Western Illinois head track and field coach Trey Brokaw announced the hiring of three new assistant coaches; Robert Tarpley, Bartul Basic and Alena Hrusoci, adding the trio to his staff on Wednesday. Tarpley will oversee the horizontal jumps and short sprints, Basic will oversee the throwing events and Hrusoci will oversee the long sprints and hurdles. 
"I am so excited for the addition of these three assistant coaches," Brokaw said. "All three have had tremendous success so far in their coaching career and I anticipate that success will continue here at Western Illinois University. They can develop student-athletes, they are aggressive recruiters, and all three genuinely love working with young people; it should make this next year and the years to come a lot of fun."
Tarpley arrives after successful stints at Southwest Baptist University and Drury University in Missouri. While at Southwest Baptist, Tarpley guided two MIAA conference champions in the women's and men's triple jump. Additionally, he had 10 national qualifiers in the horizontal jumping events. In his last year at Southwest Baptist, Tarpley orchestrated the US Coaches Association's top ranked women's long jump squad in the country, with three women over 20 feet. 
In his prep years, Tarpley was a two-sport athlete from Everett High School in Lansing, Michigan. He was a standout wide receiver on the football team and two-time all-state performer in the long jump for track & field. Collegiately, he attended Saginaw Valley State University where he majored in Criminal Justice and qualified to the NCAA Championships in the long jump and triple jump. He holds personal bests of 7.47 meters (24' 6.25") in the long jump and 15.33 meters (50' 3.5") in the triple jump.  
"Rob is a fantastic person to be around and he is a perfect fit for this position," Brokaw said. "His positive energy and bright smile are contagious. I'm very confident that the student-athletes will have an amazing experience under his direction. At his most recent coaching stop, Drury University, Rob completely rebuilt the track & field program from the ground up. Recruiting is the foundation of any successful program and he has done a great job of that so far in his career." 
Tarpley will have many successful horizontal jumpers to work with in his first year at Western Illinois University. The Leathernecks signed Toriano Tate, the fourth best men's long jumper in the state of Illinois at 23' 7.75", Nakeita Kessling, the second best women's long jumper in the state of Illinois at 19' 6", and Aliyah Adams, a Missouri all-state performer in the women's long jump at 18' 4". Tate and Kessling have already jumped marks that would rank them in the top-10 in WIU track & field history; with Kessling only a few inches off from the indoor school record set by Bo Brasseur in 2019. 
Basic and Hrusoci both arrive from their native country of Croatia, where they coached track and field at the club level for the past few years. Prior to that, they coached and competed post-collegiately for clubs in Switzerland and Slovenia. Working with world class athletes throughout south-central Europe has provided them with great experience that should serve them well in the NCAA system.
Both Basic and Hrusoci competed collegiately for the University of Louisiana. Basic was a two-time Sun Belt Conference champion, two-time NCAA regional qualifier, and holds the fifth-best mark in the history of Croatia for the javelin. His personal best in the javelin throw is 75.05 meters (246' 3"). Hrusoci holds the Sun Belt conference record, University of Louisiana school record, and is the second fastest 400 hurdler all-time for Croatia. Her personal best in the 400 hurdles is 57.74 and she also set the UL school record in the 100 hurdles at 13.83.
"Bartul and Alena had incredibly strong references from world class coaches," Brokaw said. "Our program is lucky to have them joining us. They are a great team and two of the most successful athletes in the University of Louisiana's history and Croatia's history. Both of them aspired to make an Olympic team for Croatia. Despite falling just short as an athlete, our profession provides the opportunity to reach those same dreams a second time around, as a coach. I'm confident both of them have the ability to be world class coaches who will hopefully serve on the Croatian Olympic team someday. If they do, they will be following in the footsteps of former WIU head coach, Lee Calhoun, who served on the USA Olympic team as a coach in the 1976 Montreal Games. What a great honor."
Basic will have some talented student-athletes to work with in the throwing events including the Junior College national qualifier from Cowley County Community College, Shardenai Davis. Her javelin personal best of 40.00 meters (131' 3") is just a few inches off from the school record set in 2019 by Allison Richter. Besides Davis, another star newcomer is Carter Allen from New London, Iowa. Allen was a leader on state championship teams in football, track & field, and baseball during his senior year. Despite using YouTube as his primary tool for learning throwing technique, Allen was still an all-state performer in the discus and shot put. Basic also inherits fifth year senior, Jasmine Stokes, who scored at the Summit League Championships last spring in the hammer throw. 
Hrusoci will also lead a talented group of student-athletes at WIU. Newcomers to the long sprints group include Junior College national champion, Monique Remy, from Iowa Western Community College. Remy boasts a personal best in the 400 of 56.85. Nakeita Kessling, mentioned earlier as the second best long jumper in the state of Illinois, also happens to be the class 1A state champion in the 400, with a personal best of 57.12. Those two along with veteran returners Briza Dure and Zwandi Harrison might have a shot at the WIU school record in the 4 x 400 relay. 
Besides the recruits mentioned above, WIU signed 27 others including the top ranked men's vaulter in the state of Illinois, Arnie Grunert. Grunert joins the program from Lincoln-Way East High School where his vault of 16' 8.75" ranks him 14th nationally. Additionally, the second best women's vaulter in the state of Illinois, Paulina Lucer, joins the team from Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois. Lucer has a personal best in the pole vault of 12' 1.75" and she was also a 3A state finalist in the 100 meter hurdles. Rounding out the WIU recruiting class of 2022 is Pam-Am bronze medalist in cross country, South American silver medalist in cross country, and 4x Brazilian national champion, Aylana Ferreira Cezar. Cezar set a personal best in the 3,000 steeplechase of 10:36.66; an event where she is currently ranked 60th in the world for the u-20 age group.
"We have a talented staff leading a group of talented student-athletes," the coach said. "Although our program has much more room for improvement, I'm very encouraged about the progress we've made in one year. WIU is a place where we can be very successful in cross country and track & field again."