Fort Hays Tech Northwest Hires Tyron Clemencia
Tyron Clemencia enters his first season as the head coach for the men's and women's track & field program at Fort Hays Tech Northwest College. He previously was an assistant coach at
Augusta University in Georgia.
In 2024 he was credited with helping to revive the sprinting program at Augusta University, especially the men’s sprints group, 8 of 11 male sprinters saw improvement It was the first time the program saw guys running 10 seconds in the 100m and 21 seconds in the 200m since the 2020 season. Clemencia coached Mason Ranson to PBC Conference champion in the 200m with a new school record of 21.61 (from 23.00) and runner-up in the 100 with a wind-aided time of 10.58 (from 11.16). In the field events, he saw 8 of the 11 athletes improve. Clemencia coached Ryan Lee to a school record of 53.30m and Joshua Bowen to 2nd best all-time in the javelin with a throw of 52.86m. The Javelin school record was broken 7 times throughout the season between these two throwers. Both Ryan Lee (javelin) and Caine Varnell (decathlon) earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the Southeast region for the NCAA Division 2. In 2023, Clemencia coached athletes to set three school records in the men's hammer, shot put, and women's javelin throw. Kaitlyn Lancaster also earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the javelin and mentored Eduardo Perez, who became the first PBC conference champion in the hammer throw for Augusta University.
Prior to Augusta, in 2022, Clemencia was coaching internationally in Curacao where he helped coach U20 national champion, Crystal Dalnoot, in the women's shot put, with an unbeaten streak of five consecutive meets and U20 national runner-up in women's javelin. Clemencia was also at the 2022 World Athletics U-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
In 2021, while at William Woods University, Clemencia coached Natalie Thomas in the javelin to qualify her for the NAIA Outdoor Nationals where she finished 16th in the nation as a freshman. This was the highest finisher in program history at the time and only the second female javelin thrower to ever qualify for nationals; she became an All-American in 2022. Clemencia was also part of the coaching staff to help the women's team win the 2021 AMC outdoor conference title while the men's team finished second. He coached 10 all-conference placers, including the women's 4x100m relay team, women's 400m, women's javelin, and women’s high jump to conference champions.
In 2020 Clemencia worked as an assistant throwing coach at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before the season was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2019 he worked with the sprints group at Nicolet High School, which included the women's 4x200m relay that finished first at the Division 1 Wisconsin State Championships and a 4x100m relay that placed third. Both relays set a new school record of 47.63 (4x100) and 1.41.78 (4x200) and the women's team finished in 5th place overall.
Originally from Curacao, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Clemencia started running track as a sprinter and competed internationally in Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.
While in Jamaica, he ran at the same meet as Usain Bolt, the world record holder in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. Clemencia is a multiple-time Curacao National Championship top three finisher in the 4x100m relay and the javelin, including the 2022 National Championship runner-up in javelin.
Clemencia competed at Cloud County Community College in Kansas and Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin, earning an Associate's and a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management, as well as a Master's in Public Administration.