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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 first year as Oklahoma City University head men’s and women’s cross country/track coach.
Holt joins the Stars after four years at Purdue University where he was the distance coach for the men’s and women’s cross country and track program. At Purdue, Holt guided the Boilermakers to a wealth of improvements, including a pair of NCAA qualifiers, eight regional track and field qualifiers, four Big Ten medal winners and 14 conference place winners.
In 2010, the Purdue women attacked the school record books, posting three of the fastest 6K times in Boilermaker history, including a new Boilermaker record of 20.47. The Purdue men climbed to their highest regional ranking in school history. Purdue won the IPFW Invitational to open their season and followed with a second-place effort at the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships.
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.
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 (1989-91), he participated at the Junior World Track and Field Championships in 1990 and represented his native country at the World University Games in 1993.
A six-time All-American at the University of Oklahoma, 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 8 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 and followed earning 2003 Oklahoma Runner of the Year accolades and ran 2:18.17 at the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials.  He is a 2-time winner of the Oklahoma City Memorial marathon.
Holt is married to volunteer assistant coach Camille Herron. Holt has coached his wife to "A" Standard qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games with her time of 2:38:23. Recently, Camille placed ninth at 2011 Pan American Games and finished as the third overall American at the New York City Marathon.
Read about Holt’s hiring at OCU here.