Olympian Geena Lara Added To T&F Staff
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Ten-time NCAA All-American, back-to-back NCAA 800m Champion and 2012 USA Olympian Geena Lara has been added to Oregon State’s track and field coaching staff as a volunteer assistant, Head Coach Kelly Sullivan announced Monday.
“Geena has called Corvallis home for the past couple of years and already served as an inspiration to all of our student-athletes and staff,” Sullivan said. “I know we have all been looking forward to the day we could add her as a volunteer. She brings a wealth of success as an Olympian, World Championship qualifier and multiple NCAA 800m champion, but more importantly she has an incredible passion for teaching and educating young people.”
Lara’s achievements include back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 800m in 2008 (2:03.91) and 2009 (2:00.80), representing Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany in the 800m. She also competed at the North American Central American Caribbean Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador in 2007, finishing third, and won the title in Toluca, Mexico in 2008.
“I am very excited and honored to finally be a part of Oregon State track and field,” Lara said. “I have been around the program for the past three years and have watched these women improve both individually and collectively. Coach Kelly (Sullivan) and Coach Travis (Floeck) have welcomed me with open arms and I can't wait to help the Beavs get to the next level! We are young and very talented and I hope to inspire, motivate and help the team in any way I can, both on and off the track.”
She was a member of the "Fab Four" as an undergraduate at Michigan, a group which set two collegiate records (4 x 800, and 4 x 1500) at the 2007 Penn Relays. Lara, also a part of the Wolverines’ cross country squad from 2005-09, was a ten-time NCAA All-American, owns two Big Ten 800-meter records and two DMR records, 10 Big Ten championships and numerous Michigan school records. In high school she was the national indoor 800-meter champ twice and the outdoor 800 champion once.
“Geena has been coached by two of the world’s elite middle distance coaches who also happen to be two of my closest associates in Mike McGuire (University of Michigan) and Mark Rowland (Oregon Elite Track Club),” Sullivan added. “I know that the young women in our program are thrilled to be able to learn daily from Geena.”
She secured her spot in the 2012 Olympics with a second-place finish in the 800-meter race at the USA Track and Field Olympic trials in Eugene. Lara made a late charge on the home stretch to qualify with a time of 1:59.24.
Her addition to OSU’s staff comes just six months after 1992 Olympic bronze medalist in the decathlon Dave Johnson joined the program in a similar capacity.
Lara (née Gall) is married to former Oregon State wrestler and current Director of Operations Jason Lara (2009-12), a two-time NCAA participant in 2010 and 2011 at 125 lbs.
