EAST STROUDSBURG - Joe Koch has been named the PSAC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year after leading East Stroudsburg University to its best-ever finish at the conference championships, it was announced Friday.

Koch, who was also named the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year earlier this month, helped the Warriors finish second at the PSAC meet and set a school record with 137 points. Chris Merli also earned the regional assistant coach of the year honor from the USTFCCCA.

ESU had five individual PSAC champions, along with the 4x100m relay team, and led the PSAC with six men's athletes selected to compete at the NCAA Championships, which were held last week at Angelo State (Texas). Junior Paul Wagner earned his first career All-America honor in the hammer throw with a mark of 196-9, which broke his previous PSAC record by more than six feet.

Junior Andrew McCloskey won PSAC championships in the 100 and 200 meters and anchored the 4x100 relay team to the conference title, all in school record and NCAA qualifying times, to earn the PSAC Men's Track Athlete and Overall Athlete of the Meet. He was the first ESU men's sprinter to compete at the NCAA Championships in the 100 meters, and the relay squad was the first selected to the national championship field in school history.

Wagner and juniors Rusty Smith (110m hurdles) and Matt Gallup (pole vault) all won PSAC titles and went to the NCAA's in their events. Junior Kenny Cardullo and sophomore Bill Buis also competed at nationals in the javelin.

ESU's 11 PSAC champions and eight NCAA qualifiers during the 2009 indoor and outdoor season are both school records. The Warriors also received 10 school record performances, led by McCloskey (100 - 10.41, 200 - 21.30) and the 4x100 relay (40.83).

Wagner set records in the hammer (196-9) and weight throw (61-4 3/4), Smith ran the 110m hurdles in 14.41 seconds, junior Chris Reddick set marks in the indoor 200 (21.86) and 400 (49.11), Gallup cleared 16-0 1/2 in the indoor pole vault and junior Colin Feeney scored 4,488 points in the indoor heptathlon.

Koch has helped ESU produce 38 All-Americans in track and field and four in cross country during his 23-year career. He was previously honored with regional track and field coach of the year awards in 1990 (men's) and 2001 (women's), along with two awards in cross country.