Phone 503-883-2530
Fax 503-883-2453
Email tolson@linfield.edu
Biography
Former three-sport star Travis Olson enters his fourth season as head coach after serving 12 years as an assistant under Dr. Garry Killgore. He also directs the Linfield track and field program in the spring.
As head coach, Olson has tutored two NCAA national champions and four All-Americans. In 2012, he was recognized as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Head Coach of the Year. During his time as an assistant, he received the USTFCCCA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year three times, twice for his work with the Linfield women (2010, 2009) and once for his guidance with the men's program (2010). He helped coach a total of 22 All-Americans, including the national champion and two runner-ups in the decathlon. Olson is certified as a jumping event specialist through the USTFCCCA Academy.
Over his four-year career as a student-athlete at Linfield, Olson earned 10 varsity letters in track, basketball and football before graduating in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in finance. A six-time All-American in the javelin, decathlon and high jump, Olson twice placed second in the javelin at the NAIA championship meet. He still holds five top-10 marks in the Linfield record books, ranking third in the high jump (6-10), fourth in the javelin (203-02), sixth in both the decathlon (6774) and the discus (154-09) and eighth in the pole vault (15-01). Olson was inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
He and his wife, Maridee, live in McMinnville with their daughters, Bailee and Olivia.
