Skip To Main Content

Edinboro University Athletics

Scoreboard

Scoreboard

Anne Cleary

Anne (Carlson) Cleary

  • Title
    Track & Field Head Coach/Director of Cross Country Operations
  • Email
    acleary@pennwest.edu
  • Phone
    814-732-1866
Central Missouri ‘09
8th Year (Head Coach) 10th Year (Overall)
TFRRS Performance List

After serving as Edinboro University’s assistant women‘s track & field coach for two seasons, Anne (Carlson) Cleary was elevated to head track & field coach/director of cross country operations in May 2013.  Carlson replaced Doug Watts, who retired after serving as the head coach of Edinboro's running programs for 44 years.
 
Cleary serves as the head coach of the men's and women's track & field teams while overseeing the cross country coach.

Watts left the Edinboro running program in good hands. Cleary joined Edinboro as the assistant women's track & field coach in June 2011.  The former Central Missouri All-American and national champion proved in a short time to be a huge addition to the coaching staff.  She was recognized as the 2012 USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Outdoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year, and won the same award for the indoor season the following winter. 
 
Described by Watts as a superior technician and an excellent role model, Cleary has rejuvenated the track & field program while maintaining the lofty status of the cross country program. The Fighting Scots have also enjoyed great success in the classroom.

Her impact can be seen in the additional number of athletes now competing in track & field, along with their accomplishments both athletically and academically. As Edinboro’s head coach, she has coached six All-Americans in track & field – Tabitha Bemis, Brianne Dietrich, Ida Narbuvoll, Gabby Schultz, Corey Wefing, and Stefanie Parsons. In addition, she worked with 2013 All-American Sarah Krolick as an assistant coach. All told, she has had 21 national qualifiers.

The 2021-22 season saw Cleary guide the Edinboro indoor track program to its first PSAC Championship in school history. Kylie Anicic was the PSAC Championship meet MVP and a two-time indoor All-American and Cleary earned PSAC Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.

In 2019, the women’s track & field team featured Parsons, who earned All-American honors at the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships with a sixth place finish in the mile. Parsons was named the 2019 PSAC Indoor Track & Field Track Athlete of the Year, then went on to earn the same honor during the outdoor season, along with being named the PSAC Outdoor Freshman of the Year.  Both Wefing and Parsons qualified for the outdoor national championships, with each runner finishing 14th in their respective races. 
  
In 2018, Schultz earned second team All-American honors at the outdoor national championships with a ninth place showing in the discus, along with placing 19th in the shot put. She also qualified for the indoor national championships, placing 14th in the shot put. Jasmine Fehr qualified for the outdoor nationals and came in 16th in the 1,500-meter run. Schultz qualified for the indoor and outdoor national championships the year before.

The Fighting Scots had a combined five first place finishes at the PSAC Championships in 2019, and the year before they captured ten first place finishes. Fehr was named the Track MVP at the 2018 PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships and went on to be named the PSAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year. That came after Parsons was named the PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships Track Athlete of the Meet earlier in the year.

From a team standpoint, the women’s team would bring home fourth place at the 2018 PSAC Indoor Championships. In the spring, the men’s team followed with its highest finish at the 2018 PSAC Outdoor Championships since 1999, coming in fourth out of 14 teams. Edinboro was buoyed by five first place finishes as the Fighting Scots dominated the distance events. Wefing won the 800 and 1500-meter runs, Austin Pondel was first in the 10,000, and Eugene Baritot captured the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The Fighting Scots have enjoyed just as much success if not more in the classroom. They earn USTFCCCA All-Academic honors on a yearly basis, with numerous individual competitors also recognized. In 2018-19, the Edinboro women's team was recognized thanks to its 3.16 cumulative GPA, while the men had a 3.03 cumulative GPA.  
     
In addition, Wefing earned CoSIDA Academic All-America All-District honors in 2018 and 2019, and Joel Lohr was a recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Parsons was a 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America All-District honoree on the women’s side. Previously, CoSIDA Academic All-Americans include Dustin Thomas, Bemis, and Krolick, with Bemis a six-time PSAC Top Ten recipient and the 2014 Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete Award winner.

The 2012-13 Edinboro University men's and women's track and field teams earned PSAC Top Team GPA honors, leading the conference in cumulative grade point average during the academic year. The women's track and field team paced the PSAC with a 3.543 cumulative GPA while the team's squad finished the year at 3.231. 
 
On the track, the 2017 track & field squads each sent a competitor to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Baritot qualified for the men in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Schultz qualified in the shot put and discus.

In Cleary’s first year at Edinboro in 2012, she directed the Fighting Scots to 32 school records in the combined events, sprints and horizontal jumps. 
 
That success continued in 2013 as the women's track & field team finished second at the PSAC Indoor Championships and third in the PSAC Outdoor Championships. Both finishes were the best in the program's history. In addition, Stephanie Smigiera became her first national qualifier in the indoor pentathlon, the event in which Cleary won the national title in 2009.  Smigiera and Dietrich finished one-two in the PSAC indoors pentathlon, then reversed roles and again went one-two in the PSAC outdoors heptathlon.

Cleary enjoyed considerable success in her first season as head coach, as well. With Cleary playing a huge role in her development, Bemis capped her indoor career as a four-time All-American, attaining All-American status in the long jump and triple jump. She was named the USTFCCCA Indoor Track & Field Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year for the third straight year and was also selected the PSAC Indoor Track & Field Women's Field Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Edinboro would finish fourth out of 14 teams at the 2014 PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, with seven All-PSAC performances. Bemis and Krolick represented Edinboro at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
The women’s team went on to also finish fourth out of 14 teams at the PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with seven All-PSAC performances, including five first place finishes. The men came in tenth and had an All-PSAC showing.

Bemis added to her many honors as she was named the PSAC Women's Most Valuable Athlete and Field Athlete of the Championship for the second time in her career, and was later selected the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.

Three Edinboro student-athletes – Bemis, Dietrich, and Kasey Jones -- would go on to compete in the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships. Bemis would earn All-American honors in the long jump and triple jump. Dietrich competed in the long jump and heptathlon at Nationals, while Kasey Jones competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Cleary guided the 2015 Edinboro women’s indoor track & field team to a fifth place finish, followed by a tenth place showing at the outdoor championships. The men’s team came in ninth at the PSAC Outdoor Championships as Corey Wefing won the title in the 800-meter run.

The women’s indoor team showcased the efforts of Dietrich, who won the long jump competition. She would go on to earn All-American honors with an eighth place showing at Nationals. All told, Edinboro had eight All-PSAC performances. Dietrich would defend her PSAC title in the heptathlon at the outdoor meet, as five individuals participated in all PSAC events. Dietrich place 15th in the long jump at the outdoor Nationals.

The 2016 team enjoyed another strong showing at PSAC’s, with the women’s team capturing third place at the PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, the highest finish since the 2013 team placed second. Overall, the Fighting Scots competed in 15 events in the two-day event, recording four victories, with three coming from freshmen and one from a sophomore.

Narbuvoll won the 5,000-meter run, and would later go on to earn second team All-American honors by placing ninth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The freshman also won the 3,000-meter run, while fellow freshman Schultz took home first place in the shot put, with Rebekkah Bond the champion in the 800-meter run. Narbuvoll went on to be named the PSAC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year. She would capture first place in the 10,000-meter run at the PSAC Outdoor Championships and qualify for nationals in the event. 
 
On the men’s side, the Fighting Scots would have two 2016 outdoor champions. Wefing made it two 800-meter titles in a row, while Elliott Martynkiewicz crossed the finish line first in the 5,000. Martynkiewicz would go on to finish 13th at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in the 5,000, one spot shy of All-American honors.
    
A Vermillion, South Dakota native, Cleary began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach with the University of Central Missouri track and field team during the 2010-11 season, primarily working with heptathletes and decathletes, following an outstanding collegiate track and field career at Central Missouri.  

Cleary enjoyed a career that ultimately led to her induction into the Central Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame on February 20, 2016. (CLICK HERE to view Hall of Fame induction).

She competed at Central Missouri from 2006-10, enjoying an outstanding career in track & field. Her career was highlighted by an individual national championship and three All-American honors. In 2009 she become the first ever D2 national champion in the women's pentathlon, setting a then-school record, and earned All-American honors in the heptathlon in 2007 and 2008. She was an NCAA Division II national qualifier in the heptathlon in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and in the pentathlon in 2009 and 2010.
 
During Cleary's collegiate career, she was an All-MIAA performer each season and the Jennies won four MIAA titles, while finishing third at the 2009 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, the team's best finish in school history at the time. Cleary won individual MIAA titles in the javelin (2006), long jump (2007), heptathlon (2007, 2008) and pentathlon (2009). 
 
Cleary ranks in UCM's Top 10 in five events and scored in seven different events at the MIAA Championships. As a senior, she was named the Dr. Peggy Martin Award winner as UCM's Top Female Senior Student-Athlete.

Cleary was married on July 1, 2017 to Edinboro men's basketball coach Pat Cleary, and the couple resides in Edinboro. They are the proud parents of a baby girl, Brynn Elizabeth, born October 25, 2018. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2009 from Central Missouri in public relations with a minor in corporate communications, and received her Master's Degree in mass communication in May 2011.