NEWBERRY — Director of Athletics Ralph Patterson announced that Harley Nunan has been named the first women’s triathlon coach at Newberry College.
Newberry announced on September 23 that the school would be adding women’s triathlon, an emerging sport in the NCAA, starting in the fall of 2021 thanks to a $50,000 grant Patterson secured from USA Triathlon.
“This is a very important hire for Newberry College. We are pleased to name Harley Nunan as our women’s triathlon head coach. She has an unbelievable opportunity to build a program from scratch,” Patterson said. “She impressed us from the start. We had an excellent pool of candidates to choose from, especially our top five. She will begin her work in January, and our Women’s Triathlon team will compete in the fall of 2021. Please join me in welcoming Harley and her husband Byron to Newberry College.”
“We are very excited to welcome Harley to the Newberry family, said Senior Woman Administrator and Search Committee member Casey Petrusic. “She is an excellent fit, and I am excited to see her lead the women’s triathlon program to wonderful things. We cannot wait for her to get started.”
Nunan brings over eight years of coaching experience to Newberry. For the last two and a half years, she has served as the head cross country and track and field coach at Falcon High School in Peyton, Colorado. Before that, Nunan was the head cross country and track and field coach and Mendocino High School in Mendocino, California. Harley is also a former triathlete for 1900 Triathlon, where she started up a youth division.
From January of 2019 to June of 2020, she worked for USA Triathlon as the coaching education manager. In this position, Nunan was responsible for coordinating and managing coaching education clinics across the country and developed educational curriculums, manuals, and all continuing education units for coaches. Harley has a Master of Science degree in sports science and health and is a USA Triathlon Level II certified coach, a USA Weightlifting Level I coach, USA Swim 201 coach, USA Track and Field Level I coach, and a USA Cycling Level III coach.
“Newberry is such a supportive and welcoming College located in a competitive triathlon region. It is an ideal place for student-athletes to develop their triathlon career,” said Nunan. “I am grateful to be trusted with the responsibility to build, grow, and lead the program, and I am excited to work with the athletic staff and coaches at Newberry College. I’d like to thank Athletic Director Ralph Patterson and the entire athletics department for initiating the addition of triathlon as an NCAA program. A special thanks to Tim Yount, USA Triathlon Chief Operation Officer, for his tireless efforts to establish triathlon as a NCAA championship sport.”
“Harley Nunan is an excellent hire for Newberry to build their women’s triathlon program,” said Yount. “She has a tremendous amount of experience in coaching the sport. While working for USA Triathlon, she did an outstanding job working to educate all the triathlon coaches around the country. I know she will do a great job.”