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COACHING CAREER
• The 2023-24 season marks her 20th season as a part of the Bearcat coaching staff.
• Coached Annette Echikunwoke at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won the Olympic Team Trials and a sliver medal for Team USA in the hammer throw, marking her as the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the hammer throw. Also guided Echikunwoke to the 2017 NCAA Indoor National Title in the weight throw, the first national title in program history.
• Coached Annette Echikunwoke to the 2017 NCAA Indoor National Title in the weight throw, the first national title in program history.
• Led the Cincinnati men to its first Indoor American Athletic Conference Championship in 2023, the first men's conference title indoor or outdoor since 2004.
• The Cincinnati women have won three AAC Championships, winning back-to-back outdoor titles in 2016 and 2017 and the 2018 indoor title. She has also led the Bearcats to 14 AAC top-2 team finishes since 2005.
• Since she has been a part of the staff, 24 different Bearcats that have tallied 60 individual and 1 relay All-America honors; 39 student-athletes have participated in 59 events at the NCAA outdoor championships; and 133 individual conference titles and 10 relay titles.
• Since taking over as Director (2014-15), UC has earned more than half of its 75 total All-America honors (46 earned)
MAJOR AWARDS/HONORS
• 2023 AAC Men's Indoor Coaching Staff of the Year
• Coached Annette Echikunwoke at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won the Olympic Team Trials and a sliver medal for Team USA in the hammer throw.
• 2018 AAC Women’s Indoor Coaching Staff of the Year
• 2016 & 2017 AAC Women’s Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year
• Echikunwoke named 2018 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Female Athlete of the Year (indoor)
• Echikunwoke named to The Bowerman Watch List (indoor 2018), a first for any member of the UC program
Susan Seaton is in her ninth season as Director of the Cincinnati Track and Field/Cross Country program, but her 20th overall as part of the program. Seaton works primarily with the men’s and women’s throws group.
Named the program’s Director of Track and Field/Cross Country on May 19, 2015, Seaton has served in several capacities within the Bearcats program. She joined the program during the 2004-05 season as the men’s assistant coach and held that title before taking over the reins of the women’s track and field team to begin the 2008 season. She served in that role for six years before being named director.
Seaton and her staff have continued to elevate the stature of the Bearcats program on both the conference and national stages as her teams have captured a four American Athletic Conference titles (three women’s, one men’s) and lead the women’s team to a 12th place finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships, the highest in program history. She also captured AAC Women’s Indoor Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2018 and Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2016 and 2017, but most recently earned Men’s Indoor Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2023.
Since 2006, Seaton’s Bearcats have tallied 60 individual and 1 relay All-America honors, claimed 133 individual conference titles,10 relay titles, 23 Most Outstanding Performer awards and won four conference team titles during the stretch. She has also led the Bearcats to 14 top-2 team finishes.
She also personally coached the first NCAA individual champion in the program’s history as Annette Echikunwoke was crowned the 2017 NCAA indoor weight throw champion and the first shot put All-American in program history in Fred Moudani-Likibi who earned indoor (6th) and outdoor (3rd) honors in 2023.
Not only did she coach them to success on the NCAA level, but also on the world stage, where she mentored Echikunwoke at the 2021 World Championships and Moundani-Likibi at the 2023 World Championships. Also guided Echikunwoke at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won the Olympic Team Trials and a sliver medal for Team USA in the hammer throw.Seaton has guided the Bearcats across three different conferences but most recently ushered Cincinnati into its newest conference home, the Big 12.
The 2023-24 season was Cincinnati’s first year in the Big 12. The team grabbed 11 podium finishes at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field championships, six of which placed inside the top five.
On a national scale, Seaton had a hand in developing then-freshman multis athlete Juliette Laracuente-Huebner and guiding her to becoming the second indoor pentathlon All-American in program history. Laracuente-Huebner was the only freshman who qualified for the event and earned second-team honors after placing 12th overall.
The 2023 season proved to be highly successful as 20 school records fell during the year and Bearcats earned four All-America honors. To begin the year Seaton led the men’s team to claim its first-ever AAC Indoor Championship Title. The men’s team scored 143 points behind four conference champions, the team’s first championship title since 2004 and she and her staff earned coaching staff of the year honors. On the women’s side, the team placed second overall, and Rylee Penn was named Most Outstanding Performer after winning the 3,000m mile and was on the winning DMR team.
Seaton's development skills were on full display during the season as thrower Fred Moudani-Likibi became the first Bearcat to earn All-America honors in the shot put as he placed sixth overall at the NCAA Championships. Personally coaching the rising star, she guided Moudani-Likibi to break the French National indoor shot put and Cincinnati shot put record (20.51m) on his way to becoming a First Team All-American.
During the outdoor season, the Seaton sent a school record 19 individual event qualifiers to the NCAA first rounds and had six athletes advance to the NCAA Championships. Moudani-Likibi was the lone representative for the men’s team but made a lasting impact as he earned All-America honors after breaking the school outdoor shot record with a throw of 20.54m and placed third overall in the event. High jumper Taylor Beard joined Moudani-Likibi in earning All-American honors at both the indoor and outdoor championships as well.
In 2022 Seaton helped guide Ellie Leather as she earned a pair All-American honors (mile, and 1,500) during the year. Seaton also personally led Leonie Troger to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the javelin. At the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, Steven McElroy represented the Bearcats and earned gold for Team USA as the leadoff leg of the men's 4x400-meter relay and a sliver in the open 400m.
Adding to her accolades, her Bearcats earned seven All-America honors during the 2021 season. Aaron Bienenfeld took home the only first-team honors during the indoor season as he placed fifth in the 5,000m. The women’s track and field and cross country team delivered at the conference championships, placing second in all three.
Despite the global pandemic affecting the entire world, Seaton still led three Bearcats to earn indoor All-Americans before the season was shut down. The women’s track team placed second at the AAC indoor championships again, while the men finished third.
Representing UC at the highest stage, Loretta Blaut (high jump) and Caisja Chandler (200m) competed at the Olympic Trials in 2020.
In 2019 Seaton’s Bearcats continued to dominate at the conference championships as the women’s team finished second at both the indoor and outdoor championships. Blaut and Echikunwoke closed out their UC careers, as Blaut earned her sixth All-America honor after placing third in the high jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Her six honors are the most by a single athlete on the women’s team in program history. Echikenwoke earned her first career shot put All-American honor during the outdoor season.
2018 saw the women’s team claiming its first-ever indoor conference championship title, scoring 147 points behind seven individual conference champions, including Echikunwoke who won both the weight throw and shot put titles.
At the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships, the women’s team again made history as two women competed and scored the most points in program history. Both Loretta Blaut (high jump) and Echikunwoke (weight throw) finished as national runners-up in their respective events and combined to score 16 team points, which placed UC 12th nationally, the highest finish ever for the program, surpassing the tied for 21st in 2017.
In addition to her national runner up hardware, Echikunwoke was named the 2018 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Female Athlete of the Year (indoor) and named to The Bowerman Watch List (indoor 2018), a first for any member of the UC program.
2017 was a historic year for Seaton and her Bearcats. The women’s team repeated as AAC Outdoor Champions, the second team title in program history. Seaton and her staff were honored with AAC Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
Cincinnati was not done making history, Echikunwoke captured the weigh throw crown indoors, the program’s first national title in 2017. In total, eight Bearcats earned All-America honors as Echikunwoke and Valles both earned first-team honors indoors. Valles would claim another first-team honor as he was the runner-up in the pole vault during the outdoor championships. Blaut earned her third career All-America honor during the outdoor season and Seaton personally coached Macklin Tudor, who became the first Bearcat ever to earn All-American honors in the discus.
Added to Echikunwoke’s historic finish indoors was more history made outdoors as the 4x400m relay team of Bisiolu, Gesicki, Lattimore and Robinson not only advanced to the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history, but also placed 15th overall to earn All-American Second Team honors, the first national accolade earned by a UC relay in program history.
Entering her first full year as director of track and field and cross country in 2016, Seaton’s Bearcats earned eight All-American honors, including two each by Echikunwoke (indoor weight throw and outdoor hammer), Erika Hurd (indoor and outdoor high jump) and Blaut (indoor and outdoor high jump) with Adrian Valles (indoor pole vault) adding one for the men and Kenya Woodall (outdoor 400m) adding the final honor for the women.
With all the success the women found, it was no wonder Seaton’s Bearcats lifted the team trophy at the 2016 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, the first title in women’s program history and the first for the track & field/cross country program as a whole since the men won the 2004 Big East Outdoor title. Prior to hoisting the outdoor championship trophy, the women also placed second at the indoor meet. At the meet in Orlando, the Bearcats clawed for every point they could get and tallied 111 points as UC won two individual events (hammer, 100m hurdles).
Seaton was named interim director during the 2015 season and guided the Bearcats to five All-America honors. Erika Hurd (high jump) and Adrian Valles (pole vault) earned their first two All-America honors during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Hurd would grab two more honors in the following years and Valles would end his career with six, which is tied for the most in program history.
Before joining the Bearcats, Seaton spent six seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin and three years as an assistant at Northern Arizona University.
Prior to her time at Cincinnati, Seaton mentored five All-Americans, 16 conference champions and nine NCAA qualifiers as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin and Northern Arizona University. She also was part of 15 conference championship team titles and 10 NCAA Top 10 team finishes.
Seaton has a Level I and II USA Track & Field coaching education certification, and she is a graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy and a member of the Alliance for Women Coaches. She also is a USTFCCA Academy certified strength coach and a Master Coach of the Hammer throw. She also served on the NCAA Division I Track & Field/Cross Country Committee for five years, including a stint as the chair of the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships and the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships. In addition to her committee responsibilities, Seaton also speaks at major coaching clinics across the United States.
A native of Saalfeld, Germany, Seaton earned her bachelor’s degree from the German College of Sports Science in 1991 and a master’s in exercise science from the University of Leipzig in 1994. Seaton was a standout athlete for the East German junior track and field team and competed for her German club team SC Motor Jena from 1984-87. She has competitive experience in the javelin, discus, shot put, multi events, high jump, long jump, hurdles and cross country. Susan and her husband, Robert, reside in College Hill and have two sons, Patrick and Aidan.