Video Bio: Cathrine Grace Erickson

After completing her fourth year at Harvard and her 15th year of coaching, Cathrine Grace Erickson has enjoyed strengthening the Crimson throws and multi corps with a multitude of conference point scorers, ECAC/IC4A qualifiers and NCAA Regional qualifiers.  

The Crimson throws crew will continue to bring strength on the national and conference level with two-time NCAA Regional qualifier and Ivy League Javelin Champion Jessica Fronk, who will be returning for her junior year.  Along with Fronk, IC4A and NCAA Regional qualifier, Eric Clayman will be looking to move up from his fourth place finish at the Ivy League championships in the hammer in addition to making an impact with the 35lb Weight. Clayman, who ranks eighth on the Harvard track and field all-time list in the hammer also placed fifth at the USATF Junior Nationals in 2008 and will be entering his junior year.

IC4A qualifier, Heptagonal scorer and team captain, Jack Brady will also make a his presence known in the weight, hammer, shot put and discus as he is the most versatile thrower in the group, qualifying for IC4As in the five events.  Brady stole the 10th spot on the discus all-time list from Eric Clayman’s brother, Mark Clayman with a throw of 51.17m, just missing qualifying for the NCAA Regional meet.  The Helmus Award winner for Most Improved, Ablorde Ashigbi will bring more of his magic to the group after his 13 meter improvement in the hammer and 4 meter jump in the weight to qualify for IC4A’s.  Ashigbi was the only Harvard thrower to make the final in the 35lb Weight at the conference championships in 2009 to join the impressive national cast of All Americans and national qualifiers of the Ivy League. 

Freshmen Nick Farnsworth and Lauren Barber made their mark during their freshman year as Farnsworth moved into the fifth place on the all-time list for the javelin, just 27 centimeters short of qualifying for the NCAA Regional meet.  Farnsworth went on to win Harvard – Yale and finished sixth at the Ivy League Championships in addition to earning the Ed Stowell Field Events Award and the Beyond the Call of Duty Award for his dedication, hard work and unbridled optimism towards Harvard men’s track and field.  Harvard – Yale shot put champion, Barber will be returning for her sophomore year looking to improve upon her seventh-place finish in the shot put in addition to adding some competitive fire in throwing the discus, hammer and weight. 

With the returning crew, the Crimson program is bound to continued success in the throws on the national and conference level especially with the addition to the seven matriculated newcomers as they look to step in and contribute right away in the weight, hammer, shot put, discus and javelin.

To add to the highlights, post collegiate, Chris Bryce, who also serves as Erickson’s volunteer coach at Harvard, measured improvements in the hammer that qualified him for the 2008 Olympic Trials proving his first time at the national championships with a top 20 finish and US ranking in 2008.  Bryce has started 2009 off with the most consistent performances of his career as he finished seventh at the USATF Indoor national Championships and currently ranks 16th on the men’s hammer list in USA.

Erickson continues balancing her involvement as a collegiate and post collegiate coaching with her involvement in United States Track and Field, the USA’s national governing body of Track and Field.  Erickson has spent the last four years as USATF Olympic Development Coordinator for the women’s hammer in addition to serving as assistant coach for the 2008 World Junior Team in Bydgoszcz, Poland and Head manager for the USA vs. Germany vs. France in Munich, Germany in 2004. 

Prior to Harvard, Erickson spent four years as an assistant coach for the Lady Vol’s at the University of Tennessee. While at Tennessee, Erickson coached, NCAA qualifiers and SEC scorers Ariel Brooks and April Thomas in the weight, hammer and shot put while Shanna Dickenson represented the United States in the Pan Am Junior meet as the runner-up and U.S. Juniors discus champion.  Thomas, the number-four all-time shot putter in UT history, was the biggest point producer of the three, snagging third outdoors and fifth indoors in the shot at the 2005 SEC meets, while Brooks scored at conference indoors in the weight (sixth) and outdoors in the discus (seventh) and hammer (eighth), and charted school records in the weight and hammer during the season.  Dickenson, meanwhile, matured as the season progressed and enters 2005-06 as a projected SEC scorer and NCAA qualifier, most notably in the discus.

Inheriting a throws corps with limited numbers when she accepted the job at Tennessee, Erickson maximized her opportunities during her first two years in Knoxville.  The most notable example of that was Janine Tessarzik, who had never scored at the conference level and went on to chart a third-place finish in the discus at the 2003 Southeastern Conference meet and posted a regional qualifying mark and career best of 167-3 in the process.  Tessarzik also registered substantial improvements in the hammer, shot and weight, including a school record (at that time) in the hammer.

Erickson is a leader in a growing trend of women who are coaching Division I female throwers and doing so with high levels of success.  Since 1996, she is one of only three female coaches to produce a national champion in the throws events and stands as the only one to guide an athlete to a title in the hammer throw.  Additionally, she produced a runner-up finisher in the weight throw, which is the highest by a woman-coached athlete at the D-I level.  Those accomplishments make her an ideal fit for a department focused solely on providing an atmosphere where young women can reach their potential both academically and athletically.

During her tenure at Clemson, Erickson was responsible for coaching and administering all aspects of the throws, pole vault and multi-events as well as designing and developing training and strength programs for the throwers.  Additionally, she served as the squad’s recruiting coordinator and assisted in compliance-related issues.

While at the South Carolina school, Erickson coached Joanna Costa to provisionally qualify in the pole vault along with conference powerhouse Lauren Nicholson in the Heptathlon. In addition to coaching the multi-events and vertical jumps, Erickson led thrower Jamine Moton to the 2002 NCAA championship in the hammer throw and a national runner-up finish in the weight throw, as Moton walked away with both the meet and collegiate records in those events due to a technicality.  The throws standout went on to take third in the hammer at the USA Track & Field Championships in June of that year.  Under Erickson’s tutelage, Moton was also second in the shot put and third in the weight throw at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championships and was runner-up in the shot at the NCAA Outdoor meet that same year.  In all, she totaled six All-America accolades in two years.   

Directing the focus back to Erickson and her record within the Atlantic Coast Conference, she guided athletes to nine ACC titles and as many All-ACC accolades.  Additionally, her troops claimed four conference meet records in the hammer, shot and weight.  During her tenure at Clemson, the Tigers’ best team finish in the league came in 2001, as the squad took second indoors and out.  Nationally, the club was third at NCAA Indoors in 2001 and seventh outdoors that same year.

Prior to her days in the land of the Tiger paw, Erickson served from 1998 to 2000 as an assistant at the University of Mississippi and from 1996 to 1998 in the same capacity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  In both instances, she worked with the men’s and women’s programs at those schools.

At Ole Miss, she spent two seasons coaching the shot put, discus, hammer, weight, javelin and multi-events. Erickson produced SEC scorers in the men’s weight throw and the heptathlon as well as developing USA Junior National qualifiers in the men’s hammer and discus.

Erickson began her coaching career at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, developing and implementing an event-specific throwing and training program. During her stay at UALR, she guided athletes to five All-Sun Belt Conference efforts in the shot put, weight throw and discus, contributing to the women’s 1997 Sun Belt Indoor Conference championship title. Erickson also coached a USA Junior National qualifier in the shot put while in Little Rock.

A 1995 graduate of Florida State University, Erickson is the former record holder in the discus and is still ranked among the top five shot putters in her alma mater’s history.  The four-time letterwinner was an All-ACC selection (1995-96) and was named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll that same year.  Erickson also lettered as a center in basketball during the 1992-93 season and at that time was one of only three athletes in Florida State history to letter in both basketball and track.

Additionally, Erickson is also an active member of USA Track and Field (USATF) coaching education, where she is a Level I and II certified coach in both the throws and the jumps and is working toward achieving Level III certification. 

COACH ERICKSON’S HIGHLIGHTS
* Four NCAA Regional Qualifier
* 20 ECAC/IC4A
* 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier
* 2008 seventh place finisher at USATF Indoor National Championships in the 35lb Weight
* 2009 Current ranking of 16th in the Men’s Hammer
* Produced U.S. Juniors champ and Pan Am Juniors runner-up in 2005
* Developed pair of NCAA qualifiers and SEC scorers at UT in 2005
* Coached UT’s Janine Tessarzik to third-place SEC finish in 2003
* Women’s Head Manager at 2004 USA vs. Germany vs. France Team Athletics Challenge
* One of only three females to coach athletes to NCAA Division I titles in the throws since 1996
* Only female coach to produce NCAA Division I crown in hammer throw 
* Coached Jamine Moton to 2002 NCAA title in hammer
* Helped Moton claim second in weight throw at 2002 NCAA Indoors
* Moton claimed meet and collegiate records in both of those events
* Tallied nine ACC champions and four ACC meet records in throws while at Clemson
* At Ole Miss, she had SEC scorers in the heptathlon and men’s weight
* Also developed USA Junior National qualifiers in men’s hammer and discus and women’s shot put