Head Coach Kristina Llanes enters her fourth year at Kennesaw State after being introduced as the inaugural head coach on May 30, 2012.
“Kristina Llanes brings to Kennesaw State a great understanding of women’s lacrosse in the Southeast because she has already coached and recruited here,” Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams said. “We are very fortunate to have Coach Llanes as a new member of the coaching staff here at KSU. She has great experience in building a program from the ground up which makes her a perfect fit. Her passion and drive to help Kennesaw State reach its full potential in women’s lacrosse is exactly what we were looking for as we become a player in the Division I lacrosse community.”
With a solid core of players returning and 10 freshmen on the team, Llanes’ squad reached new heights in its third season as a program. They won five games and clinched the five seed in the Atlantic Sun Tournament by beating in-state rival Mercer 15-14 in the final game of the regular season.
The team was rewarded for their season as three student-athletes earned several post-season honors. Sydney Farwick made the Second Team All-A-Sun team for the second season in a row. Taylor McGhee joined her on the second team and was also named to the All-Academic team. Freshman Laura Jordan made a splash on the defensive end and was rewarded by being named to the Second Team All-Atlantic Sun team and the All-Freshman Team.
In her second season guiding Kennesaw State, Llanes led a team with 12 freshmen. Among the freshmen, Olivia Hokanson and Sydney Farwick landed on the All A-Sun team. Hokanson lead the Atlantic Sun with 43 goals and Farwick was near the top of the rankings in the A-Sun in assists per game, ground balls and draw controls.
In the Owls first season in 2013, Llanes guided the team to the Atlantic Sun tournament after a thrilling 14-13 win against Howard.
Llanes joined the Owls after last coaching in the collegiate ranks in the spring of 2011 as the head coach at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. for three seasons. While with the Blue Hose she helped build a program that was only a year old when she took the reins.
In 2011, her final season with the Blue Hose, Llanes led Presbyterian to its best season in program history at 5-13. She guided a team with no seniors to wins over Fresno State, Liberty and Detroit, in the National Lacrosse Conference Tournament.
In her second season in 2010, Presbyterian finished with an overall record of 4-13, but set new team records in goals, assists and points.
During her first season in 2009, the team established single-game school records for goals, goals in a half, assists, and points under Llanes’ watch. Two student-athletes were also named to the National Lacrosse Conference all-tournament team.
Before Llanes joined the Blue Hose she was the head women’s lacrosse coach at SUNY Maritime College in Throggs Neck, NY for three seasons. She helped launch the program, which is now part of the Division III Skyline Conference. Under her guidance, the Privateers earned their first win as a varsity sport – an 18-5 victory over Pine Manor on Mar. 17, 2008. The team was awarded the Skyline Conference Sportsmanship Award in 2008, the Privateers first full season in the league.
Prior to her time at SUNY Maritime, Llanes spent one year as the assistant coach at Averett University, in Danville, Va. In addition to working with the Division III Cougars of the South Athletic Conference, she served as the assistant coach to the boy’s team at Hargrave Military Academy.
She is actively involved in Georgia’s lacrosse community and was the Director of Girl’s Lacrosse for Step Out Sports, LLC for a year before accepting the job with Kennesaw State.
Llanes was a four-year starter at Pfeiffer University, where she earned a B.A. in Communications in 2004. As a senior, Llanes helped lead the Falcons to the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference championship and a No.7 spot in the final Division II rankings.
A native of Traceys Landing, Md., Llanes currently resides in Marietta, Georgia with her dog, Chloe.
