Grady O'Connor

Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field/Cross Country, 1998-

Grady has been the Director of both Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track and Field since 1998. During his tenure, he has consistently fielded one of the most competitive teams in the Northwest. His programs have won sixteen Regional Titles and counting.  Under his watch, the program has produced over 175 Junior College All-Americans, set seventeen school records, and garnered several Coach of the Year honors (02,05,06,07,).  
 
Prior to Lane, Grady coached at Cottage Grove High School (1995-96). He had an immediate impact, coaching the 4A State 100m Hurdle Champion, Katie Rowlett (14.1).  
 
He was then hired as the combined event coach at Lane (1997), where he began establishing an impressive tradition of decathletes and heptathletes.  Lane has had eight different combined event champions in the last nine years. Under Grady's direction, seven decathletes currently hold scores that place in the All-Time Top 10 list at Lane. His heptathletes hold five of the top ten positions, including the school record. Many of these combined event athletes have continued on to Division I schools including: University of Oregon, University of Alabama, Michigan State University, UCLA, Boise State University, Long Beach State, and Portland State University.  
 
Another testament of Grady’s dedication to the combined events, is the fact that several of his former decathletes are now in the coaching profession. Former decathletes coaching and generating new interest in the sport include: Octavious Gillespie (99) University of Tulsa, Josh Priester (02) - University of California at Santa Barbara, Gabe LeMay (03) – University of Oregon, Keith Baker (04) - University of California at Santa Barbara, and Cody Fleming (05) – University of Nevada-Reno.  
 
Grady attended the University of Oregon (1989-93). He was a two-sport athlete, competing and lettering in both track and football. As a freshman hurdler, he placed 5th at Junior Nationals (1990) in the 400IH (52.52). He qualified for the Pac-10 Championships four consecutive years and placed 4th in the conference (1992) in the 400IH (51.49). He was also a member of both 4x100 and 4x400 relay squads that posted season bests of 40.60 and 3:09.03.  
 
Following his competitive days as a Duck, he joined the Oregon International Athletics Team, and continued to train and compete as a decathlete. Grady then went on to earn a Master of Science degree from Oregon State University (1998). He is USATF certified Level I and II (Multi Events).