Establishing Cornell as the top program in the Ivy League was the first priority when Nathan Taylor came to Cornell 14 years ago, and it is safe to say he has accomplished that goal. Cornell has won the Heptagonal Championships in eight of the last 11 years, including 14 of the last 22 combined Indoor and Outdoor Ivy League titles. Cornell has set the standard for performance within the Ivy League during the first decade of the 21st century.
Taylor's second goal was to make Cornell one of the top teams in the Eastern part of the U.S. In 2013, for the ninth year in a row, Cornell sent more athletes to the NCAA Regionals than almost every team in the region and finished among the top 15 each year. In 2013, Cornell became the first Ivy League school to win the IC4A Outdoor Championships in almost 40 years.
The third goal was to have an impact at the NCAA Championships and beyond. Under Taylor’s direction, thirty athletes have been to the NCAA Championships in the last six years, with two winning national championships, one a runner-up and 25 earning All-America honors. The 2013 season saw Stephen Mozia, Montez Blair and Bruno Hortelano earn trips to the NCAA Championships, with Mozia garnering All-American honors in the shot put and discus, Blair being an All-American in the high jump and Hortelano leading the 4x100 team to All-American honors. Blair and Hortelano also qualified for the IAAF World Championships as all three were ranked in the top 50 in the world.
The 2010 season was a historic year for Cornell track and cross country as the team finished a very close third in cross country and then dominated the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships track meet for an all-time record eighth year in a row. After not winning a championship for 25 years, Cornell won the outdoor HEPS each year from 2003 through 2010. The great Penn teams of the 1970s won seven consecutive times in the 75-year history of the league, a record Cornell surpassed with the championship in 2010. Taylor led the team from the depths of the Ivy League to the top-ranked program in the Northeast region during those years. In eight of the last 10 years Taylor has been selected the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Northeast Regional Coach of the Year. In 2011, Taylor was appointed the Olympic Coach for the U.S. Virgin Islands and coached the team during the 2012 London Olympic Games on top of many international meets throughout Central America and the Caribbean. He will continue this position through the next Olympiad. At the London games, Taylor coached four athletes who made the semifinals including Cornell graduate Muhammad Halim ’08 in the Triple Jump, Laverne Ferette-Jones in the 100 and 200, Allison Peters in the 100 and 200 and Tabarie Henry in the 400.
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. Taylor’s technical knowledge and enthusiasm have vaulted the program into one of the top Division I teams in the country. The 2013 team qualified 21 athletes to the NCAA Championships in 16 different events. He has coached 8 of the last 10 HEPS Most Outstanding Performers.
Taylor has established his legacy as an expert in the jumping events and in particular the triple jump. In the last six years coaching the men’s and women’s jumpers at Cornell, he has had 19 athletes at the NCAA finals with 15 earning All-American status and two consecutive NCAA Champions in the triple jump in 2007 and 2008. 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, Taylor has coached 21 NCAA qualifiers in the triple jump, 11 of whom went on to become All-Americans. In the long jump, he has had 24 jumpers span 24’ since coming to Cornell and eight different HEPS Champions. Sixteen different high jumpers have hit 6’ 11”, including eight consecutive NCAA qualifiers from 2006-13. World Championships qualifier Montez Blair cleared 7’5 ½” to set new Cornell records, surpassing All-American Garrett Huyler’s 7’ 3”, as he lead three Cornell jumpers over 7’1 in 2013. Not to be outdone in the pole vault, Taylor has coached 13 different Heps 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”. Senior Peter Roach is the defending HEPS champion entering the 2014 year. He also directs the decathletes where Nick Huber set an All-Time Ivy league Record and was a two time All-American as well as a 2012 Olympic Trial Qualifier. He also coaches the jumpers on the women’s team, and the women 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 Gengle and Clair Dishong 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. In 2013 the Cornell 4x1 team ran a scintillating 39.85. They were the top college team at the Penn Relays and qualified for the NCAA Finals. Taylor’s teams now hold eight of the top 10 all-time Heptagonal performances in the 4x400 indoors and out as well as being the dominant team in the 4x100. In his years at Cornell, the jumpers and sprinters under his tutelage have improved dramatically over their high school bests, establishing more than 40 school records. Overall he has had 45 athletes qualify for the NCAA championships, and 27 have earned All-America honors. Since Taylor’s arrival at Cornell, there have been 290 All-Ivy and 212 All-East selections. In addition to the current stars, Mozia, Hortelano, Blair, Rob Robbins and Max Hairston all of whom are in the top 10 All-Time, he has coached Ivy greats Muhammad 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 vault, Duane Teixeira and Josh Kirkpatrick in the long jump (25’ 11” and 25’ 7” respectively), and Adam Seabrook (50.33 in the 400IH), Aaron Merrill (51.04 in the IH) and Saidu Ezike (13.79 in the HH).
Under his guidance, Cornell has also done very well academically, gaining recognition as an NCAA Academic All-America team for the tenth year in a row after sporting a cumulative 3.11 GPA for 2013. Amazingly, over half of the team is majoring 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.
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, 81 All-Ivy and 64 All-East performers. Over the course of his stay in Philadelphia, Taylor coached 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 (Mass.) 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, Taylor was head cross country and track coach at Western Albemarle High School 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 led by Rodney Chesley who ran 13.3 in the hurdles, Mike Keys, the national high school 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, 60, 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 and have two daughters, Meg a graduate of Cornell, and Kate, a junior at Smith College.
