Elliott Blount - Cross Country Coach - Troy University Athletics

Elliott Blount

Title:
Cross Country Head Coach
Email:
eblount@troy.edu
Phone:
3275

Elliott Blount is entering his fifth season at Troy as the head cross country and middle distance coach.

During the 2017-18 track campaign, middle distance runner Alexandria Rankin tied the indoor 600m program record with a time of 1:38.49. In the outdoor season, middle distance runner Tiara Bailey set the 800m record in 2:10.85.

In the 2017 cross country season, Blount led the men's team to a sixth place finish with four runners in the top-25 (17, 19, 23 and 24) at the Sun Belt Championship which marks the second-highest finish for the men's team in program history.

Tiarra Bailey set the top performance in program history in the indoor 800m race with a time of 2:14.83 in the 2016-17 track campaign. Additionally, Tyson Robinson set the program records in the indoor 600m race (1:19.57) and the indoor 800m race (1:54.64). In the indoor mile race, Daniel Glick and Brad Dixon set the top-two times in program history finishing in 4:25.14 and 4:28.57, respectively.

In the 2015-16 track season, Sara Zylstra broke the indoor mile record finishing in 5:13.42. During the 2015 cross country season, Samantha Smith finished 24th at the Sun Belt Conference Championship.

In his first season as the cross country and middle distance coach, the Trojans’ Julia Ostendorf broke her own Troy record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:49.14, at the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Championship.

Blount joined Troy’s staff after four years as an assistant coach at Columbia University. Blount worked primarily with the Lion’s men’s middle distance group. While at Columbia, he helped lead the cross country team to NCAA appearances in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In his four years, he coached five All-Americans, 13 NCAA East Regional qualifiers, 10 individual conference champions, 37 All-Ivy League selections and two Academic All-Americans.

“I am extremely excited to work with the young men and women here at Troy University,” Blount said. “I am humbled, and greatly appreciative to have the opportunity to lead our cross country, distance and middle distance programs, granted to me by Athletic Director John Hartwell and Sandy Atkins. Under the direction of Marc Davis, the potential here in Trojan Nation is tremendous. I very much look forward to bringing the distance programs to a level of excellence in which past, present and future Trojans will be proud to be a part of.”

A former NCAA All-American and six-time All-Big East selection, Blount graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2002 with a degree in sports marketing. As a two-year captain at UConn, he was a nine-time letter winner with the Huskies, an eight-time All-New England selection, the 2002 UConn Outstanding Student Athlete and the 2002 Big East Indoor Outstanding Track Performer.

Upon graduation, Blount became a member of the Oregon Track Club Elite/Nike Farm Team, training in Eugene, Ore., for five years. He was a U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalist in the 800m in both 2004 and 2008, and was a 12-time USA Track & Field Championships qualifier. He raced the European Circuit from 2005-2007, and finished in fifth place in the 800m at the 2006 USATF Indoor Championships.

A native of Freeport, N.Y., Blount is a sub-four minute miler. He served as the assistant track & field coach in his hometown at Freeport High School, before being named the head coach of the boys’ cross country team at Hempstead High School in Hempstead, N.Y. in 2009.