Paul Conlin is in his 30th season as an assistant men’s and women’s track and field coach at UW-Eau Claire. Conlin oversees all throwing events for the Blugolds.
At UW-Eau Claire, Conlin has coached numerous national meet qualifiers, 63 NCAA Division III All-Americans in the throws, including 12 National Champions, 13 National Runners-up, 1 USA Olympic Trial qualifier and perhaps even more importantly, 4 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
NCAA Division III - National Champions:
John Schuna |
Shot Put |
2002 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Sam Johnson |
Weigh Throw |
2010 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Tyler Genovese |
Weight Throw |
2012 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Roger Steen4 |
Shot Put |
2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Roger Steen9 |
Shot Put |
2015 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion |
Alex Mess11 |
Shot Put |
2016 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion |
David Kornack2 |
Shot Put |
2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Erica Oawster |
Shot Put |
2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
David Kornack |
Shot Put |
2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion |
Erica Oawster |
Dicus |
2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion |
Catie Fobbe |
Shot Put |
2023 NCAA Division III Indoor Champion |
Yakob Ekoue |
Shot Put |
2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion |
*Roger Steen competed at the 2016 USA Olympic Team Trials and placed 20. Roger threw a qualifying mark of 19.97m (65’ 6-1/2”) to qualify.
**In addition, Alex was named USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year indoor and was the Field Athlete Performer of the Meet at the 2016 Outdoor Championships.
*** David Kornack was named USTFCCA Outstanding Performer of the meet at the 2019 Indoor Championships for winning the shot put with the second-best throw of all time in Division III and the furthest throw in 36 years.
Blugold athletes currently hold 3 of the top 11 All-Time DIII Indoor Men’s Shot Put Throws.
Blugold athletes currently hold 2 of the top 10 All-Time DIII Outdoor Men’s Shot Put Throws.
CoSIDA Academic All-Americans:
John Schuna |
2005 |
2nd Team |
Sam Johnson |
2008 |
2nd Team |
Sam Johnson |
2009 |
1st Team |
Tyler Genovese |
2012 |
1st Team* |
*In addition, Tyler was selected as 2012 Indoor Field Scholar Athlete of Year in Division III
His athletes own all the existing UW-Eau Claire school records:
Indoor |
|
|
|
Men |
Women |
Shot Put |
19.83m David Kornack |
15.22m Erica Oawster |
Weight Throw |
20.01m Tyler Genovese |
18.15m Brittany Frederick |
Outdoor |
|
|
|
Men |
Women |
Shot Put |
19.38m David Kornack |
15.33m Catie Fobbe |
Hammer Throw |
60.07m Tyler Genovese |
54.61m Teagan Jones |
Discus Throw |
56.55m Yakob Ekoue |
51.19m Erica Oawster |
The Blugolds have 27 Top 10 NCAA Championship Finishes since 2007.
Men
Indoor: 2012 (2nd), 2013 (3rd), 2014 (2nd), 2015 (1st), 2016 (1st), 2017 (6th), 2018 (4th), 2019 (4th), 2022 (1st)
Outdoor: 2012 (6th), 2013 (2nd), 2014 (9th), 2015 (2nd), 2016 (2nd), 2017 (5th), 2019 (1st), 2021 (2nd), 2022(1st)
Women
Indoor: 2007 (3rd), 2009 (7th), 2015 (4th), 2016 (9th), 2018 (4th), 2019 (7th)
Outdoor: 2009 (4th), 2012 (10th), 2015 (2nd), 2017 (10th)
In 2012, Conlin was recognized with the Joe Merten Coaching Award for his work as an assistant track and field coach at UW-Eau Claire.
As an athlete, Conlin was a four-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) conference champion, five-time All-American, and a three-time National Champion, winning both the 1992 Division III indoor and outdoor shot put crowns as a student-athlete at UW-Platteville. He still holds the Pioneer indoor shot put record of 60' 3 3/4" (18.34 m) (10th All-Time NCAA DIII Indoor) and the Pioneer outdoor shot put record of 62' 7 1/4" (19.08 m). Conlin's throw of 62' 7 1/4" was the WIAC conference outdoor records for over 25 years and currently places him seventh on the All-Time NCAA Division III outdoor performance list.
Other career highlights for Conlin include hitting an Olympic Trials qualifying mark in 1992 and receiving a national ranking of 10th in 1993 by Track and Field News. That same year, Conlin placed second at the Drake Relays, fourth at the Olympic Festival and 11th at the USA Track and Field Championships.
Coach Conlin was inducted into the UW-Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named to the WIAC All-Time Track and Field Team. In addition, Conlin was inducted into the USTFCCCA Athlete Hall of Fame in 2021 and was inducted into the WIAC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.
Prior to Eau Claire Conlin had coached one year at La Crosse Logan High School where he helped the Rangers win a conference championship. At the conference meet the Rangers swept the throws by placing 1, 2, 3 in the discus throw and the shot put as well as qualifying three athletes for Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State High School Track and Field Championships in the throws.
Conlin currently works for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, where he serves as the Project Development Chief Engineer for the Northwest Transportation Regional Office. Paul is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin. Paul and his wife (Wendy) reside in Eau Claire with his son Ryan (18) and his daughter Ashlynn (10)