Burns Hired as New Throws Coach

Former Virginia Tech standout Tamara Burns has joined the Oregon State track & field program as an assistant coach, head coach Kelly Sullivan announced Monday. She will primarily work with the throwers.

An eight-year coaching veteran, Burns spent last season as the throwers coach at Temple University in Philadelphia. Under her guidance, Temple’s Margo Britton won the American Athletic Conference and the Penn Relays title in the shot put.

“We are all excited about this incredible next step in building a comprehensive track and field program by hiring our first full-time throws coach since the programs were suspended in 1988,”  Sullivan said. “Coach Tamara Burns brings a lot of successful coaching and personal athletic success and is a perfect fit for this program and our future.

“Tamara was not only a tremendous collegiate thrower herself while at Virginia Tech, but what she accomplished coaching at both Temple University and Saint Francis University was exactly what we were looking for.

“The young throwers we have right now are incredibly excited for her arrival and having their first full-time throws coach. It’s another big step for OSU track and field, with the hiring of Tamara to go along with the recent hiring of coach Mark Macdonald. “

Burns assisted the men’s and women’s programs at Saint Francis University Loretto, Penn., for six years before moving on to Temple. The men’s team won the 2007 Northeast Conference indoor championship; the women’s team placed second at the 2013 NEC outdoor championships.

She coached numerous NEC champions at Saint Francis, most notably eight-time titlist Christin Bridge in the shot and discus. She also coached NEC champions Kate Kendrick (discus); Kayla Herron(weight throw, hammer) and Karl Dewyngaert (weight throw).

Burns graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in human development in 2007 after earning All-American and all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors with the Hokies. She was the 2006 ACC indoor champion in the weight throw and the 2007 ACC outdoor champion in the hammer.

She was the team captain as a junior and senior and won the “Coaches Award” as a sophomore and junior, and holds the school record (73-3 ¾) in the weight throw.

For more information on the Oregon State track & field team, follow the team by Facebook at Facebook.com/OSUTrackCrossCountry or on Twitter at twitter.com/@beavers_track.