Gochenour-Brondyke Elevated to Assistant Coach

AMES, Iowa – Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Jeremy Sudbury has announced the hiring of Alex Gochenour-Brondyke as an assistant coach following her elevation from a volunteer coach.

"Alex has done such a great job for our program the past year and a half with the development of our hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes that I am very excited to elevate her into a full-time role," Sudbury said. "This is an area of the program that our staff is excited to continue to build heading into a new era of the Big 12. I appreciate Jamie [Pollard] and Calli's [Sanders] continued support of my vision for the Iowa State Track and Field program, hiring Alex is going to enhance our process and add to our student-athlete experience."

Gochenour-Brondyke will continue to work with sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes. In the 2023 season, Gochenour-Brondyke was instrumental in continuing to build on the growth of the event groups she oversees. In indoor season, she helped coach six to all-conference honors including Sydney Willits who took the title in the long jump. In outdoor season, 10 earned all-conference while Willits moved onto earn Second Team All-America in the long jump.

The 4x400 relay squads dominated, taking down both the 2013 indoor and outdoor school records while the outdoor relay squad moved on to NCAA West Prelims for the first time since 2014. Sprinter Rachel Joseph took down the indoor 400m program record while 12 improvements were made to both the indoor and outdoor all-time top-10 performance lists.

"It's an honor and privilege to be on staff at such a historic program within my home state," Gochenour-Brondyke said. "I look forward to the opportunity to impact the lives of young athletes within the sport I feel so passionately about. The future is bright at Iowa State. Go Cyclones!"

Gochenour-Brondyke came to Iowa State following two seasons at the University of Central Missouri as a graduate assistant. Here she worked primarily with hurdlers and jumpers, helping lead nine to NCAA National Championships.

The multi-event athlete is a six-time All-American in the pentathlon and heptathlon competing for Arkansas. Gochenour-Brondyke continued to compete professionally, finishing 13th in the heptathlon at the 2016 US Olympic Trials and fourth in the heptathlon at the 2017 USA National Championships.

Gochenour-Brondyke earned her bachelor's degree from Arkansas and her master's from the University of Central Missouri. The All-American hails from Missouri Valley, Iowa.