Maryland track and field coach Andrew Valmon’s view of recruiting began to change after university President Wallace Loh announced the university’s move to the Big Ten starting July 1, 2014.
Valmon knew the track and field programs in the conference featured many international athletes, something his team lacked. He then starting looking at other Terps programs, such as men’s soccer and field hockey, and realized the success they had with foreign players. Valmon wanted to do the same.
The Terps decided to focus on Canadian track athletes, citing their proximity to the United States and desire to receive an education, and the team’s international runners have already made an impact. Junior Micha Powell and sophomore Alexandra Lucki, both of whom hail from Ontario, were two of the three Terps who qualified for the NCAA Championships earlier this month.
With Dallyssa Huggins, another Ontario native, joining Maryland in the fall, Valmon has established an international recruiting pipeline he hopes will help his program make strides at the Big Ten and national levels.
“If we wanted to enter the conference and we wanted to make a statement in the conference, we needed to be able to find our niche,” Valmon said. “It’s a fit because what we bring is a purpose. We bring these kids in internationally, but we also send them back home better than they came.”
Powell earned second-team All-America honors during the indoor season before finishing 18th in the 400 at the NCAA Championships. Lucki traveled to Eugene, Oregon, too, competing in the 1500.
The Terps formed connections for their Canadian recruiting by contacting people Valmon competed with and against when he won a gold medal for the U.S. in the 4×400 relay at the 1992 Olympic Games.
Two of those contacts were Powell’s father, Mike, who competed in the long jump, and her mother, Rosey Edeh, who represented Canada in the games.
“It’s been a variety of people that I’ve competed with, either abroad [or] internationally, that I’ve reached out to them to say, ‘Hey, your kids are now a recruitable age,'” Valmon said. “From the gene pool, you can’t really go wrong in those areas.”
When Valmon first saw Powell run, he had intended to recruit Ashley Taylor, who also ran for the University of Toronto Track Club yet decided to attend Northern Arizona. But Powell continued to improve her times. Valmon saw the potential for her development and admired her work ethic.
“I was loving the sport,” Powell said. “I’m so new to it, but it helped because every time I’m on the track, I looked forward to running faster than the last time.”
Lucki also fit Valmon and assistant coach Danielle Siebert’s vision for their recruits.
In hoping to earn a track scholarship, which Lucki said is rarely offered in Canada, she and her dad sent emails to coaches in the U.S. Her resume included qualifying for the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships in the 1500 and finishing second in the Canadian Junior Championships.
The Terps received one of her dad’s emails, and they invited her to an official visit in January 2014. After Lucki ran for Etobicoke Track Club in Canada, Maryland wasn’t too far away from her home. The university also had an engineering program that drew Lucki’s interest. She committed to the Terps a month later.
At the conclusion of last year’s outdoor season, Lucki returned home but continued to compete. She won the Canadian Junior National title in the 1500, allowing her to represent her country in the Pan-American Junior Games.
“We want kids that want to go back home for the summer, want to make national teams,” Valmon said. “These kids want to race in the summertime for their country and try to make national team, so it’s a win-win for both of us.”
Valmon pitches recruits his desire to help them reach their goals. Siebert, meanwhile, emphasizes the program’s family atmosphere and proximity to Canada.
“It’s only like an hour and a half flight from D.C., and we have three major international airports,” Siebert said. “Also, like the diversity of Washington D.C. and kind of having a little bit of a city atmosphere but also having a nice campus could be appealing.”
So far, the pair’s strategy has worked. While Lucki will likely take some time off before preparing for cross-country season, Powell will run in the Canadian Olympic Trials in early July with a chance to represent her country in Rio de Janeiro.
And Huggins, fresh off a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor competition last weekend, is set to join the Terps in the fall as the latest Canadian product in the program’s recruiting pipeline.
“If you look back on the three kids, at least the two on our team, one is an indoor MVP and one was a cross-county MVP,” Valmon said. “From an athletic standpoint so far, knock on wood, it has worked.”
