Mike Orechia became the Director of Cross Country/Track & Field at the University of Puget Sound in 1997. Orechia had spent the previous ten years as Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach at the University of Chicago where he led his Women's Cross Country team to the UAA Championships in 1992 & 1993, earning himself the Coaching Staff of the Year award and the Indoor Coaching Staff of the Year award. It was through his leadership that the women's team qualified for the first time in the school's history to compete in a NCAA championship where they placed fourteenth in 1993. During his time at the University of Chicago, Orechia coached ten All-Americans.
His other coaching experience includes coaching Stella Edwinson who participated in the 1984 Olympic trials in the 400m hurdles, Assistant Track & Field/ Cross Country coach at San Francisco State University (1983-1987), and Head Girls Track Coach at Danvers High School (1979-1981). While coaching at Danvers High School in 1979, his team won the Class B Championship, as well as the All-State Championship and the New England championship.
Since joining the Logger staff, Orechia has been selected Men's USTCA Indoor Track West Region Coach of the Year 2004, Men's XC Coach of the Year in 2002 and Women's XC Coach of the Year in 2001, coached three Men's NWC XC Championship teams and three Women's NWC XC Championship teams, and led the Women's Track & Field team to a 9th place NAIA finish in 1998 and a 5th place finish in 1999. As a Logger, he has also helped produce four National Champions (2 XC, 2 track), 17 track All-Americans, 10 XC All-Americans, 16 Individual XC Academic All-Americans, 10 XC Team Academic All-Americans, 13 Individual track Academic All-Americans, and 8 track team Academic All-Americans.
Orechia earned his B.S. degree in Education from Springfield College in 1978 and his M.A. degree in Education from San Francisco State University in 1985.
Orechia and his wife, Stella, live in Bothell, Washington with
their two sons, Christopher and Ryne.
Brittany Hodgson began her coaching duties with the Loggers in 2008 after four successful years running on both the Logger cross country and track and field teams. During her time running as a Logger, Hodgson qualified to compete at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships in the 3000 meter Steeplechase and helped the Logger Cross Country squad reach the national competition twice. Her personal best of 10:53.8 in the steeplechase, set in 2008, is also Puget Sound’s school record. Hodgson also holds the school record in the indoor 5000 meters, which she also set in 2008. This helped earn her 2008 West Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year honors.
In the Northwest Conference, Hodgson earned First Team All Conference twice in cross country and five times in Track & Field. She also made it on the NCAA West Region XC team three years in a row. Hodgson consistently improved during her time at Puget Sound under Coach Orechia, being named most improved on the Track team two seasons in a row and once on the Cross Country team. She also won the Puget Sound Athletic Department’s Dill Howell Award for Most Improved Female Athlete during her senior year.
Hodgson graduated from Puget Sound in 2008 with a degree in
Exercise Science and is currently working towards her doctorate in
Physical Therapy at Puget Sound. She lives in North Tacoma
and enjoys doing triathlons and ballet when she isn’t
studying, coaching, or working as a physical therapy aide at a
local rehabilitation clinic.
Courtney Jaworski recently joined the University of Puget Sound Track & Field/Cross Country staff as an assistant coach during the 2009 Outdoor Track & Field campaign. During that season he helped both the Logger men and women to a sixth place finish at the Northwest Conference Championships.
Prior to Puget Sound Jaworski competed for two years with the Oregon Track Club Elite. During his time in Eugene, Jaworski placed seventh in the 1-mile run at the 2007 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships and was a member of the winning 2007 Penn Relays USA v. World DMR World All-Star team.
Highlights from Jaworski's undergraduate career at the University of Pennsylvania include him participating in the 2004 Olympic Trials, earning All-American honors in 2005 and winning 6 individual Ivy League championships. He was also the recipient of Pennsylvania's prestigious Class of 1915 Award, presented annually to the most outstanding graduating male student-athlete, was the 2006 Division-I Mid-Atlantic Track & Field Athlete of the Year and captained the Quakers during their 2005/2006 campaign.
