Hills resident Upshaw Margerum coaches Team USA at meet in Paris
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 courtesy of Joy Upshaw Margerum Los Altos Hills resident Joy Upshaw Margerum, back right, helped coach Team USA to first place at the DecaNation track and field meet in Paris last month. |
On her way to compete in a national track meet, Joy Upshaw Margerum received the call to go international - as a coach.
The Los Altos Hills resident was traveling to North Carolina for the USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships last month when her cell phone rang. It was the USA Track and Field National Office asking her to head up the women’s team at the DecaNation meet in late August.
A week in Paris working with some of the world’s best athletes? It didn’t take Margerum long to answer.
“I jumped at the chance,” the 45-year-old said. “It was such an honor to be picked as a national coach and work with the staff.”
Margerum joined men’s coach Steve Simmons and head manager Rich Torrellas at the DecaNation, an international meet created in 2005 by the French Athletics Federation. Teams from eight countries are invited to compete at Paris’ Charlety Stadium, though only seven participated this year because China pulled out just days before the meet for administrative reasons.
Every team enters a man and a woman in each of the 10 events. Working with athletes who specialize in one of the events - the 100-meter dash, 400 run, 1,500 run, 110 hurdles, 3,000 steeplechase, high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put and hammer throw - was a thrill for Margerum.
“Several of them are Olympians and national champions,” she said. “That’s why it was such an honor.”
Team USA claimed six events and won the Aug. 26 meet with 104.5 points. Germany was second with three wins and 100 points, followed by Poland (90.5 points), France (88), Ukraine (70) and Spain (54).
“It was a really neat experience,” said Margerum, who received a championship trophy as a memento. “Winning was terrific; the U.S. was fourth last year.”
Three of Team USA’s victories came from the women Margerum coached. Tianna Madison won the long jump with her best effort of the year (21 feet, 8 inches) Brianna Glenn finished first in the 100 dash (11.27 seconds) and Dee Dee Trotter captured the 400 run (50.85).
“They’re awesome athletes,” the coach said.
Margerum knows a thing or two about outstanding athletes. They run in her family. Margerum’s sister, Grace Upshaw, is a nationally ranked long jumper who competed in the 2004 Olympics and is a two-time USA Outdoor champion in the event. Their father, Monte Upshaw, broke Jesse Owens’ national high school long jump record in 1954.
Margerum’s track record in track is impressive as well. An All-American at Cal-State Hayward, she has gone on to dominate Masters, open to athletes 35 and up. Competing in the women’s 45-49 division at the USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships Aug. 3-6 at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Margerum won the 100-meter dash, 200 dash and 80-meter low hurdles, plus took second in the long jump. Last year, she won the long jump at the USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Margerum believes her extensive track background led to the opportunity to coach Team USA at the DecaNation.
“I think it was because I’ve worked with my sister Grace, I’ve been to Europe to compete and I’ve coached for a while,” said Joy, who has two daughters with husband Ken Margerum, an assistant football coach at San Jose State who played at Stanford University and in the NFL.
Her coaching experience includes eight years as hurdles coach at Cal. Margerum is also known to coach at the schools her daughters attend. Older daughter Sunny, league long jump champ as an eighth-grader at Peninsula Middle School, is a freshman at Gunn High this year.
While Margerum enjoys working with young athletes, she hopes to get another chance to coach the world’s elite.
“It may lead to staffing other teams - if they think you did a good job,” she said.
And if the National Office calls again next summer about returning to Paris?
“I’d do it in a second,” she said.
For more information on the 2006 DecaNation meet, visit www.iaaf.org.
