Nathan Taylor
The George E. Heekin '29 Coach of Men's Track & Field and Cross Country
Phone: 254-7494
Email:
rnt2@cornell.edu
Establishing Cornell as the top program in the Ivy League was the first priority when Nathan Taylor came to Cornell 10 years ago. Known as the Heptagonal Games, Cornell has now won the Ivy League's outdoor championships in each of the last seven years. Including the indoor championships, the Big Red has won 12 of the last 14. Cornell has set the standard for team performance within the Ivy League during the first decade of the 21st century.
The second goal was to make Cornell one of the top teams in the Eastern U.S. In 2009, for the fourth year in a row, Cornell sent more athletes to the NCAA Regionals than almost every team in the region and finished among the top ten each year. The third goal was to have an impact at the NCAA Championships. Over the last three seasons, 17 athletes have been to the NCAA Championships, with two winning national championships, one claiming a national runner-up finish and 14 times earning All-America honors.
The 2009 season was another historic year for Cornell Track and Cross Country as the team finished a very close third in Cross Country and then dominated the Indoor and Outdoor track meets. After not winning a championship for 25 years, Cornell has now won the outdoor Heps in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The great Penn teams of the 1970’s won seven consecutive times in the 75 year history of the League, a record Cornell has now tied and hopes to surpass in 2010. Taylor has led the team from the depths of the Ivy League to one of the top programs in the Northeast region and the country as they won the IC4A title in Indoor Track for the first time in 70 years. In 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009 he was selected the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year. Under his guidance, the team has also done very well academically as well gaining recognition as an NCAA Academic All-America team for the fifth year in a row after sporting a cumulative 3.10 GPA for 2009 with over half of the team in either Engineering or the Sciences. This GPA was among the highest in Division I as Taylor continues to prove that academic and athletic excellence can, and do, go hand in hand at Cornell University.
A total track and field and cross country program has always been a hallmark of Taylor’s squads as Cornell is able to boast top athletes in every event year in and year out. In 2010, in spite of huge losses to graduating, Cornell will return 7 conference champions and 11 NCAA Regional Qualifiers. Coach Taylor’s technical knowledge and enthusiasm have vaulted the program into one of the top 25 Division I teams in the country. The 2009 team earned Cornell’s seventh consecutive top 25 ranking. The 2009 team finished seventh at the NCAA Regionals sending four athletes to the NCAAs.
Taylor has established his legacy as an expert in the jumping events, and in particular, the triple jump. In the last four years, coaching the men’s and women’s jumpers at Cornell, he had 17 athletes at the NCAAs, with fourteen earning All-American status and two consecutive NCAA Champions in the Triple Jump. Only Oklahoma and Texas A+M had more. Those athletes established new school records in seven of the eight jumping events, with 2007 NCAA Outdoor Champion Ray Taylor and 2008 NCAA Champion Muhammad Halim leading the way. In his career, he has coached 20 NCAA qualifiers in the triple jump, 11 of whom went on to become All-Americans. In the long jump, he has had 15 jumpers span 24-0 in the last 10 years and six different Heps champions, while 11 different high jumpers have hit 6-11, including five consecutive NCAA qualifiers - highlighted by Garrett Huyler’s 7’3 clearance in 2009. Not to be outdone in the pole vault, he has coached 11 different Heptagonal or IC4A champions, and his vaulters have set all-time Ivy League marks both indoors and outdoors with four over 17-3 and one over 18-1. He also coaches the jumpers on the women’s team, who have established school records in every jumping event including two-time All American Sarah Wilfred in the high jump and six-time All American, NCAA Runner-up and Olympic Trials finalist Jeomi Maduka in the long jump and triple jump, along with NCAA qualifiers Jamie Grubel in the heptathlon and Natalie Gengel in the vault.
Taylor also has a long and distinguished resume with the sprints and throws. On the track, his sprint squads have become the dominant team in the league as they have sped to victories in all the relays as well as established the top five All-Time Ivy bests in the indoor 4x400 relay with an NCAA qualifying 3:10.19. Taylor’s teams now hold eight of the Top 10 All-Time Heptagonal performances in the 4x400. In his years as the coach at Cornell, the jumpers and sprinters under his tutelage have improved dramatically over their high school bests, establishing 35 school records. Overall, he has had 35 athletes qualify for the NCAA championships, and 16 have earned All-America honors. Since Taylor’s arrival at Cornell, there have been 220 All-Ivy and 171 All-East selections. He has had at least one NCAA finalist in every jumping event and a NCAA regional qualifier in every throwing and sprinting event including all-time Ivy greats Halim (24’9" and 54’8", the All-Time Ivy record holder), Scott Benowitz in the javelin (232’5"), David Pell (7’1") and Garrett Huyler in the high jump (7’3"), Rayon Taylor in the triple jump (53’8"), Evan Whitehall (16’10") and Travis Offner (17’3") in the pole vault, along with Adam Seabrook (50.33 in the 400IH), Aaron Merrill (51.04 in the IH) and Saidu Ezike (13.79 in the HH)
Prior to joining the Cornell coaching staff, Taylor was the assistant track and field coach at the University of Pennsylvania for 11 years. At Cornell, he has assembled teams that are very similar to the Penn squads that dominated the Ivy League in the 1990s. During his tenure at Penn, Taylor helped the Quakers to Heptagonal championships in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1997, while coaching 12 NCAA qualifiers, four All-Americans, 64 All-East and 81 All-Ivy performers. Over the course of his stay in Philadelphia, Taylor helped produce some of the greatest athletes to ever compete in the Ivy League. Top performers during his tenure included U.S. Eastern Collegiate and Heptagonal record holder Mamadou Johnson in the pole vault (18'1 1/2") along with three-time All-American, IC4A record holder and three-time Olympic trials qualifier John Taylor in the javelin (237'5"). Other standouts included NCAA qualifiers and IC4A champions Stanley Anderson in the triple jump (52'2"), Corey Shannon in the javelin (220’5"), All-American Matt Pagliasotti in the hammer (211'7"), All-American, IC4A champ and former Heps record holder Twan Wreh in the triple jump (53'2"), Chuck Hinton in the discus (183'9") and Chris Harper in the 400 (46.48).
Prior to joining the Penn staff, Taylor was head coach of men’s and women’s cross country and track at Milton Academy (MA) from 1983-88. From 1980-83, he was athletic director at Good Hope School in the U.S. Virgin Islands, while also coaching men’s and women’s cross country and track and serving as the head coach for soccer and basketball. A native of Boston, Mass., Taylor was head cross country and track coach at Western Albemarle HS in Charlottesville, Va., from 1978-80. He led Western to the 1980 Virginia state championship, while coaching the team to state runner-up finishes in 1978 and 1979. He helped produce three All-Americans while serving as a graduate assistant track coach at the University of Virginia in 1976 and 1977. Prior to working with the Cavaliers’ track program, he was an assistant track coach at Charlottesville High School, which won the Virginia state championship and was the top high school track team in the nation in 1976. That team was lead by Rodney Chesley who ran 13.3 in the hurdles, Mike Keys, the National HS champ in the 100 at 10.3, and Lloyd Burris in the jumps who later became an All-Pro safety for the Kansas City Chiefs. Their 4x200 team also recorded a fantastic 1:25.17.
Taylor, 56, graduated from the University of Richmond in 1975 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Health and Physical Education as well as Religion, with minors in English and Education. While at Richmond, he was All-Southern Conference and All-Virginia in the long jump, triple jump and javelin. As a masters competitor Taylor attained All-America status in the hurdles and vault along with his other events. Taylor is USA Track and Field Level II certified in the jumps and is a highly sought-after speaker and clinician on training theory and coaching. He has served at the President of the Heptagonal Coaches Association, President of the IC4A’s and also sponsors his own track and field and cross country summer camps on the Cornell campus. Taylor and his wife, Sally, live in Ithaca with their two daughters, Meg, a sophomore at Cornell, and Kate, an aspiring ballerina.
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