Track & Field Adds Harrison As Assistant Coach

BERKELEY – California Track & Field is adding a new member to its coaching staff in Ronnye Harrison, who will work with the sprinters, hurdlers, and relay teams.
 
"We are pleased to welcome Ronnye Harrison to Cal," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Robyne Johnson. "His background as a coach will be invaluable to our student-athletes, and having been a head coach at Portland State will allow him to assist our program in several areas. I think he is exactly what the program needs."
 
Harrison comes to Cal from the University of Oklahoma, where he spent five years as the women's sprints, hurdles, and relays coach. During his time in Norman, Okla., Harrison's athletes broke three school records while reaching two more top-five marks, in addition to achieving three Big 12 event titles. Both his 4x100m and 4x400m outdoor squads reached Second Team All-America status at the NCAA Track and Field National Championships in 2017.
 
Prior to his time with the Sooners, Harrison coached at Portland State University for seven years, where he brought the track and field program to unprecedented heights. Under Harrison's tutelage, the Vikings broke 38 school records and won 36 Big Sky individual titles while earning 59 additional conference medals. 96 of Harrison's athletes also received All-Big Sky honors. Harrison coached the first Portland State athletes to qualify for the National Championships in both indoor and outdoor track, one of whom reached NCAA Division I First Team All-American status in 2010.
 
From 2004-07, Harrison acted as co-head coach for the boys and girls varsity track and field teams at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland. Both squads won the Oregon School Activities Assocation (OSAA) State Championships in 2004, also both placing in the top three in 2005's contest.
 
Harrison graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland, where he acted as an assistant coach for the track and field teams from 1998-2003 after spending seven years in the military. Jefferson's boys 4x100m relay team won the OSAA 4A State Championships in 2000, aided by Harrison's coaching.
 
"It is truly a blessing to be back on the West Coast and in the Pac-12," said Harrison. "I would like to thank Head Coach Robyne Johnson and Associate Athletic Director Gordon Bayne for giving me this opportunity to coach at the University of California, Berkeley, and I am honored to be joining an incredible coaching staff and to be given the opportunity to coach these talented and academically-strong student-athletes."