Woods Adds Jay Turner To Track And Field Staff
October 24, 2024 | Track & Field
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State head track and field coach Chris Woods announced Thursday the hiring of Jay Turner as the program's newest assistant track and field coach.
Turner comes to Starkville from Tiffin University where he served as the horizontal jumps and combined events coach during the 2024 season. Prior to his time at Tiffin, Turner was the sprints and hurdles coach at Montana State from the 2019-2023 seasons.
"We're excited to add coach Turner's expertise and eagerness to our program," Woods said. "The Southeastern Conference is a highly competitive league, and the addition of Coach Turner will help make us an equally competitive program week in and week out."
Under Turner's leadership, the Montana State sprints and hurdles teams earned eight individual Big Sky conference titles, five relay conference titles, 54 All-Big Sky conference performances, seven NCAA First Round qualifications and 30 university records. Hurdler Elena Carter was named Most Valuable Athlete in 2022 and 2023, sharing the 2022 title at the outdoor conference championship. Drake Schnieder set the Big Sky conference record in the 400 meter hurdles and was an Olympic Trials semifinalist in 2021. Schnieder was also Turner's first All-American athlete, earning first-team honors and a sixth-place finish in the 400 meter hurdles at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Prior to his tenure at Montana State, Turner was an assistant coach at the University of Akron, working with the sprints, hurdles and relays while serving as the program's recruiting coordinator.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Turner began his coaching career as the head track and field coach at Lorain High School in Lorain, Ohio.
Turner is currently USATF Level 3 certified in sprints, hurdles and relays.
For more information on the Mississippi State track and field program, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateTF" on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
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