Austin Hayes - Track & Field Coach - Mercer University Athletics

Austin Hayes

Title:
Graduate Assistant
Email:
austin.bradley.hayes@live.mercer.edu

Austin Hayes joined Mercer's cross country/track & field program as a graduate assistant in August 2020.

In his first season with the program, both the men’s and women’s teams had memorable performances. The Mercer women won the first meet of the season, the Julius Johnson Invitational, and Ashley McMahon began a stellar junior season with an individual win and time of 18:46.66. The women came home third at the Blazer Classic in October and finished seventh at the SoCon Championships, which were held in Macon for the first time since Mercer joined the conference. The seventh-place effort is Mercer’s second-best showing as member’s of the league. On the men’s side, the Bears claimed the team and individual titles at the Mercer Invitational, the final meet of the regular season. Josiah Jaqua’s time of 26:36.80 placed him first. At the SoCon Championships, the men finished sixth, their best finish since joining the SoCon, and Josh Kraver earned All-SoCon Freshman Team honors with a 32^nd-place finish after crossing the finish line in 27:01.30.

During track season, Hayes guided a pair of Southern Conference Champions in Cherrish Wright and Carlandra Jones. Wright, who earned Most Outstanding Female Athlete and Female Most Outstanding Track Performer honors, claimed the conference title in the 200-meter dash with a program record time of 23.88 seconds. In the 100-meter dash, she earned all-conference recognition with a second-place finish with a time of 13.70 seconds. Jones, a 400-meter specialist, claimed the gold with a time of 54.74 seconds. Mercer’s 4x100-meter relay team, comprised of Wright, Jones, Lauryn Dancy and Kennedi Weston Shields, also earned a podium finish and all-conference recognition. The quartet placed third with a time of 46.53 seconds.

Hayes earned an impressive amount of accolades during his time with the track & field program at Lindsey Wilson College and NCAA Division I program Western Kentucky.

During his freshman season with the Blue Raiders of LWC, Hayes led the team to a Mid-South Conference Championship and was an individual finalist in three events. Hayes earned all-academic honors from the Mid-South was also named an National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American. He won a silver medal at the NAIA National Championship as part of Lindsey Wilson's 4x100-meter relay squad.

After his freshman campaign, Hayes transferred to WKU where the accolades continued to pour in during his time as a Hilltopper. During the 2018 season, Hayes was named the Conference USA Athlete of the Week for his efforts in helping the Hilltoppers to a 48th-place ranking nationally in the 4x100-meter relay.

Hayes was twice named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and led Western Kentucky to a conference tile while garnering individual All-America honors in 2018 and 2019 as part of the 4x400-meter relay team.

He was a member of the 4x400m team in 2019 that ran the fifth fastest time in school history (3:04.24).

Following his senior year of high school, Hayes received the honor of representing Team USA at the 2015 Down Under Games in Brisbane, Australia. He won gold medals in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay and claimed silver medals in the 200-meter dash and 4x400-meter relay.

Hayes graduated from WKU in May 2019 with his bachelors in business management. Following graduation, he spent one year as the sprints and relays coach at Bowling Green High School.

He is currently pursing his MBA with a concentration in finance.