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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
Conor Holt

Conor Holt

  • Title
    Men's and women's cross country/track and field coach
  • Email
    cholt@okcu.edu
  • Phone
    (405) 208-5319
Conor Holt enters his third year as Oklahoma City University head men’s and women’s cross country and track coach.
In his first two years at Oklahoma City University, Holt has recruited some of the best middle and long distance talent in the NAIA to a newly formed program that focuses on cross country in the fall and middle and long distance events in the indoor and outdoor track seasons. The goal remains to win national championships.
In the 2012-13 season, Holt coached the OCU women's team to a third-place finish in the Sooner Athletic Conference cross country championships. Freshman Katrina Nolan placed 21st at the NAIA Championships, the highest placing ever by an OCU athlete, becoming OCU's first all-American award recipient as well as national qualifer in cross country. Nolan went on to have a great track season, running school records in the 1,500 meters (4 minutes, 49 seconds) and 3,000-meter steeplechase, running a time of 10:48 to finish fourth in the NAIA outdoor track championships. Another athlete who excelled under Holt's coaching during 2012-13 was Kate O'Halloran, who placed fourth in the 600 in the NAIA indoor championships.
The men's cross country team placed a program-high fourth in the 2012 SAC championships. Freshman Arya Bahreini became the first OCU male athlete to qualify for the NAIA cross country championships, placing 37th. Bahreini was selected to represent Team USA at the 2013 NACAC international cross country championships in Jamaica.
During the 2013 track season, Stephen Broadhurst, Arya Bahreini, and Hunter Swink all qualified for the NAIA indoor and outdoor national championships and broke school records in a number of running events. Stephen Broadhurst ran the 1,500 in 3:53 and placed 10th at the outdoor national championship. OCU's 4x800 relay team also qualified for the national outdoor track national meet with a school-record time of 7:48.
Holt took over the OCU helm after four years at Purdue University, where he was the distance coach for the men’s and women’s cross country and track programs. At Purdue, Holt guided the Boilermakers to a wealth of improvements, including a pair of NCAA qualifiers, eight regional track qualifiers, four Big Ten medal winners and 14 conference place winners.
Under Holt’s influence, Purdue accomplished a series of firsts and milestones. Caden Shields became the first Purdue male to qualify for the NCAA cross country 10k championships (31 minutes, 13 seconds) since 1987. Stephen Bach placed in the Big Ten Championships three times under Holt, scoring in the 600-meter run twice indoors and once in the 800-meter run outdoors. He set the school record in the 600-meter run as a senior (1.18.36). Sarah Klaczynski ran 10.11.17 for 3k steeple, breaking the school record (an improvement of 50 seconds in one season) and qualified for the NCAA outdoor track championships.
Jacob Palmer (800m-1.49.69), Simon Rogers (1500m-3:46.41), Ladd Mercer (1500m-3:47.48), Alice Holmes (1500m-4:26.87), and Nan Hammel (800m-2:07.78) all made appearances in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship qualifying events over the last two seasons, vastly improving their times and placing on the Purdue all-time lists.
Prior to Purdue, Holt spent two years as the women’s assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Oregon State. Holt mentored Ashley Younce, (5k-16:47.23, 10k-35:31.23) who became the first NCAA West Regional Championship qualifier in Oregon State history. His recruiting efforts helped the team achieve a 28th place US ranking in 2008.
Originally from Ireland, Holt was a 3,000-meter junior national champion and a two-time 5,000-meter junior national champ. A member of the Junior World Cross Country Team from 1989-91, Holt participated at the Junior World Track and Field Championships in 1990 and represented his native country at the World University Games in 1993.
An accomplished distance runner at the University of Oklahoma, Holt was a six-time NCAA Division I all-American in cross country and track. Holt held the school records in the indoor 5,000-meter run (1996-2011) and the outdoor 10,000-meter run (1993-2010). He garnered a trio of cross country all-American awards, placing sixth, seventh and 14th at the NCAA Championships. He earned three more national honors in track and field (indoor 5K and outdoor 10K) and took home the Big Eight championship in the 10K in 1996. He earned his bachelor's degree in Music Education in 1996.
Holt became a U.S. citizen in 2002. In 2003, he was named Oklahoma Runner of the Year, and ran 2:18.17 at the 2004 US Olympic Marathon Trials. He is a two-time winner and course record holder of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Holt holds Level 1 and 2 USATF Coaching Certifications and is very active in the Oklahoma City running community.
Holt is married to volunteer assistant coach Camille Herron. Holt has coached his wife to 10 marathon wins, qualifying for the '08 and '12 US Olympic Marathon Trials, and holds a best marathon time of 2:37:14. Camille was selected to represent Team USA at the 2011 Pan American Games in the marathon and finished as the top American in ninth place.
Read about Holt’s hiring at OCU here.