Bio entering the 2017 season
Michelle Freeman enters her fourth season as an assistant coach at San Diego State after joining the team in September 2013. Freeman will once again coach the sprints and hurdles at SDSU, and will assist in all aspects of recruiting.
Last year (2015-16), the team finished the season in a 20th-place tie with Michigan, the program’s fourth top-25 effort over the last five seasons. The Aztecs finished second at both the indoor and outdoor conference meet.
Under her tutelage, San Diego State had one of the best sprinting seasons in program history. Four Aztecs advanced to the NCAA Championships and earned first-team USTFCCCA All-America honors, four school records were broken, her charges took home six conference titles and 11 were named all-conference honorees.
Ashley Henderson was the 2016 NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter dash, she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials and anchored the Aztecs’ sixth-place 4x100 team to a time of 43.68 in the final two days after setting a school record of 43.55 in the prelims. For her efforts, she earned first-team USTFCCCA All-America honors in both the 100 and 4x100, and second-team accolades in the 200.
Freeman’s student-athletes were well-represented at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, as Henderson, Starlynn Singleton, Simone Glenn and Micha Auzenne finished sixth at the national meet in the 4x100 en route to first-team All-American honors. The group won the conference meet in addition to Auzenne, who captured her second-straight 100-meter hurdles title and won the 60-meter dash, and Madison Gipson (400 hurdles).
During the 2014-15 season, Freeman helped the Aztecs take third at the MW Outdoor Championships and third at the indoor meet. She aided Auzenne’s win in the outdoor 100-meter hurdles and the indoor 60-meter hurdles in her first year at SDSU, and qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in both the 100 and 100 hurdles. Other qualifiers to the NCAA Prelims under Freeman included Simone Glenn in both the 100 and 200 and Kristen Brown in the 100 hurdles.
Freeman coached a number of all-conference selections, including the 4x100-meter relay team, Auzenne in the indoor 60 and 60 hurdles, and the outdoor 100 hurdles, Jazmen Bunch in the indoor 200, Brown in the outdoor 100 hurdles, Henderson in the indoor 200 and Glenn in the outdoor 100.
In her first year with SDSU in 2014, Freeman helped the Aztecs capture their second straight MW Outdoor Championships title and finish among the top 25 at the NCAA Championships for a third straight year.
Under her direction, Freeman helped Shanieka Thomas win her second and third NCAA title in the triple jump, winning both the indoor and outdoor championship. Thomas, who was named as semifinalist for The Women's Bowerman Trophy, which is given out to the top collegiate track and field athlete in the country, went undefeated against in the triple jump against collegiate competition over the entire 2014 indoor and outdoor season.
Additionally, Freeman had numerous athletes qualify for the NCAA West Prelims, including Meritzer Williams (100 and 200), Brown (100 hurdles), Brittany Bozeman (long jump), Thomas (long jump and triple jump) and a 4x100-meter relay team.
At the MW Outdoor Championships, Brown won the 100 hurdles, Williams won the 200 and was second in the 100, and Thomas won the triple jump. The 4x100 relay, meanwhile, came in second. Altogether, she helped four athletes earn all-league accolades. At the indoor meet, Brown claimed the 60 hurdles crown and Thomas was the triple jump champion, and both earned all-conference honors.
Freeman has had a storied career in the track and field ranks as a three-time Olympian (Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000), including a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter relay for Jamaica in 1996, a World Championships gold medalist and an eight-time All-American at SEC power Florida.
Freeman competed in five indoor and four outdoor IAAF World Championships in the short hurdles, including a victory in the 60-meter hurdles at the 1997 indoor championship meet in Paris and a silver medal at the 2001 indoor meet in Lisbon, Portugal. Freeman also captured a bronze medal in the 100 hurdles at the 1997 outdoor championship meet in Athens, Greece.
In addition to earning a bronze medal with Jamaica on the 4x100 relay in 1996, Freeman also reached the final of the 100 hurdles en route to finishing in sixth place.
Other professional accolades include a gold medal in the 100 hurdles at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, being named the 1997 Jamaica Sportswoman of the Year and winning the Outstanding Performer Award at the Caribbean CARIFTA Games.
Prior to turning pro, Freeman had an outstanding career at the University of Florida from 1991-92. Over her two-year collegiate career, Freeman helped the Gators capture the 1992 indoor national championship. Additionally, she was a seven-time SEC champion and member of the 1992 4x400-meter NCAA championship team, as well as an eight-time All-American.
Freeman still holds four school records at Florida, including the indoor 55 (6.67) and 55 hurdles (7.34), and the outdoor 100 (11.13) and 100 hurdles (12.79).
Freeman comes to The Mesa after spending over 12 years with the University of Texas, where she served time as an interim assistant coach, a volunteer assistant coach and the team's strength and conditioning coach.
Over her career, Freeman has helped coach four Olympians, 15 NCAA All-Americans, three national championship teams and seven NCAA champions.
Freeman's duties at Texas included recruiting and assisting in coaching in the sprint, hurdle, relay, jumping and endurance events, including the 100, 200, 400, 800, 100/110 hurdles, 300/400 hurdles, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, long jump and triple jump.
A native of Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica, Freeman resides in San Diego.