at the NCAA Championships in Charlotte, North Carolina. Morgan was also named the 2017/2018 Shippensburg University Student-Athlete of the Year for her accomplishments as a dual sport athlete (volleyball) and her academic achievements as a student.
At the NCAA Championships in 2019, Morgan DeFloria earned her third All-America accolade; finishing eighth and cementing her status as one of the greatest student-athletes in the history of Shippensburg University.
During Dunkel’s tenure, SU javelin throwers have earned 21 First Team All-America honors (including a 2007 national championship by Nate Reider) and 3 All-America Second Team honors.
In recent years, standouts Tommy Haas and Australian native Alec Stimson would earn PSAC place winning performances two times each – with Stimson earning runner-up and All-PSAC accolades in 2021. Both Haas and Stimson would also go on to earn Academic All-American honors. From 2021-2023, Michael Folcarelli would place at the PSAC Championships. His performances helped to assure that SU would continue its streak of having at least one place winner at the PSAC Championships for and incredible 29 straight years.
Also from 2021-2023, Abby Reasoner would cement herself as one of the all-time SU greats. Reasoner placed at the PSAC Championships in 2021 and 2022, and in 2023 Reasoner moved into fourth place on the all-time SU list and would later go on to win the PSAC title on her final throw of the competition. On the women’s side, SU javelin throwers have had at least one place winner at the PSAC Championships in 22 of the past 26 years.
Since 1998, SU throwers have achieved 418 conference place-winning performances, 58 individual conference championships, 32 First Team All-American honors, 5 Second Team All-American honors, 4 PSAC All-time conference marks, 10 PSAC Championship record holders, three Academic All-American, and one NCAA National Champion - all while re-writing the women’s and men’s record books multiple times.
In terms of the all-time top 10 marks in SU history, javelin throwers coached by Dunkel account for all ten of the Top 10 performances in school history on the women’s side. On the men’s side, Dunkel has coached nine of the Top 10 performances in school history – with the lone exception being Dunkel’s former teammate – Jason McMullen who remains the school record holder with his performance at the 1995 NCAA Championships in Emporia, Kansas. Furthermore, Raider throwers have contributed to 66 PSAC team championship or runner-up team efforts (men & women) since 1999.
Dunkel has coached four SU javelin throwers who have earned induction into the SU Athletics Hall of Fame – Nate Reider who was inducted in 2018, Kelly Frick Hermann and John Pacovsky who were inducted in 2019, and Alyssa Kilgore-Sage who was inducted in 2022.
In addition to his undergraduate degree, Dunkel also received his master’s degree from Shippensburg University in 2004. Dunkel is a PA Licensed Professional Counselor and is USATF Level I Certified. Dunkel has worked in university and community mental health settings helping people to overcome obstacles and meet their goals. In his full-time role at Ship, Dunkel is the program coordinator for the Connection Alcohol & Other Drugs Program and the Wellness Program. He lives in Chambersburg with his two sons.
SU THROWS ALL-AMERICANS COACHED BY DUNKEL
JAVELIN
Kelly Frick (First Team x2)
Morgan DeFloria (First Team x2, Second Team x1)
Crystal Hartman (First Team x1, Second Team x1)
Greg Ryan (First Team)
Dan Maha (First Team)
John Pacovsky (First Team x3)
Nate Reider (First Team x2)
Glenn Bell (First Team)
Josh Hostetler (First Team x3)
Christian D’Annibale (First Team)
Derek Nothstein (First Team x3)
Jake Sunday (First Team)
Andrew Korrubin (First Team)
Ben Hurda (Second Team)
DISCUS
Matt Peters (First Team)
WEIGHT
Nate Reider (First Team)
