In just one day, the University of Minnesota Duluth will host the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Track and Field Championships on the Bulldogs home track.  At the center of an event that takes significant planning will be UMD women's track and field head coach Laura Harmon, who also currently doubles as the interim men's track and field head coach.  Harmon accepted a second coaching opportunity, that while not unheard of across the country in other track and field programs, is not all that common.  Luckily for the Bulldogs, Harmon came to UMD with men's coaching experience under her belt. The Vancouver, Wash. native had coached men twice at the Division I level at both Texas Christian University and Sacramento State University, and Harmon didn't blink when asked to step in midway through the year and bring the men's program under her coaching wing.

Harmon is just one of two women currently at the helm of a men's track and field or cross country program in the NSIC, a duty the three-year Bulldog coach doesn't take lightly.  Here is Harmon in her own words about her unique position at UMD and the opportunity she sees ahead for both Bulldog programs.


Q:  Initial thoughts this spring when asked to take over UMD men's program? 

Harmon:  I was really excited to have an opportunity to coach men again. My goal has been to get back to coaching men alongside women because it makes for a really great team dynamic, but also men are a different challenge to coach and I enjoy having a great amount of diversity in the training I'm creating and the approaches I can take to building relationships and coaching. 

Q: How many women are coaching men in the NSIC?  Any coaches that you can think of off the top of your head? How common or uncommon is it to see women head coaches crossing over and coaching both teams? 

Harmon: At the head coach level there is only one other female head coach in the NSIC and that is at Northern State. I know that the head cross country coach at Northern, who is also a female, coaches men as well. Unfortunately it isn't very commonplace for women to be coaching men, but I think that more women are taking on coaching men and doing a fantastic job of developing them to really high levels of success. 

Q: Besides just sheer number of athletes and the challenges that presents, how hard has the transition been?  How differently do you have to coach men and women, if at all? 

Harmon: The transition has been challenging because it has happened mid year and I'm trying to commingle the men and women and have the same expectations and culture, but obviously every head coach has their way of running a program and I'm sure there have been some growing pains with the way I want to run things. I also have a different way of creating and implementing workouts so there have been adjustments for the men there as well, but they have really responded well to my training which has been awesome.   As far as coaching men, I do believe it is different in some ways, but there are a lot of parallels between coaching men and women. At the end of the day I'm really coaching to each personality and the way I give feedback or push each athlete is based on how they best respond and that isn't really about gender. 

Q: As we near the conference championship which will be held at UMD, any runners or particular races to watch?

There are! The first obvious one is Haleigh Reindl as she comes off an All-American performance in the 800m indoors, but Anna Muellner is another one in the 400m, Maddie Verkerke in the 1500m, Lindsay Maruska in the Triple Jump, Isabelle Brezinka in the 800m, Mackenzie Hall in the 5000m, Julia Nielsen and Alexandra Robran in the 10k, Madison Biebel and Nicole Schneider in the 400h, Lauryn Renier in the steeplechase, and we have a strong 4 x 400m on the women's side as well, so we should be able to finish the NSIC Meet off strong.  On the men's side there are a lot of exciting events to watch as well. Colton Kostynick in the discus, Ben Palmquist in the 110h, Sam Ringger and Matthew Trutna in the 10k, Austin Have in the 400h, Braydon Kubat, Owen Smalley and Lucas Selman in the steeplechase, Shea Alto in the pole vault, and we have a strong contingent in the decathlon on the men's side as well with Ian O'Connor, Caden Dupee and Kyle Kucera. I know that is a long list but we really do have a lot of talented athletes in both genders and there are many I didn't name who will undoubtedly make finals and score which is really exciting and I can't wait.