Shawn Wilbourn - Director of Track & Field and Cross Country - Track & Field Coaches

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Shawn Wilbourn

Title:
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
Email:
shawn.wilbourn@duke.edu
Phone:
(919) 681-6360

Shawn Wilbourn serves as the A. Morris Williams Jr., Track & Field Director for Duke Athletics, a role he assumed on April 6, 2021. He joined the Blue Devils in 2008 and spent 10 seasons as associate head coach before his elevation to director.

In his second season at the helm, the Blue Devils shattered 13 total school records, set 85 top-five program marks and qualified 17 individuals to the NCAA Championships across the indoor and outdoor seasons. Wilbourn also led the Duke women to a share of the 2021 ACC Indoor Championship and its highest ranking in program history, No. 12, during the outdoor season.

The indoor campaign saw Wilbourn lead Duke to 11 medals, including four gold, at the indoor conference meet. Under his oversight, graduate student Michael Fairbanks cleared 5.26m (17-3 feet) and became the first Duke men's ACC indoor pole vault champion since Mike Shankle's 1978 title, and the fourth overall. Erin Marsh earned a pair of gold medals that weekend as well, including one in the 60m hurdles as she clocked 8.17 seconds to become the first Duke women's track athlete ever to win an ACC Championship in the hurdles.

Wilbourn also helped qualify three individuals – Nick Dahl, Marsh and Wakefield - to the national meet with each individual earning USTFCCCA All-America First Team honors. Marsh finished as runner-up in the pentathlon with a total of 4,383 points to beat her school record by 39 points, while Wakefield placed seventh with 4,176 points, improving her Duke No. 3 all-time pentathlon mark in the process. The duo's performances earned them both first team All-America honors, marking the first time in program history that Duke had two first team All-Americans in the same event in the same year. Dahl raced to a 4:07.78 finish in the mile, which was good for sixth among the field. His finish marked the first time since 2015 that the Duke men scored points at the national meet and made him the first individual to do so since Curtis Beach in 2014.

The program captured four ACC individual event titles at the outdoor championships, two each on the men’s and women’s side. Marsh won her first outdoor title in record-breaking fashion, totaling a personal-best 5,946 points to win the event, smash her own Morris Williams Stadium record and become the first Duke woman in program history to win an ACC heptathlon title. On the men’s side, the standout performance came from Erick Duffy – after finishing as runner-up at the indoor championships, Duffy claimed the pole vault crown and set the school record with a clearance of 5.43m (17-9.75 feet) to become the first Duke men's outdoor pole vault champion since Clint Brown in 1967. Lauren Hoffman’s win in the 400m hurdles along with the first-place finish by the 4x400m relay of Carly King, Jenna Crean, Hoffman and Megan McGinnis made up the other two event titles.

Duke had 30 athletes garner competition spots at the NCAA East Regional before qualifying a program-record 17 individuals to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with the women’s team earning bronze medals and USTFCCCA All-America First Team honors in the heptathlon (Marsh) and 400m hurdles (Hoffman). After smashing her own school record in the preliminaries (55.47), Hoffman finished off an outstanding season clocking 55.58 seconds in the final to place third. After finishing fourth in the heptathlon at the 2021 Outdoor Championships, Marsh raised the bar once again as she totaled 5,929 points for third.

He was also tabbed as one of four assistant coaches for the United States' Men's Track and Field national team, coaching the throws and multis units at the 2022 World Athletics Championships Oregon22 July 15 through July 29. That was his third such honor, as Wilbourn was also a member of the USATF National Team staff at the 2019 NACAC U23 Championships, in Queretaro, Mexico and the 2021 Pan Am U20 Championships, in Santiago, Chile.

Wilbourn assumed interim head coaching duties in July 2020 following the retirement of long-time head coach Norm Ogilvie. With Wilbourn at the helm, the men's and women's teams combined to earn seven medals at the ACC Indoor Championships and qualified two women for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2018. One of those two women, Marsh, took home a bronze medal in the pentathlon and set a program record with 4,344 points. Marsh became the Blue Devils' first medalist since another one of Wilbourn's proteges – Megan Clark – claimed a silver medal in the pole vault in 2016.

Wilbourn was named the 2021 ACC Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year, becoming the first Duke track & field coach to be named coach of the year by the ACC, indoor or outdoor, since the award's creation in 1984. The honor came on the heels of the first ACC Women's Outdoor Championship in program history, which the Blue Devils secured in May.
The award capped off a historic season for Duke track & field, who's women's team collected USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors in three events – the heptathlon, 4x400m relay and 100m hurdles – for the most since 2011. Graduate student Brittany Aveni took home All-America honors in the 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m to add to her previous two All-America awards and become the first five-time All-American in program history. Marsh enjoyed the best NCAA Outdoor Championship performance by a Duke woman in seven years, as she finished fourth in the heptathlon with a school record of 5,924 points. Wilbourn continued his success working with multis, qualifying two for the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championship as one of only four schools to do so this season.

Under Wilbourn, the program took home four ACC individual event titles in the outdoor championships, including three on the women's side as Aveni won the 400m, sophomore Elasia Campbell won the high jump and the 4x400m relay team of Aveni, graduate students Iman Sule, Elena Brown-Soler and sophomore Jenna Crean won the final event of the championships to clinch the ACC title.

The 2020-21 campaign saw the women's outdoor school records in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 4x100m, 4x400m and heptathlon all fall, with several other events seeing their record books changed with top-five times. Wilbourn also coached four current Blue Devils that participated in the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials.
In his experience as associate head coach, Wilbourn worked with Duke’s combined-event, pole vault, horizontal jumps and hurdles student-athletes, while previously coaching the Blue Devil sprinters as well. He was recognized as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Southeast Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year in both 2015 and 2016.

During his time as an associate head coach and assistant coach, Wilbourn was instrumental in the development of numerous student-athletes that earned All-ACC and All-America honors. During the 2019-20 season, Wilbourn aided Marsh to pentathlon gold at the ACC Indoor Championships and a spot at the NCAA Indoor meet. Following the cancelation of the NCAA Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marsh was recognized by the USTFCCCA as an All-American. He also coached junior heptathlete Jacob Sobota, senior men’s pole vaulter Esteban Suarez and senior women’s pole vaulter Chesney Ward to all-conference performances at the ACC Indoor Championships.

Wilbourn’s 2019 crew enjoyed record-breaking indoor and outdoor seasons that saw four program records fall – the indoor and outdoor triple jump (Dominique Patton), outdoor 100m hurdles (Erin Marsh) and 400m hurdles (India Lowe), as well as top-five program marks in the pole vault (Laura Marty), pentathlon (Erin Marsh) and heptathlon (Erin Marsh). Marsh’s multi-event performances earned her runner-up finishes and All-ACC First Team honors at the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships as well as USTFCCCA All-America Second Team honors at the national indoor and outdoor meets.
He also coached Esteban Saurez to bronze at the ACC Indoor Championships, earning First Team, while Cole Rowan was named to the second team. Both achieved second team recognition during the outdoor campaign. Additionally, Rivka Arbiv (Second Team/Pole Vault), Panton (Second Team/Triple Jump) and Nati Sheppard (Second Team/Pole Vault) all received Indoor All-ACC honors, while Lauren Hoffman (First Team (400m hurdles), Marsh (First Team/Heptathlon), Sheppard (First Team/Pole Vault), and Kate Kutzer (Second Team/Heptathlon) garnered All-ACC outdoor honors.

Wilbourn’s 2018 unit shined with All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Madison Heath picked up First Team accolades at the indoor event while Marty tacked on a Second Team selection at the outdoor event. Heath made the jump from Second Team in 2017 to First Team in 2018. Heath earned First Team All-ACC honors indoor and Second Team outdoor with Nati Sheppard netting a second team outdoors. Wilbourn’s heptathlon, pentathlon and decathlon groups also excelled indoors during the 2018 season with Jacob Sobota a First Team All-ACC honoree and Christian Friis a Second Team pick on the men’s side. Jaida Lemmons was a Second Team pentathlon pick for the women. The crew also excelled outdoors with Lemmons (First Team/Heptathlon), Marsh (Second Team/Heptathlon), Sobota (Second Team/Decathlon) and Friis (Second Team/Decathlon) receiving All-ACC recognition.

The 2017 season saw Wilbourn lead another strong multi-event group. Heath qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the pole vault, finishing 13th and earning Second Team All-America honors at both. Heath was joined by Daniel Golubovic (Decathlon) and Connor Hall (Pole Vault) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Golubovic earned Second Team All-America honors with an 11th place finish and Hall was an All-America honorable mention choice as he finished in 20th place. Heath took gold in the pole vault at the ACC Indoor Championships with Sydnei Murphy earning First Team All-ACC honors in the long jump. Golubovic and Chaz Hawkins finished fourth and fifth respectively in the heptathlon at the ACC Indoor Championships to both earn Second Team All-ACC Honors. At the ACC Outdoor Championships, Golubovic (Decathlon) and Hall (Pole Vault) both earned First Team All-ACC Honors while Jeremy McDuffie earned Second Team All-ACC honors in both the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jump. On the women’s side, Heath (pole vault), Lemmons (heptathlon), Murphy (long jump), and Sheppard (pole vault) all earned First Team All-ACC honors while Chesney Ward (pole vault) earned second team All-ACC honors.

The 2016 season was headlined by Megan Clark (pole vault), Heath (pole vault), Teddi Maslowski (multi-events) and Karli Johonnot (multi-events) qualifying for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, where Clark claimed second in the pole vault at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Clark and Johonnot each took gold in the pole vault and pentathlon at the ACC Championships, and Robert Rohner finished first in the heptathlon for the men. Four different women set indoor school records: Murphy in the 60, Maslowski in the 60 meter hurdles, Clark in the pole vault and Johonnot in the pentathlon, while the men set a program record in the 4x200 (Brett Bofingerthe outdoor campaign, five women and one man received All-ACC honors, while six women claimed All-America accolades. Clark was named Southeast Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year during the indoor and outdoor season.

In the pole vault, Wilbourn helped Clark produce one of the most prolific seasons in Duke history in 2015, earning first team indoor All-America honors, being named the ACC Women’s Indoor Field Performer of the Year and setting school records for both the indoor and outdoor pole vault. Clark, who claimed gold at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships, finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a clearance of 14-9.00 (4.50) to tie the ACC record. The Fort Benning, Ga., product also qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and earned honorable mention All-America accolades. For the men, Connor Hall put together a career year, highlighted by finishing second at the ACC Championships with a height of 16-7.50 (5.07), the fifth-best height in school history.

Prior to working at Duke, Wilbourn held a similar position at Georgia after spending four years at Cortland State University, the last two as Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country. He was honored with numerous Atlantic Region and New York State Coach of the Year honors for his mentoring at Cortland State, while coaching 18 All-Americans and two national champions.

Wilbourn’s other collegiate coaching stops include the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and his alma mater, Long Beach State University, where he also earned his master’s in kinesiology in 2003. A standout athlete in football and track & field during his time with The Beach, Wilbourn was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 2013 class.

In addition to college coaching experience, Wilbourn has also imparted his knowledge to athletes following their collegiate careers. In 2008, WIlbourn coached former Georgia long jumper Patty Sylvester to the Beijing Olympics. The Grenadian posted a mark of 22-0.25 (6.71) the same year, a national record for the event.

As an athlete, Wilbourn was a 1996 Olympic Trials finalist in the decathlon and competed at the World Championships for the United States in 1997. His career best in the decathlon is 8,268 points.

Wilbourn was also selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round of the 1991 NFL draft. He spent time under contract with the San Francisco 49ers during the 1992 NFL campaign.

In addition, Wilbourn is a USATF Level II certified coach as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist.

Wilbourn is married to Nicole Wray and has two children – a daughter, Justice, and son, Braeden, as well as a stepdaughter Mackenzie.

Updated July 9, 2025