Men's Assistant Coach- Cross Country and Middle Distance

Bio

Austin Williams enters his first year at Long Beach City College as the men's assistant cross country and middle distance track coach.  He is a dedicated coach with over a decade of experience training youth, middle, and high school athletes in middle and long-distance events.  He has proven ability to design and implement individualized training programs that improve athlete performance, confidence, and resilience.

Austin joins the Vikings after coaching boys and girls middle and long distance runners at Monrovia High School over the past four years.  While he was there, he coached his first Masters meet qualifier in the 800m, who was also a runner-up for the State meet.  During his tenure, Austin coached either a men's or women's JV league champion in both the 800m and 1600m races, with some of those athletes breaking league records. This year, he coached one of the top freshman girls in the state of California in both the 800m and 1600m races.

Prior to coaching at Monrovia, Austin was the head cross country and middle distance track coach for men and women at La Salle High School. He directed all aspects of the cross-country program, including training, meet strategy, logistics, and team building.  Austin organized and led the high-altitude training summer camp at Mammoth, enhancing preseason conditioning and team cohesion. In his first season as head cross country coach, Austin had one woman athlete who qualified for CIF prelims and one male athlete who qualified for CIF finals and second runner-up for the State meet. One of the philosophies he preached was mental toughness, goal setting, and a positive mindset during practices and races.

Austin began his coaching career as a middle-distance conditioning coach with the Pasadena Running Roses youth track and field club, where he ran as a youth athlete. He coached a wide range of young athletes, some of whom, just like him, qualified for the USATF Junior Olympics at both the regional and national levels. He fostered confidence and discipline in young athletes who were new to the sport.

Austin attended the University of California, Irvine, class of 2018, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cognitive Psychology. He was an NCAA Division I scholarship athlete in both track and cross country. As a freshman, Austin finished in the top four in the Big West Conference Cross Country Championship on his team. Overall, he finished as the second fastest freshman in the conference.

Austin graduated from La Salle High, where he was a two-year varsity track and field team captain. Starting his freshman year, and every year, in high school, Austin qualified for CIF finals in both the 800m and 1600m races as well as the 4X400 relay. His team was CIF champion runners-up ups his freshman year. Austin started running cross country in his senior year, where he finished fourth in both the CIF finals and State meets. He was the Mt. SAC champion in his small school sweepstakes race.