Erin Dawson enters her third season as an assistant coach for the Wildcats. Dawson comes from Northern Arizona University where she served as an assistant coach for two years. Her duties will focus mainly on coaching the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams, as well as assisting Coach James Li with recruiting.
Dawson played an integral role in helping the women's distance team return to prominance during the 2009 season. A strong recruiting campaign led to several impressive freshman athletes making their mark in their first season. The group of impressive freshmen played a key role in helping take the women's cross country team to their first National Championship appearance in nine years.
During the 2010 track season, five women qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships (Maggie Callahan, Hannah Moen, Elizabeth Apgar, Jennifer Bergman and Megan Meyer). Meyer had one of the top junior times internationally in the 10,000-meters, and her time of 33:46 puts her third on Arizona's all-time list and was good for fifth at the Pac-10 Championships. Moen advanced to the finals in the steeplchase, setting a school record en route. Moen finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships in the event while fellow steeplchaser Callahan was second.
During her final season with the Lumberjacks, Dawson played an integral part in coaching the men's team to a 4th place finish and the women's team to a 7th place finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. This marked the first time NAU posted two top-8 team finishes in the school's history.
The 2006- 2007 season proved to be successful for the Lumberjacks.Dawson helped coach three NCAA cross country championship qualifiers, and the men's track and field team to the Big Sky outdoor title. In her time at NAU, Lopez Lomong won two NCAA titles in the indoor 3000 meters and the outdoor 1500 meter runs.
While in Flagstaff,Dawson assisted the NAU women to win both the indoor and outdoor Big Sky Conference championships in 2006. Johanna Nilsson claimed NCAA championship titles in the indoor mile and 3,000- meter run, on route to being named NCAA Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Prior to her stint at NAU, Dawson taught ESL and Spanish at Stony Point High school in Round Rock, Texas. She worked as the head coach of cross country and track and field where she would produce the first 5A regional qualifying team in cross country for the school.
As a student-athlete, Dawson helped guide the Texas Longhorns to the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The same year her team delivered a first-place finish at the South Central Regional Championships, the first in fifteen years at Texas. On the track,Dawson contributed conference efforts in the mile, 3000m, and steeplechase. She was a member of the 2004 Big XII Outdoor Track and Field Championship team. While at Texas,Dawson was named to the 2003 and 2004 Academic All-Big XII teams. She has continued to run marathons after college competing in the Compaq Houston Marathon, Freescale Austin Marathon, and the PF Chang Phoenix Marathon.
A native of The Woodlands, Texas,Dawson is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas. After graduating with a double major in Spanish and History, she returned to earn a post baccalaureate in secondary education. She received her master's in educational psychology with an emphasis in school counseling while at NAU.
