MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College Assistant Track & Field/Cross Country Coach Ken Ciolek was recently invited to participate in the 2010 USA Track & Field (USATF)/US Olympic Committee (USOC) Emerging Elite Coaches Training Camp. The camp, which will run from June 28 to July 3, takes place at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Designed for high school, club or college coaches who have enjoyed success at the state and national levels, the program involves intensive science-based study and hands-on application in several different areas. The camp helps coaches gain advanced information, strategies and tactics that enable them to instruct at the elite levels of competition, including the Olympic Games and World Championship. Participants of the camp were chosen based on experience, resume and application materials.

Ciolek, who enters his second year with the Pioneers, was named the Great Lakes Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year during the 2010 indoor season. He also coached a pair of Marietta student-athletes at the 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship, including sophomore #Mike Pankowski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills)#, who earned All-America honors with a fifth place finish in the Javelin Throw.

Ciolek, a former two-time national qualifier in both the javelin and decathlon and 2007 graduate of SUNY-Brockport, looks forward to attending the Jumps/Pole Vault and Javelin sections of the clinic.

"It's a very humbling experience being selected to this clinic knowing that I will be surrounded by some of the best track and field coaches in the United States,” Ciolek said. “I hope to learn from their knowledge and experiences so that I can continue to improve and in turn help the athletes here at Marietta continue to reach new heights.”