Patrick Henner - Track & Field Coach

Patrick Henner

Title:
Assistant Coach, Distances and Cross Country
Email:
henner@usc.edu
Phone:
821-2172

Patrick Henner begins his third season as the cross country coach and assistant coach in charge of the distance program for the USC track and field team.

Henner has brought in his second recruiting class as he has set out to build the USC distance program. Virtually every Trojan runner the past three cross country seasons has set their 6K personal bests.

The work in the Fall has shown dividends for the Trojans during the track and field season. During the 2019 outdoor track season, Isaiah Jewett earned outdoor All-America honors in the men’s 800m race and his PR of 1:46.11 moved him to third on USC’s all-time list. He also won the Pac-12 800m title and set the USC indoor record of 1:46.91 in the 800m race. Matthew Myrtue, Sam VanDorpe and Devin Bright joined him in cracking USC’s all-time indoor 800m. In addition, Nicolaus Jakowec set the school indoor 3000m record with a time of 8:09.77 and he moved into ninth on USC’s outdoor 5000m list. Jemima Russell placed fourth in the 800m race at the Pac-12 Championships and moved into seventh on USC’s all-time list with a time of 2:04.93. She also set the school freshman record and ranks second on USC’s indoor list in the 800m with a time of 2:05.90. Fellow freshman Alyssa Brewer had a time of 2:04.95 to move into eighth on USC’s all-time outdoor list and is fourth on the indoor list with a time of 2:06.48. USC also had two women’s runners crack the schools indoor top 10 in the one-mile race. In his two seasons working with the distance athletes, his runners Robert Ford and Jewett have won consecutive Pac-12 men’s 800m titles and he has placed two male and female runners into USC’s all-time top 10 in the event.

Henner was the Georgetown director of track and field and cross country from 2007-15 and prior to that had spent eight seasons as the Hoyas’ head men’s cross country coach and assistant coach for men’s and women’s track and field team. During his time at Georgetown, he built the program into one of the top tier programs in the country. Georgetown’s women’s cross country team won the 2011 NCAA title and five times finished inside the top 10 in the country, including fourth in 2010 and 2015 and fifth in 2013. His men’s program finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships three times with seventh-place finishes in 2000 and 2006 and an eighth-place finish in 2008.

While at Georgetown he coached 24 individual cross country All-Americans, including Emily Infeld who was the 2010 cross country runner-up at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. He guided Georgetown to four Big East cross country titles (2 women and 2 men) and three of his athletes won the individual title. His teams won nine NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region cross country team championships and he earned eight NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors.

In track and field, Henner coached 108 All-Americans with 12 athletes garnering a top 5 finish at the NCAA Championships. Georgetown won the 2012 Big East Women’s Indoor Track & Field team championship and he coached 61 individual and relay conference champions.

Prior to Georgetown, Henner was a coach at James Madison where he served as head men’s and women’s cross country coach, as well as assistant track and field coach for the Dukes from 1990-99. His coaching achievements as head coach at JMU include being named the 1998 NCAA Southeast Region and Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Coach of the Year. He guided JMU to its first NCAA cross country team championship berth in school history and the 1998 men’s team placed ninth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

He guided JMU’s men’s team to two and the women’s team to won CAA cross country team title, both the first in program history.
In track and field at JMU, he coached 28 All-American and guided Dukes to 14 school records. He was named CAA Coach of the Year two times.

He began his coaching career as the head coach of the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams at Blacksburg High in Blacksburg, Va. from 1983-1987. Both the men’s and women’s teams won state championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Henner earned an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from Virginia Tech in 1983 and a masters in Kinesiology from James Madison in 1989.