Hammer Training: Tales of Connection and Engine Work

The Coach

Nathan Ott

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Nathan Ott is in his first season as the assistant coach/throws coach for Penn State track & field. Ott came from Grand Canyon after spending a year as a throws coach.

At Grand Canyon, Ott led Israel Oloyede to the best collegiate hammer throw of the year (sixth-best of all-time) to take fifth place at the USA Track and Field Championships. Ott also coached Oloyede to a second-team All-American selection and a 10th place finish at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships during the indoor track season. He helped Marten Gasparini record the seventh-best javelin throw in the NCAA at 76.28 meters.
 
Along with college coaching, Ott has worked with multiple professionals. He helped Brooke Andersen capture the gold medal at both the World and USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in 2022 and fourth-best hammer throw of all-time at 79.05 meters. Andersen previously garnered a 10th place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in hammer throw with a score of 72.5 meters. Ott also assisted thrower Darian Brown to make the 2021 USA top-12 list in discus at 61.72 meters.
 
From 2018-21, Ott was at Kansas State as an assistant coach. He guided seven NCAA Division-I All-American athletes in women’s hammer, men’s hammer, women’s weight and women’s discus. Ott produced four Big 12 Champions and multiple runner-up finishers. In 2019, he was named Midwest Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
 
Prior to Ott’s time at Kansas State, he spent 2014-18 at Northern Arizona as an assistant coach. He had another seven NCAA Division-I All-American athletes and a total of sixteen throwers qualify for National Preliminaries, including NCAA Championship runner-up Andersen and two-time Canadian National Champion Adam Keenan.
 
Ott graduated from Southern Utah in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education with a coaching emphasis.
 
Ott himself was an accomplished student-athlete. At Southern Utah, he held the school record in the hammer throw (now second overall) and is fifth overall in shot put. During the 2006 season, he qualified for regionals in hammer throw and was the leading scorer in the squad’s victory at the Outdoor Summit League Championships. He followed up with a ninth-place finish at the 2007 Regional Championships in hammer throw.