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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 the 2014-15 school year and his fourth year as Oklahoma City University head men’s and women’s cross country and track & field coach.
The 2013-14 school year was a memorable season for the OCU Stars. The men's cross country team captured its first national championship and ended the season ranked No. 1 nationally. Four Stars received all-American honors, finishing in the top 30 at the national meet. The women's team qualified for the first time as a team and finished 16th in the NAIA Championships. Holt was honored as the 2013 NAIA coach of the year. The Stars also captured the Sooner Athletic Conference men's title as Holt earned conference coach of the year.
The indoor track season saw the men's team finish seventh as a team at the NAIA Championships and earned eight all-American awards.
The outdoor track season was highlighted by NAIA individual national championships won by Csaba Matko in the 10,000 meters and Arya Bahreini in the marathon. The men's team earned a fourth-place team finish at the NAIA Championships and received eight all-American nods.
Collectively for 2013-14, the OCU teams earned 21 all-American awards, two NAIA scholar-athlete awards and the teams finished with 3.8 and 3.3 cumulative grade-point averages, respectively, for the women and men.
Highlights of the 2012-13 season saw the OCU stars earn three all-American awards at the NAIA cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field championships. Additionally, Arya Bahreini was selected to represent Team USA at the International NACAC Junior Cross Country competition.
Holt joined 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.
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 and 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.
An accomplished distance runner at the University of Oklahoma, Holt was a six-time all-American in cross country and track at the NCAA Division I level. Holt held the school records in the indoor 5,000-meter run (1996-2011) and the outdoor 10,000-meter run (1992-2010). 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 two-time winner and course record holder of the Oklahoma City Memorial marathon.  Holt  holds Level 1 and Level 2 USATF coaching certificates 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 14 marathon wins, including two wins and the Course Record at the OKC Memorial Marathon and holds a marathon best time of 2:37:14.  Camille was selected to represent Team USA at the 2011 Pan American Games in the marathon and finished in ninth place.
Read about Holt’s hiring at OCU here.