Women's Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- collin.cram@oregonstate.edu
Collin Cram joined the Oregon State coaching staff as a jumps and multi-event assistant prior to the 2012-13 academic year.
In 2013 he oversaw the majority of the Beavers’ field-event competitors, as the program had a number of entries in the throws and jumps for the first time since its re-establishment in 2005. Mary Claire Brenner and Kayla Fleskes became OSU’s first throwers in 25 years. After a shot put mark of 36-11 at the Oregon Preview, Brenner, who threw each implement in 2013, reeled off improvements in four consecutive meets with each throw the remainder of the season eclipsing 40-0. She capped off that four-meet spurt with a sixth-place finish in the shot put at the Oregon Relays after throwing a PR of 42-4, good for 11th all-time at Oregon State. Brenner also became the Beavers' first shot put competitor at the conference championships since 1988.
Along with Brenner, Fleskes was another key cog in OSU’s throwing renaissance in 2013. In her collegiate debut at the Willamette Opener, she became the first OSU competitor in the javelin since 1988 and, along with Brenner, the first in the discus since the same year. She threw the discus 145-1 at the Oregon Twilight to move into seventh on the school's all-time list, an effort which was third-best for a Pac-12 freshman this season and ranked 19th in the conference overall in both the discus and the javelin. Her PR javelin throw from the John Knight Twilight of 132-2 is 14th on OSU's all-time list.
Cram also worked closely with assistant coaches John Radetich (high jump) and John Parks (horizontal jumps). The combined work of Cram and Radetich boosted freshman Sara Almen, who became OSU's first female field event participant at an NCAA meet since 1988 when she competed in the high jump at the West Regional in Austin, Texas and topped all freshman competitors. Almen’s PR of 5-11.25 was 19th in the country during the indoor season, the third-best for any freshman and the second-best in the Pac-12, regardless of season (indoor or outdoor), behind only Arizona’s Brigetta Barrett’s collegiate-record leap of 6-6.25 at the conference championships. Almen’s third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships was also the best for a freshman at the event since 2010 and placed her sixth on OSU's all-time outdoor list (5-10).
Cram and Parks helped tutor another multi-event freshman in Michele Turney, who claimed seven victories in the 100m hurdles, long jump and triple jump. She broke a 29-year Oregon State record in the triple jump when she leapt 38-6.25 at the Oregon Preview and one week later, at the first home meet in Corvallis in 25 years, she increased that school record to 39-0.25. Turney’s PR in the triple jump was the best for a Pac-12 freshman in 2013 and she was the school's first horizontal jumper at the conference championships since 1988.
A native of Florence, Ore., Cram is a highly decorated multi-event athlete who has spent the last two years coaching at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif. where he tutored all-state performers in the jumps (triple jump, long jump, high jump, pole vault), multis (decathlon, heptathlon) and javelin. Under Cram’s guidance, Jaci Powell was a two-time California Community College State Champion (2011-12) in the heptathlon who also placed seventh at the 2011 Junior Heptathlon in Eugene in June 2011 (4804). Powell also set the school record for the Rustlers in the triple jump (38’7”).
While at Golden West College, Cram also coached the 2011 California Community College seventh-place heptathlete, Tailor Dunigan (4090), in addition to helping 1984 Olympic coach Dave Rodda teach post-collegiate multi-event athletes.
Prior to coaching, Cram was a two-time Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Decathlon Champion (2006-07) while at Lane Community College in Eugene. In 2006 he was named NWAACC Most Outstanding Athlete and 2007 saw him earn recognition as the NWAACC Field Athlete of the Year. He placed at the NWAACC Championships 11 times in the pole vault, long jump, javelin, 110m high hurdles, 4X100m relay and the decathlon. Cram was also a nine-time NWAACC All-American.
After competing at Lane CC, Cram attended Long Beach State, where he placed third in the Big West decathlon in 2008 and was coached by the aforementioned Rodda. An All-Big West performer, Cram was also a conference qualifier in the pole vault and long jump. He placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 23-02.50 and had a runner-up finish in the javelin with a season-best of 186-04 at the Big West Challenge in 2008.
Cram attended Siuslaw High School where he was a two-sport star in both football and track and field. On the gridiron, he was a First Team All-State wide receiver and a Third Team All-State defensive back. In his senior season he totaled 20 touchdowns, 16 receiving, and 949 yards to propel him to an appearance in the 2004 East/West All-Star Shrine Game.
At the prep level, he was a state pole vault champion in 2004, placed at state eight total times in the 110m high hurdles, long jump, pole vault and 300m intermediate hurdles and was an Oregon 3A High Point Scorer.
Cram also played football at the University of Oregon during the 2004 season.
