Cathrine Erickson 2025-26 Track and Field Staff

Cathrine Erickson was elevated to throws coach for the track and field program in November 2022.

Under Erickson’s guidance, Michael Shoaf capped off a strong career for the Irish with a sixth-place finish in the indoor shot put to be named an All-American. In the spring of 2023, John Keenan earned All-American honors in the javelin after a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championships. Shoaf garnered All-American accolades in both the indoor and outdoor shot put for the Irish.

During her time as a volunteer coach with the program, Irish athletes earned three All-American honors – Shoaf (2021 – outdoor shot put; 2022 outdoor shot put) and John Stefan (2022 outdoor shot put).

“Cathrine has been a member of our staff the last two years as a volunteer coach. She is very familiar with our roster and Coach Beltran’s training program. We expect to have a smooth transition to her working with our athletes,” said Sparks.

“I have enjoyed working with the Irish throwers over the last two years and feel that the Notre Dame family is a perfect fit,” said Erickson. It is an honor to continue the work that Coach Beltran and I started two years ago and I am very appreciative of the opportunity to continue building the throwers program at Notre Dame.”

Erickson has had multiple stops prior to Notre Dame including  Mississippi, Clemson, Tennessee, Harvard, Northeastern and “has had success everywhere she has coached including SEC, ACC and Ivy League institutions,” boasted Sparks.

“She has coached NCAA champions in her event group and been a staff member of teams finishing in the top 5 at the NCAA meet.  She has also valuable experience working with USA Track & Field as the National Development Coordinator for the Women’s Hammer Throw.  All of these elite experiences should help raise the profile of our already very competitive throws group. “

Erickson holds multiple accomplishments across her coaching career including coaching the former collegiate record holder and number three ranked professional hammer thrower in the United States while at Clemson, and coached seven All-Conference and seven All-American selections while winning nine ACC titles. At Tennessee, there was much of the same success with coaching four NCAA qualifiers in the shotput, discus, weight and hammer throws. She coached multiple All-SEC selections and the 2005 USA Junior National Champion in Discus at the Pan Am Junior games.

At Harvard, Erickson coached 18 NCAA qualifiers, 14 All-Ivy Selections, eight USATF Junior National Qualifiers, and seven Ivy League Champions. While the Associate Head Coach, Erickson helped student-athletes make four Olympic Trials/USATF Senior National Qualifiers. She also had one of the top recruiting classes of 2011-2012 according to Track & Field News.