Taylor receives second-straight regional coaching honor

NEW ORLEANS — BYU women’s distance coach Diljeet Taylor was honored for the second-straight season as Women’s Indoor Track and Field Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year when the USTFCCCA released the annual honors on Thursday.

Now in her seventh season at BYU, Taylor has collected three-career indoor region assistant coach of the year awards, with others coming in 2022 and 2017. Since 2016, only Taylor and James Thomas of Texas Tech have received the indoor season regional honor.

Taylor’s women took home nine All-American honors from NCAA Indoor Track and Field Nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 10-11. Claire Seymour led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 800-meters, securing her third-consecutive First Team finish in the event. Taylor Rohatinsky, Annalise Hart, Alena Ellsworth and Sadie Sargent combined to finish First Team in the distance medley relay, Taylor’s third DMR squad to garner such honors in the last four seasons.

Taylor coached the Rohatinsky-Hart-Ellsworth-Sargent squad to a school record time of 10:49.24 at the Arkansas Qualifier on Feb. 17 as well.  

The 2023 indoor season also saw Taylor guide mid-distance runner Heather Hanson to an individual Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship in the 800; the fourth-consecutive season one of Taylor’s athletes has won the event.

Taylor has now coached runners to 47 indoor All-American honors, 36 of which seized First Team status. Fifteen of Taylor’s current athletes adorn the program’s top-10 board, 11 of those times were recorded during the 2023 season alone.

BYU women’s distance is back on the track with its outdoor season debut at the Cardinal Classic in Stanford, California March 18.