Rutgers University-New Brunswick Women's Track & Field

Albert Essilfie enters his third season on the track and field coaching staff and fourth season overall. Essilfie, who joined the program during the 2021-22 ...

Bobby Farrell is in his sixth season as Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. A 2001 Rutgers graduate, Farrell is in his 13th season with the track ...

Track & FieldSkip AdJelmert, BradleyBuntin, NadaleCocci, RodCrawford, Corey Essilfie, AlbertFarrell, BobbyJelmert, BradleyStarkes, NicolWestley, Lexi

Corey Crawford is in his fifth year as an assistant coach at Rutgers where he oversees the jumps and combined events. During his tenure, Crawford has coached six athletes to break school records and has been instrumental in producing 37 all-time top-10 performances in program history, helping elevate Rutgers to new heights in the field events. Over the course of his coaching career, Crawford has developed five Big Ten Champions and 24 All-Americans with athletes consistently competing and placing at the NCAA Championships. His impact is highlighted by the success of athletes such as A’nan Bridgett, who placed fifth at the 2022 USA Championships and fourth at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships and Sincere Robinson, who finished sixth at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Crawford also coached Robinson to break the record he previously held as an athlete, extending the school long jump record to 26’ 0”, demonstrating his ability to develop elite-level talent and elevate athletes beyond previous program standards. In 2023, Crawford was named the Mid-Atlantic Regional Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year, recognizing his excellence in athlete development and coaching performance. Prior to Rutgers, Crawford gained coaching experience at Cuyamaca College and the SPIRE Institute, where he worked with jumpers and sprinters while contributing to program development and recruiting. A former standout athlete at Rutgers, Crawford is widely regarded as the greatest jumper in program histor

A veteran member of the Rutgers Athletic Training Staff, Jennifer Steinberg is in her 24th season on staff and has been responsible for the healthcare of the Scarlet Knights men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams since the fall of 2013. Steinberg has worked with multiple Scarlet Knight programs since arriving “On The Banks” in 1999, including RU’s field hockey, women’s lacrosse, volleyball and swimming & diving programs. A 1996 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Kinesiology and a Certificate in Athletic Training, Steinberg completed her graduate studies at North Carolina State University in Sports Administration in 1999. While with the Wolfpack, she worked as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer with the gymnastics and women’s soccer teams. A NATA Certified Athletic Trainer since 1997 and 1992 graduate of Marlboro High School, Steinberg currently resides in Somerset, New Jersey.

Lexi Westley is in her second season with Rutgers track & field and cross country, serving as an assistant coach with the distance group. A New Jersey native...

Monique N. Brown serves as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Program Development. In her role, Brown is responsible for cultivating relationships and developing programming as well as monitoring and tracking departmental practices and trainings in accordance with institutional and NCAA standards. She also works to advance professional development and community engagement initiatives that strengthen staff experience and external impact. Brown is also the sport administrator for the gymnastics and track and field programs, providing support and ensuring that each team operates effectively in their pursuit of excellence. With more than two decades of service to Rutgers across multiple roles, she brings deep institutional insight and a longstanding commitment to the university’s mission. She serves as the department’s primary liaison to the NCAA and Big Ten on matters of institutional engagement and community impact. Brown established Rutgers’ first full-time Associate Athletic Director of Inclusion role, embedding inclusive values into the department’s leadership structure, culture, and daily operations. She has played a key role in advancing university-wide strategies that drove equity and inclusion into Rutgers’ academic, operational, and community frameworks, and she actively engages in Big Ten and NCAA equity initiatives. Guided by Dr. King’s principles of belonging and transformative change, Monique is a catalyst for student-athlete education, staff development, and ca

Track & FieldSkip AdBuntin, NadaleBuntin, NadaleCocci, RodCrawford, Corey Essilfie, AlbertFarrell, BobbyJelmert, BradleyStarkes, NicolWestley, Lexi

Nicol Starkes (formerly Traynor) is in her fifth season with cross country and track and field, joining Rutgers in 2021 to work with the program's distance r...

Rod Cocci enters his seventh season as the men’s and women’s throws coach in 2025-26. This is his 10th season with the program overall since joining the men’s staff as a volunteer in 2017. Cocci has over 20 years of coaching experience since beginning his career in the 2001-02 season, and has become known primarily for developing talent. His coaching philosophy places an emphasis on creating detailed individualized throwing and strength training programs based on each athlete’s specific abilities. Since taking over the throws program, Cocci’s student-athletes have rewritten both the men’s and women’s record books. They have put together 13 school record performances and have over 50 inclusions in the Rutgers All-Time Top-10 performance lists across all throwing events. The throws unit is recognized as a nationally competitive program. Under Cocci’s supervision this unit has placed over 40 athletes into the NCAA postseason across all throwing. In addition to this, full event squads have ended the season ranked within USTFCCCA’s national top 20 on a dozen occasions; with men’s javelin finishing in the top 3 multiple times. During his tenure at Rutgers, his throwers have won Big Ten Championships in men’s hammer, men’s javelin, and have reached the podium in all throwing events. In the 2024-25 season, senior Steven Coponi (javelin) led the way for the men. Coponi made an improbable and remarkable return from a significant elbow injury to reach the Big Ten podium for the fourth t