The Iowa State track and field squad made an addition to its staff with the hiring of former decathlete Kurtis Brondyke as an assistant coach. Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Jeremy Sudbury announced Tuesday that Brondyke will coach athletes competing in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-events. Sudbury announced another new addition to his staff Thursday with the hiring of Juanita Sanchez as director of operations for both track and field and cross country.

“Kurtis has built a great reputation within the state of Iowa dating back to his prep and collegiate days,” Sudbury said. “His experience in the decathlon makes him incredibly versatile in his coaching abilities.”

Brondyke joins the Cyclones having recently wrapped up a professional career at the the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, where he finished 15th overall in the decathlon with a season-best 6,575 points. He made four previous trips to the national championships, finishing a career-best seventh in 2019 with 7,785 points.

Brondyke has also spent the last nine years as an assistant coach with Central Missouri, where he helped guide the team to win the NCAA Division II Women’s Indoor and Outdoor team titles in 2015 along with six MIAA conference titles.

Sudbury expressed his excitement for the addition of Juanita Sanchez.

“I am looking forward to having Juanita as part of our staff. She is very organized, detail-oriented and has a great understanding of what goes into hosting championship-level events,” he said.

Sanchez has spent the past two years as the director of operations at Texas Tech. Her responsibilities included managing the travel and management plans for the Red Raiders.

Sanchez values the experience she gained over her time with Texas Tech.

“I am highly grateful for what I learned and experienced at Texas Tech,” Sanchez said. “It helped me find a new career path in logistics, meet management and operations. Now, I am excited to see what we can accomplish together as a staff at Iowa State.” 

Like Brondyke, Sanchez also served as an assistant coach before arriving to Iowa State, coaching sprinters and jumpers at West Virginia Wesleyan College before moving on to Mississippi College for two years as a graduate assistant. She competed collegiately at Belhaven University in New Mexico, where she finished second at the 2016 NCAA National Championships in the heptathlon.