James Luginsland, a USATF Level II certified throws coach and USATF registered coach, begins his 8th year coaching and his 3rd season tutoring the Red Hawks in the throwing events. 2018 was a historic year for the Red Hawks throwers as Lia Negra held the #1 Women’s Javelin Throw in the country (NCAA DIII) with a mark of 46.45m (152ft 5in) which won the 2018 NJAC Outdoor Championship. Rob Melillo became the first Men’s Red Hawk since 2012 to break the 200ft mark in the Men’s Javelin with a toss of 61.59m (202ft 1in). Marrick Sainvil also saw phenomenal improvement in the Weight Throw and Hammer Throw as he became the first Red Hawk to earn NJAC All-Conference in both events since Eugene Asimou (Weight Throw 2010) and Mario Morrison-Bird (Hammer Throw 2011) respectively.
Prior to coming back to Montclair State, Coach Luginsland came from NJIT (NCAA DI) where, in just two seasons in charge of the throwing events, turned NJIT throws, at the time, into one of the top throws programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-SUN). During Luginsland’s tenure at NJIT, he mentored the throwers to 8 All-ASUN Conference Honors (including a A-SUN Conference Champion), 9 NJIT school records (Varsity and Freshman), 2 All-Atlantic Sun Academic Honors, an A-SUN Athlete of the Week Honor and several top 5 performances in NJIT program history. Most notably, during Luginsland’s tenure at NJIT, Erick McNamara became NJIT’s first ever Atlantic Sun Conference Champion, winning the Men’s Javelin at the 2017 A-SUN Championship Meet and Alyssa Mitchko earning 2nd team All-Atlantic Sun Conference Honors in the Women’s Javelin. Mitchko’s performance at the 2017 Outdoor Metropolitan Championship garnered A-SUN Athlete of the Week Honors (4/19/2017), and put her, at the time, on the NCAA DI East Region List. She is the first woman thrower, in NJIT school history, to earn these honors. Both McNamara and Mitchko also had the furthest Javelin throw in the Atlantic Sun Conference throughout the 2017 regular season.
Before NJIT, Luginsland spent a year as co-throws coach at NCAA Division III Stevens Institute of Tech. in Hoboken, NJ. He teamed up with 2016 USA Olympic Trials qualifier in the hammer, Alina Duran, to produce one of the most successful throwing teams in Steven’s program history. Under the duo’s guidance, six school records were broken in the women’s shot put (Indoor & Outdoor), men’s shot put (Indoor & Outdoor), men’s discus and men’s hammer throw, respectively, as well as shattering the Empire 8 Conference men's discus meet championship record. To round out the 2014-2015 campaign, nine Stevens Institute throwers qualified for ECAC Division III Championships and one ECAC (DIII) finalist in the women’s shot put.
Prior to Stevens, Luginsland coached at the 2014 and 2015 USA Indoor National Championships and worked as the Head Throws Coach for the adidas Garden State Track Club (aGSTC). While working with aGSTC, Luginsland coached at USA Indoor Nationals in 2014 at Albuquerque, NM, following a breakthrough 2013 season with helping coach the men’s team to its first ever USATF club national championship. His throwers at aGSTC either set or broke the clubs records in all throwing events during his tenure at the club.
Luginsland gives a lot of credit to his coaching success through the continuous tutelage of Monmouth University throws coach Abraham Flores, Rider Univ. throws coach Anthony San Fillippo and his former Montclair State throws coach, Pierpaolo Mancarella. Luginsland was a seasoned shot put and discus thrower for the Red Hawks, becoming a finalist in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and the Collegiate Track Conference Championships (CTC). Aside from tutoring the Red Hawks in the throwing events, Coach Luginsland is a Flavor Research Chemist at Symrise. He graduated from Montclair State University in 2011 with a BS in Chemistry and finished his MS in Chemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson University-Madison in 2015.
