Justin Harris joined the Vassar Track program in January of 2012 and is entering his seventh season of coaching the Brewers. He brings with him five years of track and cross country coaching experience prior to Vassar, including one year of high school track and four years at SUNY New Paltz where he mentored the first female NCAA Cross Country Championship qualifier in program history and also coached the second male student-athlete in program history to First-Team All-SUNYAC honors in 2010. At Vassar, Coach Harris is responsible for coordinating the sprints, jumps, hurdles, throws and multi events, along with organizing recruiting efforts. With a background in education and biology, Harris brings a direct and personable approach to coaching with an emphasis on experiential learning of both motor skills and psychological skills needed for success.
During Harris’s time at Vassar College, both the Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams have developed into a prominent league and regional force. The Brewers’s speed and power athletes have captured 22 Liberty League Championships, set three conference records, set or broken school records 50+ times, have made the DIII NCAA Top-50 list, and have earned All-American status on several occasions with 2x All-American and 2015 400m NCAA Champion Heather Ingraham (‘15) and 2016 All-American Decathlete Taylor Vann (‘16).
In the summer of 2013, Harris interned in the weight room at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid where he worked with bobsled, skeleton, and luge athletes during their build up into the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. He also has done an apprenticeship at Altis - an elite Track & Field training center in Phoenix, AZ - where he was able to learn from some of the top sprint and jump coaches in the world.
Harris was a high school national champion, a USATF Junior National Qualifier, a college conference champion and school record holder in multiple events and recently competed as a professional triathlete. He also completed his M.S in Biology with a focus on human performance at Vassar and continues to pursue his research by doing consulting work for the USA Bobsled & Skeleton federation during their buildup into the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. He also holds a B.A in Psychology and Special Education from Marist in 2007, as well as certifications as a USTFCCCA Level II Jumps Specialist and USTFCCCA Level I Technical Track & Field.
