Rachael Coelho is in her fourth season as an assistant track and field coach at Kennesaw State. She coaches the multi events and hurdles at KSU.
In her first three seasons, Coelho has accumulated nine ASUN Conference Champions, three school records, an indoor All-American and a U.S Olympic Trials qualifier.
At the 2022 ASUN Indoor Championship, Olivia Brown secured her third consecutive 60m hurdle title with a school record time of 8.34. This win secured Brown as Kennesaw’s first three-time winner in the event and tied for the fourth-fastest time ever run at the championship meet. Another All-Conference finish came from freshman Jordan Fick, who finished third in the heptathlon with a personal best score of 4,975 points.
Outdoor, several athletes continued to have breakout seasons including Brown who won the 100m hurdles at the ASUN Outdoor Championship for the second year in a row with a personal best time of 13.43 seconds. Corbin McLean scored in all four of her events which included the 100m hurdles (third), 100m (fourth), 4x100m Relay (fourth) & 400m hurdles (eighth). McLean spent most of the season as the conference leader in both hurdles after running 13.45 seconds in the 100m hurdles at the Crimson Tide Invitational and 1:00.65 in the 400m hurdles at the Kennesaw State Invitational. In the heptathlon, Coelho guided Kywana Donahoo and Ansley Floyd Jackson to their highest point scores ever. Donahoo, finished third in the heptathlon with a 265-point personal best score of 4,954 which included event wins in the 100H, high jump, 200m and long jump. She then secured third place again in open long jump with a leap of 5.82m and finished fourth in the 100m hurdles with a personal best performance of 14.22 seconds. Floyd Jackson finished seventh in the heptathlon with a 389-point personal best score of 4,289 and set personal bests in six of her seven events contested.
On the men’s side, Isaiah Ellis was conference runner-up in the 400m hurdles with a season- best time of 52.90 seconds, while Quann Shears finished All-Conference with a third-place finish in the decathlon. During the decathlon, Shears had personal best marks in the high jump, 110m hurdles, discus and broke the conference record in the javelin with a throw of 58.32m.
Following conference both Brown and McLean qualified for their first appearance at the NCAA Preliminary Meet in the 100m hurdles with times of 13.43 seconds (Brown) and 13.45 seconds (McLean).
In her second season, the Owls took the top two spots in the women’s 60m hurdles at the 2021 ASUN Indoor Championship with Brown winning her second consecutive 60m hurdle title and McLean securing a career high runner-up finish. Two other Owls also finished All-Conference with Aweng Mawien jumping a personal best of 1.67m (5’5.75) to finish thing in the women’s high jump and Shears finishing third in the men’s heptathlon with a 354-point personal best of 4,725.
At the ASUN Outdoor Championship, five athletes took home conference champion titles. Brown secured her first 100m hurdle title running 13.66 seconds while Paris Williams secured his second 110m hurdle title with a conference record of 13.75 seconds. In the multi-events, KSU claimed both titles with Jessica Watkins winning her first heptathlon title and Ian Jackson also winning his first decathlon title. Watkins finished with a 146-point personal best score of 5,042 and was named the Most Valuable Performer of the meet with a total contribution of 26 points. In the decathlon, Jackson finished with a 325-point personal best score of 6,502 to secure the win, while teammate Quann Shears finished runner-up.
In the postseason Williams qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary meet as well as the 2020 U.S Olympic Trials in the 110m hurdles. At the trials, Williams finished 19th with a school record breaking time of 13.69 seconds.
In her first season, Coelho led Williams to his first NCAA Indoor National Championship. Williams qualified in the 60m hurdles by breaking the school record at the Clemson Invitational with a time of 7.72 seconds, which ranked him 12th nationally. At the ASUN Indoor Championship, Watkins won her first pentathlon title with a score of 3,721 which was a 237-point personal best performance and ranks her fifth in all-time ASUN history. Freshman teammate Kyarra Newton also finished runner-up with a personal best score of 3,380. There was no outdoor season because of the global health crisis.
Coelho arrived from the University of Central Florida where she spent the 2018-19 & 2015-16 season as a volunteer assistant. At UCF, she coached Kayla Pritchett to a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon, which helped secure the teams runner-up finish. She also assisted in the development of the 4x100m relay team that won the AAC Outdoor Title and earned Second Team All-American status after finishing 14th at the 2019 NCAA Track and Field Championships.
"Rachael is a talented young coach who comes to us from Central Florida," McDaniel said. "She has the ability to coach a lot of areas and we are all happy to have her on board."
In between time at UCF, she spent two years as the Head Coach and Director of Track and Field at Lake Highland Preparatory School. She guided LHPS to three district champions and four regional champions. 29 of her athletes qualified for the FHSAA State Championships.
Originally from Niceville, Florida she competed as a multi at the University of South Florida from 2010-15. She ranks third in program history in the pentathlon and in the heptathlon.
Coelho graduated from USF with two bachelor’s degrees. One in exercise sciences and one in health sciences. She is a mentor in the USATFCCA Women in Coaching program and a USATF Level 1 Coach.
