April 17, 2008

Bristol, Tenn. - Former Western Carolina men's track & field standout and graduate assistant coach, Johnny Bomar, has been named the head track & field coach at King College the school announced today.

Previously serving as an assistant in charge of Sprints, Hurdles and Horizontal Jumps since the 2005-06 school year, Bomar will now take over the head coaching duties. The 29-year-old Bomar helped King post a seventh place finish with two individual champions in last year's NAIA Outdoor Track and Field meet, highlighted by the achievements of seven All Americans and two National Champions.

In the short time he has been at King, Bomar has personally coached 34 NAIA National Qualifiers, 14 NAIA All-Americans, two NAIA National Champions and a 2007 PAN-AM Juniors Silver Medalist.

"I am very pleased to have Johnny Bomar take charge of the program," said former King College head coach, Tom Murrell. "Johnny has the knowledge and passion to take our current and future athletes to their highest level possible. High school athletes considering King College as their next home should be excited to hear of this development".

Bomar is 2002 graduate of Western Carolina University and served as a Graduate Assistant under Head Coach Danny Williamson from 2003 until 2005. While at Western he coached 20 Southern Conference Champions, 36 All Conference Athletes, 20 NCAA Regional Qualifiers and one Junior National All American.

"Johnny has worked very hard to raise the bar as far as being a coach at the college level," said Western Carolina head coach Danny Williamson, who guided Bomar to All-Southern Conference accolades as a hurdler during his competitive career in Cullowhee. "The results that he has been able to obtain with his student-athletes at King College speak for themselves. When he was beginning his coaching career here with us at WCU, one could tell that he had what it would take to be successful - he just needed the opportunity to mature and grow as a coach."

Bomar was a part of the 1999 WCU squad which captured both the SoCon Indoor and Outdoor championships. He was an eight time Division I letterman and a three time All-SoCon student-athlete.

Western Carolina hosts the 2008 Catamount Classic on-campus on Friday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The first event begins at 2:30 pm with the field events, with the first track even slated for 4:00 pm and lasting until approximately 8:00 pm.