The NNDSU athletics department and director of track and field Stevie Keller announced Wednesday that longtime throws coach Justin St. Clair has been promoted to associate director of the Bison track & field program.
Since arriving at NDSU in the fall of 2011, St. Clair has established himself as the NCAA’s premier throws coach over the past nine seasons. He will continue to directly coach the Bison men and women in all throwing events.
“Justin has proven himself as an elite coach with tremendous success in the throws,” said Keller. “He is a proven leader. As associate director of track & field, Justin will be my right-hand man – a person for me to bounce ideas off and to help mentor our assistant coaches. His value to our athletes, our program, and our university will only continue to grow as he develops further as a leader and takes us to a new level.”
Under St. Clair’s direction, the Bison throwers have carried out a complete overhaul of the school’s record books, as well as gaining more prominence on the national stage. The track & field community has taken notice, as St. Clair has been voted the Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year seven times since 2016 – four times for the indoor season and three times outdoors.
In 2019, he was voted the USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year for men’s indoor track & field, and he followed up by being one of three national finalists for the women’s award in 2020. USA Track & Field named St. Clair the throws coach for its Team USA vs. Europe meet in Belarus in September 2019.
St. Clair coached Payton Otterdahl to NCAA titles in the indoor shot put and weight throw in 2019, becoming only the second man ever to sweep the NCAA titles in the indoor throwing events. Otterdahl set the all-time collegiate record in the indoor shot put on his way to becoming a semifinalist for The Bowerman.
On the women’s side in 2019, the Bison had four different throwers combine to earn five All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships – Bailey Retzlaff (indoor shot put, hammer throw), Akealy Moton (outdoor shot put), Shelby Gunnells (indoor shot put), and Maddy Nilles (weight throw).
For the abbreviated 2020 season, St. Clair coached Moton, Gunnells and Nilles to return trips to the NCAA Championships, and the Bison women were dominant at the Summit League Indoor Championships. NDSU scored 66 of a possible 78 team points in the two throwing events, finishing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 in the shot put and 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 in the weight throw.
NDSU tied for the national lead with six entries in the men’s throwing events at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and Alex Talley and Kristoffer Thomsen earned All-America honors for the 2020 indoor season with national top-10 performances.
In back-to-back-to-back seasons in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the NDSU men and women combined to lead the nation in entries in the throwing events at the NCAA Prelims. Separately, the Bison women led the nation in NCAA Prelims entries in all three years, while the NDSU men led the country twice. The Bison had a remarkable 25 entries at the NCAA Prelims in 2016, while no other school in the country had more than 14.
St. Clair’s throwers have regularly led the nation in the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings, which rank all schools based on their quality and depth of performances in each event.