|
Allen Bradd enters his Sixth season as assistant men's and women's track and field coach at Georgia Tech. Bradd specializes in the throwing events, pole vault, and multi events. In five seasons as a Yellow Jacket coach, Bradd has tutored 4 ACC champions, 25 NCAA Region qualifiers, 16 All-ACC honorees, 8 NCAA Qualifiers, 1 NCAA All-American, and led his athletes to 8 school records.
The Yellow Jacket throws and pole vault programs concluded 2008 as the most success in GT history and have emerged into a national power. One the men's side, sophomore Steve Marcelle won the Indoor ACC shot put Championship in route to qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships where he placed 13th. Junior Andrew Powlen also had an impressive indoor shot put campaign in placed third at the Indoor ACC Championships earning All-ACC honors with an NCAA Indoor Championships provisional qualifying mark of 58'5.75". During the outdoor season, both Marcelle and Powlen earned All-ACC in the shot put again while finished second and third with marks of 61'6.5" and 58'8", respectively. At the NCAA East Region Championships, Marcelle and Powlen both earned All-Regional honors and automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Outdoor Championships by placing third and fourth with throws of 61'0" and 60'9', respectively. GT was one of only two school in the nation to have two men's shot putter's throw over 60' and automatically qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships at any of the four NCAA regional qualifying meets. Both throwers finished the season with Top 15 Nationally ranked shot put marks. Marcelle also qualified for the NCAA East Regional in the discus and finished with a season best of 179'8".
On the women's side, All-American Kimery Hern earned her second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships as well as earning All-Region and All-ACC honors in route to a new school record hammer throw mark of 197'11". Also earning All-Region honors in the women's hammer was Alana Clooten with a 2008 season best of 184'9". During the indoor season Clooten recorded a personal best of 60' 6.75" inches in the weight throw and finished fourth at the ACC indoor Championships. In the pole vault, freshman Joanna Wright set a new GT outdoor school record with her 12'9.75" vault at the outdoor ACC Championships where she placed second. While earning All-ACC honors in the vault, Wright also earned a trip to the NCAA East Regional Championships.
In 2007, Bradd Coached three NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifiers including Hern, who placed ninth in the hammer earning All-American Honors and Marcelle in the Discus who threw 178'11" and finished 18th.
In 2006, Hern qualified for the NCAA East Region Championships in the discus as well as placing third in the hammer and fourth in the discus, with a personal best mark of 158' 7" at the USATF Junior National Championships. Clooten finish fourth at the USATF Junior National Championships in the hammer. On the men's side, walk-on Eric Massey broke the school record in the men's wt. throw with a mark of 62' 2.5". Massey also qualified for the NCAA East regional championships with a hammer throw of 201' 11". Powlen posted a shot put mark of 57' 11.75" at the ACC indoor Championships to finish fourth and qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships where he finished eighth with a mark of 57' 1.5". Nico Shaner, in just his second year of javelin throwing, posted an NCAA Regional qualifier and All-ACC Championships mark by finishing third with a personal-best of 216' 4".
In 2005 Dore Madere broke two outdoor school records in the discus and hammer, along with qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the discus. Madere threw a personal best of 170' 9"at the NCAA East Regional Championships to automatically qualify her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships where she finished 19th. On the men's side Bradd guided Zeb Sion to an indoor school record in the shot put and led Greg McCormick to a new record score of 4,869 points in the heptathlon at the Indoor ACC Championships.
In Bradd's inaugural season with the Yellow Jackets he tutored Sion and Marcus Canty to their first ACC Championship titles in the shot put and javelin, respectively. Canty finished the season with the 23rd best javelin mark in the nation at 227'11".
Prior to coming to Tech, Bradd coached at Syracuse University. He led four athletes to NCAA Championship Provisional qualifying marks in the discus, shot put and weight throw. He had a men's shot putter capture the Big East Conference title and led a freshman women's discus thrower to the 22nd best mark in the nation with a personal best of 172' 4". She went on to qualify for the World Junior Championships in the discus.
Before coaching at Syracuse, Bradd was an assistant men's and women's track and field coach at Murray State University for one season. While at Murray State, he tutored three All-OVC honors in the shot put and discus and a men's pole vaulter who finished runner-up at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships meet during the indoor and outdoor season.
Bradd has also had excellent success coaching at the post-collegiate level. During the 2005 season he coached Lavern Eve to a 10th place finish in the women's javelin at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, and a fourth-place finish at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Monaco where she threw a season best of 203'3". He has also guided an athlete who qualified for the 2001 U.S. National Championships in the women's hammer and another to the 2000 Olympic Trials in the women's discus, finishing in 14th place.
Bradd attended the University of North Carolina, where he became a two-time All-American in the shot put. He was a five-time individual ACC champion in the shot put and two-time hammer ACC champion. Bradd was elected team captain in the 1998-99 season and was a member of the UNC Student-Athlete Council board. After graduation, Bradd competed for the Mizuno Klub Kiehas during the 1999-2000 track and field seasons. In 1999, he finished 12th in the shot put at the USATF Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Ore.
A native of Downs, Ill, Bradd graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor's degree in sports exercise and science in 1999. He is married to the former Angie Joy and the couple has a two sons, Logan, 3, and Dylan, 1.
