Kelly Sullivan Position: Head Coach Experience: Eighth Season Alma Mater: Willamette '79

When Oregon State decided to compete in women's track and cross country after a 16-year hiatus, it turned to a coach with experience both in the Pacific Northwest and at the NCAA Division I level. Kelly Sullivan has been the head coach charged with putting Oregon State back in the intercollegiate running for the first time since the spring of 1988.

Sullivan, previously head coach at Willamette University in nearby Salem and head cross country and assistant coach at Auburn and Clackamas Community College, was introduced at Oregon State on Jan. 14, 2004 by Athletic Director Bob De Carolis. He begins his eighth year leading the women's cross country and track programs.

Since accepting the position in January of 2004, Sullivan has worked tirelessly to bring back the track and field program to its full and previous glory. The winter and spring of 2010 will go down as a time of progress for Sullivan and the Oregon State track program. It saw Oregon State male student-athletes compete in track and field events for the first time since the program was discontinued in 1988.

During the 2010 cross country season, Sullivan coached fourteen athletes onto the Pac-10 Cross Country All-Academic teams and for the seventh year in a row, the team was honored as an USTFCCA NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country All-Academic Teams with a cumulative 3.41 GPA.

The 2011 track season set new records and accomplishments for Sullivan and the Oregon State track program. Oregon State football student-athlete Obum Gwacham was the first Oregon State student-athlete to compete in the triple jump since 1988. Sullivan also coach 2011 track standout Laura Carlyle to a record setting season. Carlyle broke the school record in the indoor 3,000 meter run, the outdoor 5,000 meter run and the outdoor 1,500 meter run. She was the first track athlete since the program was reinstated in 2005 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. She finished the season earning All-American honorable mention status. He also lead the team to the third most Pac-10 All-Academic selections with 18.

Under Sullivan's guidance, Oregon State football student-athlete Jordan Bishop became the first student-athlete, male or female, to earn All-American status when he finished 10th in the high jump at the NCAA Championships in June of 2010. Along with Bishop competing in the high jump for Oregon State, Kristin Oenning became the first female student-athlete to compete in a field event since the cross country and track program was reinstated in 2004.

In the fall of 2007, Sullivan led the team to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, and an eighth-place finish at the Pacific-10 Championships. He also coached 13 different athletes that jumped into Oregon State's All-Time Top 10 Outdoor Track list. Ten runners were selected to the Pac-10 All-Academic Team and the number of qualifying runners with qualifying marks doubled from year one of the program. Junior Ashley Younce became the team's first-ever West Regional Championship qualifier by running 16:50 for 5,000 meters. Younce also scored OSU's first points at the Pac-10 outdoor championships by placing 5th in the 10,000m with a time of 35:31, a new school record.

In more than two decades of coaching, Sullivan has earned 24 conference or regional Coach of the Year honors in cross country and track and field, including the 2002 and 2003 NCAA West Region Track Coach of the Year for men and women.

Sullivan had been at Willamette since 1997 and he revitalized the men's and women's programs there. A 1979 NAIA All-American in the steeplechase and cross country at WU, he was the 2003 Northwest Conference women's cross country Coach of the Year after leading his alma mater to the NWC title in 2003.

Sullivan guided the WU men's track and field team to a sixth-place finish nationally in 2003, while the men's cross country squad was fifth in 2002. In 2003, his women's cross country team placed eighth nationally - the highest finish in school history - and he guided the Bearcats to their first-ever NWC women's cross country title in 2000. Sullivan mentored 23 Division III All-Americans at Willamette, including individuals who won five national championships.

Before coaching the Bearcats, Sullivan was head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Auburn from 1984-96. Sullivan jump-started a lagging women's team at Auburn after the men's and women's programs were combined; he'd already coached a number of successful men's teams at Auburn. During that time, Sullivan's 1985 men's team finished 12th at the NCAA Championships; Sullivan's female athletes broke every Auburn distance record and earned their first and only trip to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1994 and 1995.

At Auburn, Sullivan coached 36 All-Americans in cross country and track, including 1988 steeplechase Olympian and former American indoor 3000 meter record holder Brian Abshire who started with Sullivan at Clackamas CC prior to transferring when Sullivan took the job at Auburn. Sullivan also coached the first female distance All-American in school history. His last two women's teams placed 16th and 13th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, just six years after he took over the women's distance program.

Prior to coaching at Auburn, Sullivan headed the cross country program and was the assistant track and field coach at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Ore., coaching 24 NJCAA All-Americans from 1980-84. His men's cross country teams won four straight Oregon Community College titles and four straight NJCAA West Regional titles. His 1981 and 1983 teams were fourth at the NJCCA Cross Country Nationals while the 1982 team was NJCCA runner-up. These are still the four highest finishes at the NJCCA Cross Country Nationals in school history. For these accomplishments, Sullivan was inducted into the National Junior College Hall of Fame in 1986.

In 2001, Sullivan served as an assistant track and field coach for Team USA at the World Track and Field Championships. Sullivan graduated from Neah-Kah-Nie High in Rockaway Beach, Ore. In 1990, Sullivan was inducted Neah-Kah-Nie High Hall of Fame. At Willamette, he earned a bachelor of science degree in History and Education. He is married to the former Debbie Fletcher and they have three children: Matt (19), Logan (14) and Karissa (13). Sullivan enjoys traveling, reading and all sports.