By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff
The Northeastern University’s running and field programs are no longer coachless. Athletic Director Peter Roby announced Tuesday in a press release that Cathrine Grace Erickson will serve as director of track and field, and cross country.
Erickson “will be a tremendous leader for our track and field and cross country programs and a wonderful role model for our student-athletes,” Roby said in the release. “Cathrine [Erickson] is driven and strategic and she has achieved sustained success throughout her coaching career. Her vision for how to best develop student-athletes for success in competition, in the classroom and in life is consistent with the mission and values of Northeastern athletics.”
In a phone conference Wednesday morning with the News and Roby, Erickson said she was excited to take over the programs.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to move across town without having to pack boxes and be in a high level academic and athletic institution. It’s a great fit for all worlds and I’m super excited about being here,” she said.
Roby echoed the university’s excitement from Tuesday’s release. He added that the department believes Erickson can further the program’s success, while simultaneously aligning with the university’s values.
“What we strive for across the athletics department is that we don’t want peaks and valleys, we want consistent excellence, sustained excellence,” he said. “We want to make sure that our student-athletes are getting a quality education and a great experience by competing at the highest level and achieve all their goals and meet their full potential.”
After the Huskies finished third in the men’s CAA Cross Country Championship and eighth in the women’s last year, Erickson is already setting goals for this season which opens September 8, even if it’s only day two of her new role.
“I haven’t quite finished my second day, so we’re taking it one day at a time,” she said. “My expectations are to increase our performance in the classroom and on the field. … I’m very, very competitive so I obviously want to be successful in the conference and on the national level. But it’s very important for that we do it the right way. We will not win at all costs, but we will win.”
Erickson joins the Huskies after five years as the associate head coach for the Harvard University Crimson.
This season will mark her 17th year as a collegiate coach. Erickson, a thrower by skill, has coached 33 NCAA qualifiers, including 13 NCAA and USA Track and Field All-Americans.
Before Harvard, Erickson served as the assistant coach of at the University of Tennessee. In 2005, the Lady Vol’s captured the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship.
She is a 1995 graduate of the University of Florida, where she still ranks in the top 10 of all-time shot putters. During the 1992-93 season, she double-lettered for the university when she also suited up as a center for the women’s basketball team.
Former head coach Sherman Hart retired earlier this summer after 24 years with the department. He had been suspended on March 29 as part of an ongoing NCAA investigation into the suspicion of recruiting violations.
Roby told the News on June 6 that Hart’s retirement was “more than just a coincidence.”
