Michael Sergi is in his first season as head coach of the Armstrong men's cross country team.

Sergi joins the Pirates from cross-town Savannah College of Art and Design, where he served as the head men's and women's cross country coach for five seasons.

As head coach of the Bees, Sergi directed SCAD cross country to The Sun Conference second-place finishes in both men's and women's cross country each of the last three years, and had six runners qualify for the NAIA National Championships each of the last two seasons.

Under his tutelage, Sergi directed the men's team to not only its best conference cross country finishes ever, but also featured its first national qualifier in track and field as Cesar Ignacio Fernandez qualified in the 5K, setting a new school record in the process and finishing ninth overall.

He also was named the 2010 Sun Conference Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year and in his five seasons at SCAD, coached 20 cross country national qualifiers and 14 All-Sun Conference runners.

Sergi's athletes also excelled in the classroom as 12 student-athletes were named Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes in five seasons and his cross country and track teams combined were named NAIA Scholar Teams 12 times.

A native of Savannah, Sergi returns to the school where he received his master's degree in sports medicine as he graduated from Armstrong in 2007. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Georgia Southern University in 2000.