Sara Slattery - Track and Field Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Sara Slattery

Title:
Head Cross Country Coach
Email:
sara.slattery@gcu.edu
Phone:
602-312-2435
Alma Mater:
Colorado (2003)
Year at GCU:
7th

Follow @saraslattery on Instagram

Sara Slattery is in her seventh season as the GCU men’s and women’s cross country head coach in 2021 after a successful career as a NCAA and professional athlete.

Since her arrival at GCU, every distance school record has been broken in cross country and track. Every women's school record in the distance event, save for one, was broken in 2018 and only one men's distance record still stands from 2017. Then in 2021, the school record book was rewritten in every outdoor distance event (800 meters-10,000 meters) in both the men's and women's times, except for one. Slattery coached a total of eleven broken school records.

In 2021, during cross country season, Slattery yet again, coached the men's team to a program-best finish as they took third place overall at the WAC Championships even with the six added teams to the conference. She also coached Jacob Lewis who broke the 8,000 meter school record at the Highlander Invitational (24:02.9).

In the spring of 2021, Slattery had two student-athletes qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary round in three events that included Paige Hildebrandt in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500 meters and Jacob Lewis in the 800 meter race. Slattery also coached individual conference champions Hildebrandt (3,000-meter steeplechase), Elizabeth Balsan (5,000 meters), Erika Wallace (10,000 meters) and Lewis (1,500 meters) where they contributed to the conference championship team sweep. She also had multiple athletes make the top five in their event to contribute to the title sweep including Robby Foster (800 meters), Braedon Palmer (1,500 meters), Landon Rast (1,500 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase), and Chris D'Angelo (3,000-meter steeplechase).

During the 2020-21 cross country season, Slattery coached the men's team to a (at the time) program-best finish in third place at the WAC Championships. Slattery also coached Joseph Skoog who was awarded Freshman of the Year and placed sixth overall at the WAC Championships.

Three distance event school records fell in 2019 at the hands of three women. In her first season as a Lope, Cheyenne Walden broke the 5,000 meter indoor record. Elizabeth Balsan broke the 5,000 outdoor record and Paige Hildebrandt set a record in the indoor mile.

In 2018, Slattery coached then-sophomore Hildebrandt to the school's first WAC title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Hildebrandt also held four school records entering the 2020 season, including freshman school records in the 1,500 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase. Slattery coached Daniel Flores to multiple school records in 2018 in his first season with the Lopes.

Slattery has been a professional distance runner since May 2005, competing in national and international competitions. In 2007, she was the Pan American Games champion in the 10,000 meters in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. She was an alternate for the U.S. team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and has been a member of other U.S. national teams.

Slattery graduated from Colorado in 2003 with a degree in economics and earned a master's degree in secondary and adult education there in 2005. She was a four-time NCAA champion, 10-time Big 12 champion and a 10-time All-American as a student-athlete, setting three school records (indoor mile, indoor 3,000 meters and outdoor 5,000 meters). In 2016, Slattery was inducted into the Colorado Athletics Hall of Fame.

Slattery is from Phoenix, where she attended Mountain Pointe High School and was a 10-time state champion. She was also a member of the 1998 U.S. Junior National Cross Country Team and earned state Runner of the Year honors during her junior and senior years.

Slattery resides in Phoenix with her husband, Steve, and their two children, Steve and Cali.