Ronnye Harrison enters his fifth year leading the Golden Bears’ sprints, hurdles and relays groups in 2025-26.
The 2025 season saw Harrison coach three event squads (the women’s 100m hurdles, the men’s 60m and women’s 60m hurdles) to national top-25 rankings, with the first cracking the overall top 10. Two individual sprinters – David Foster (tied-11th, 60m) and Johnny Goode (12th, outdoor 400m) also finished the year on the national top-25 lists. Foster was named a Second-Team All-American in the 60m after winning the ACC title and breaking the school record, while Goode exploded onto the scene in his first year as a Golden Bear with a total of four school records – the outdoor 400m, the indoor 200m, the indoor 400m and the indoor 4x400m. Isaiah Shaw, Arian Naim and Iyan Godwin also contributed to the 4x400m record, while Aysha Shaheed re-set Cal’s all-time indoor 200m mark. Goode’s outdoor 400m program record shattered a 40-year-old mark and won him ACC silver, just two weeks after he also broke the 31-year-old Big Meet record in the event; he later earned Honorable Mention All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming the first Cal man to compete in the 400-meter race since 1964, and raced at the U.S. Outdoor Championships. In total, Harrison’s sprinters collected eight All-ACC honors, 14 indoor (seven men’s, seven women’s) program top-10 entries and eight outdoor (three men’s, five women’s) program top 10s.
In the 2024 indoor season, both the men’s and the women’s 60m records were broken by David Foster and Makhaila Mills, respectively; Foster then went on to break Cal’s school records in the 100m and 4x100m in the outdoor season, as well as the Big Meet 4x100m record. He was aided in the relay by George Monroe, Mason Mangum and Chase Williams, who each earned Second-Team All-America status at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that year. Under Harrison’s guidance, Foster became the first men’s sprinter in program history to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, picking up a Second-Team All-America nod in the 60m; he later notched another pair of Second-Team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (100m, 4x100m), becoming the first Cal men’s 100m sprinter to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 1960. Foster also became the first Cal men’s sprinter to break 10 seconds in the 100m (all conditions) as well as the first Cal athlete to be named Pac-12 Men’s Track Athlete of the Week since 2017. After the season, he raced at the U.S. Olympic Trials, reaching the 100m semifinals. Rookie Donovan Bradley also impressed by setting a Cal freshman record in the 60m hurdles and tied a 50-year-old program freshman record in the 100m hurdles. In total, Harrison’s squads achieved three national top-25 rankings, as the women’s 100m hurdles finished the year at No. 5 while the men’s 60m and 100m dash units respectively ranked No. 15 and No. 19.
Harrison’s sprinters and hurdlers made their marks on the program record book in 2023, starting with five in the indoor season (David Foster – 60m; Gavin Schurr – 200m; Aysha Shaheed – 200m; Aiden Lippert/Josh Keller/Isaiah Shaw/Henry Larkin – 4x400m; Jada Hicks – 60m hurdles) and following up with an outdoor program record in the women’s 4x100m relay (Hicks/Jordyn Grady/Makhaila Mills/Shaheed); the latter squad was ranked 18th-fastest in Division I that season, winning silver at the Pac-12 Championships. Hicks was named a two-time USTFCCCA Honorable Mention (100m hurdles, 4x100m relay), while Grady, Mills and Shaheed also earned the nod for the 4x100m relay. Harrison also coached Di’Niko Bates to a bronze medal in the 110m hurdles at the Pac-12 Championships. In total, the sprinters and hurdlers recorded three meet records, courtesy of Foster (100m), Hicks (100m hurdles) and the women’s 4x100m relay, as well as 15 indoor program top-10 entries (nine men’s, six women’s) and six outdoor entries (two men’s, four women’s). Both the men’s and women’s 60m hurdles squads were ranked in the indoor national top 25 at No. 11 and No. 13, respectively, while Cal’s outdoor men’s 110m hurdles and women’s 100m hurdles groups finished the season at No. 15 and No. 25.
Five different athletes from Harrison’s group qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 2022 season – Ezinne Abba, Jordyn Grady, Jada Hicks, Aysha Shaheed and Maisie Stevens – the latter four of whom raced in the 4x100m relay while Abba earned Second Team All-American Status in the 100m dash. Earlier, at the Pac-12 Championships, three of Harrison’s women athetes qualified for the 100m title – the first such occurrence in Cal history. That followed an incredible regular season in which the group of Hicks, Abba, Stevens and Shaheed broke the program record in the 4x100m relay and Abba set a new Cal 100m dash record; in total, Harrison’s athletes recorded 11 new outdoor program Top 10 marks and 12 new indoor marks. After the season’s end, freshman David Foster went on to earn a bronze medal in the U20 World Championships as part of the U.S. 4x100m relay squad.
Harrison came to Cal from the University of Oklahoma, where he spent five years as the women’s sprints, hurdles, and relays coach. During his time in Norman, Okla., Harrison’s athletes broke three school records while reaching two more top-five marks, in addition to achieving three Big 12 event titles. Both his 4x100m and 4x400m outdoor squads reached Second Team All-America status at the NCAA Track and Field National Championships in 2017.
Prior to his time with the Sooners, Harrison coached at Portland State University for seven years, where he brought the track and field program to unprecedented heights. Under Harrison’s tutelage, the Vikings broke 38 school records and won 36 Big Sky individual titles while earning 59 additional conference medals. 96 of Harrison’s athletes also received All-Big Sky honors. Harrison coached the first Portland State athletes to qualify for the National Championships in both indoor and outdoor track, one of whom reached NCAA Division I First Team All-American status in 2010.
From 2004-07, Harrison acted as co-head coach for the boys and girls varsity track and field teams at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland. Both squads won the Oregon School Activities Assocation (OSAA) State Championships in 2004, also both placing in the top three in 2005’s contest.
Harrison graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland, where he acted as an assistant coach for the track and field teams from 1998-2003 after spending seven years in the military. Jefferson’s boys 4x100m relay team won the OSAA 4A State Championships in 2000, aided by Harrison’s coaching.
