SEATTLE – Seattle U’s cross country and track and field teams announced today that they have added several new assistant coaches to their staff, joining Head Coach Kelly Sullivan and Assistant Coaches Chad Pharis and Tyler King in lending their expertise to a rapidly expanding program.
“We are very excited about our new coaching additions,” Sullivan said. “This last year, Chad, Tyler and I, as well as current members of the team, worked very hard on building the 2018-19 recruiting class. In the end, we had 33 incoming freshmen and transfers – at that point, we knew that we needed to add more coaches to the programs.”
Clara Nichols joins Seattle U as an assistant coach for cross country and distance events. She recently moved to the area from Stillwater, Okla., where she competed for Oklahoma State University’s track and cross country programs, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 800m run. After graduating, Nichols joined Oklahoma State’s staff for a time before deciding to coach for the Redhawks. “Clara comes to us from one of the top distance programs in the nation,” said Sullivan. “We wanted to add one more distance coach to the staff, to work with Tyler and myself. Clara has a real passion for teaching, and will work with both the women and the men.”
Tony Monroe will work with Pharis on the sprints, jumps, hurdles and relays. His athletics career spans more than 26 years, most recently working as the jumps coach at Eastern Washington University. “Tony has an exceptional background in coaching at the collegiate and high school level. It is obvious that Tony loves to coach, and has tremendous success wherever he goes,” Sullivan said. “I am looking forward to seeing him working with Chad, and to witnessing their events get the attention and expertise that they deserve.”
Carey Campbell joins the Redhawks as a throwing coach, and will be working with new volunteer assistant coach Zaquita “Zee” McClanahan. In their undergraduate careers, Campbell led his team as a hammer and shot put specialist at the University of Washington, while McClanahan, shot put record-holder for the University of Texas San Antonio, placed in the top four at the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. “Carey and Zaquita had great success at the highest level, and love to teach young people,” said Sullivan. “We could not have found two better coaches to work with our throwers.
“I have always known that it ‘takes a village’ to coach such a large group,” Sullivan finished. “Our goal is to surround these young student-athletes with the most positive coaches and mentors that we can. I definitely feel that this staff and this university offers them that.”