Track and Fields Adds Michelle Freeman as Assistant Coach

LOS ANGELES – UCLA Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Avery Anderson announced the addition of Michelle Freeman as assistant coach for sprints and hurdles.
 
“Michelle Freeman is a great, proven coach,” said Anderson. “She is a three-time Olympian, as well as world champion as an athlete. We’re happy to welcome her to UCLA.”
 
Freeman comes to Westwood after spending the past two years with the University of Oklahoma. The veteran coach had five of her student-athletes qualify for the national championship competitions during her time with the Sooners.
 
Before signing on at Oklahoma in August 2021, Freeman spent a four-year stint at the University of Virginia where she coached four All-Americans and two ACC champions. Freeman mentored sprinter Halle Hazzard to All-America honors at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200-meter dash.
 
Prior to her time at UVA, Freeman served as an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles at San Diego State for five seasons. In her final campaign with the Aztecs, Freeman coached four student-athletes to first-team All-America honors at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2016, she assisted sprinter Ashley Henderson to a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
Freeman began her coaching career by spending 12 years at the University of Texas as a volunteer assistant, assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach. She worked with the Longhorn sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and relay squads, while also managing the team’s weight training program. She helped coach four Olympians, 15 All-Americans and seven NCAA individual national champions, and was part of three national championship teams.
 
Also a former pro, Freeman was a three-time Olympian for Jamaica, running in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games. She won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter relay and reached the finals of the 100-meter hurdles in 1996, finishing sixth in the event. The Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica, native also competed in nine World Championships, winning three medals, including a gold in the 60-meter hurdles at the 1997 IAAF Indoor World Championships in Paris.