Sarah Ingram is entering her 14th season in the Lumberjack program and was named the head coach for track & field in 2017 after being an assistant track & field coach for the past six years under Scott Pesch. Ingram’s work as an assistant coach was instrumental in guiding the program to achieve one of its best finishes in school history in 2017.
The Arcata native coaches sprints, hurdles, relays, multi's and pole vault. Ingram also coordinates the strength and conditioning programs for the throwers, sprints, hurdles, and multi’s, and assists with coaching high jump, long jump and triple jump at competitions. She joined the Humboldt athletic department as an assistant track and field coach in August 2011.
Prior to Humboldt, Ingram established herself as one of the top high school coaches in the area, developing the McKinleyville High Track & Field program into a local powerhouse. Over 4 seasons with McKinleyville High she consistently raised the bar on expectations, tripling the team roster, coaching athletes to 11 school records, 22 individual Humboldt Del Norte League Champions, and culminated with back to back HDN League Team Championships in 2010 and 2011.
A local product, Ingram excelled in both soccer and track at Arcata High School before joining the Santa Barbara City College programs (2003-05), and then the UCLA track & field team (2005-07). She held the high jump school record at Arcata High until it was broken by Ellie Earle-Rouse in 2015, who Ingram later recruited to HSU. Ingram trained in the heptathlon, high jump, javelin, and pole vault at SBCC, and at UCLA posted a career-best javelin throw of 142’ 3”. She was also named the Female Athlete of the Year following SBCC’s 2003-04 season.
Ingram was a multi-sport athlete in college and also spent time as a member of the Humboldt State women’s soccer team while a graduate student. She played defense for the Jacks for two seasons and was selected to the All-Tournament Team in the 2007 Lumberjack and Seawolf Classics, and recollects the pride of returning home to represent the Green & Gold.
While with the HSU coaching staff, Ingram has led a number of Jacks to top conference marks and program records. Her student-athletes have set 13 HSU school records within the jump, hurdle, sprint, and heptathlon/decathlon events, and 98 achieved Top 10 all-time performances. Ingram has guided 19 CCAA Champions, and 10 Jacks to qualify for the NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. She has coached eight All-Americans and one NCAA National Champion, the program’s first individual women’s champion, Marissa McCay.
During the 2011-2012 academic year, Ingram served a dual role in athletic department as assistant track & field coach, and as the academic advisor and coordinator of the Student-Athlete Academy (study hall and learning support) for all lumberjack athletics teams. The 2013 season began the championship tradition, with Fred Rosser becoming Ingram’s first CCAA conference champion in the 400 hurdles. In 2014, Rosser recaptured his CCAA conference crown in the 400H and qualified to NCAA National Championships in Michigan, alongside teammate Matt Horsfall who earned All-American honors in the javelin.
2015 was a breakthrough year, with Ingram’s athletes earning 5 individual CCAA conference champion honors: Kate Earle in the 100 hurdles and long jump, Alyssabeth De Jerez in the 400 hurdles and 400m, and Teigan Eilers in the decathlon. The women’s team moved up 3 places from the prior season at conference championships, finishing 5th out of 12 teams. Earle earned the CCAA Championship High Point Award, the CCAA Field Athlete of the Year, and the conference’s Hal Charnofsky Award. She also set 2 new program records in the heptathlon and long jump, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in both, and Eilers set a new program record in the decathlon.
In 2016, Ingram coached athletes to four new program records, Alyssabeth De Jerez in the 400 hurdles and 400m, Marissa McCay in the triple jump, and Kianti Gix in the 200m. Gix was awarded the CCAA Newcomer of the Year for winning both the 200m and 400m at the conference championship, while McCay earned the CCAA Field Athlete of the Year for winning the triple jump and placing in many other events. De Jerez and teammate Ariel Oliver qualified to NCAA Championships and each earned 2nd team All-American honors.
During the 2017 season, seven Humboldt State athletes reached the NCAA Championships and Ingram coached five All-American performances. The 2017 season featured the program’s best-ever national finish and Ingram’s work was essential to the historic result. She trained McCay (National High Jump Champion, 2x All-American), Ellie Earle-Rouse (the national runner-up in the high jump and CCAA Champion), Alyssabeth De Jerez (2x All-American, CCAA Championship Track Athlete of the Meet) and Teigan Eilers (2nd team All-American and CCAA Champion). The women's program finished 11th out of 115 teams. The 2017 season also established 6 additional HSU school records, with McCay setting new records in the high jump, triple jump, and the heptathlon, Earle-Rouse tying the new high jump school record, and De Jerez and Eilers besting their former program records in the 400 hurdles and decathlon respectively. The women's team moved up again to a 3rd place conference finish, a 20-year program high, and the men finished in 5th. McCay earned a host of CCAA awards; the CCAA Track & Field Athlete of the Year, CCAA Female Athlete of the Year, CCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the Hal Charnofsky Award, as well as CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. Eilers received the conference's Hal Charnofsky award on the men's side, and the men's team joined the women's program in earning USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors.
Ingram earned an Associate of Arts degree in liberal studies at Santa Barbara City College and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology at UCLA. She earned her Master's degree in kinesiology at Humboldt State. Ingram is a NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist, a USA Weightlifting sports performance coach, a USA Track & Field level 1 coach, and a USTFCCCA level II sprints, hurdles, and relays specialist.
