Cross Country
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
Colorado’s first female three-time cross country All-American, Heather Burroughs is in her 18th season on the staff of her alma mater, assisting head coach Mark Wetmore with the men’s and women’s teams. Since joining the staff, she has assisted with 19 conference championship teams, six NCAA Championship teams, one individual NCAA Champion and 157 All-Americans, all in cross country. Burroughs was promoted to associate head coach following the 2011 season where the Buffs swept the inaugural Pac-12 Cross Country Championships to win the reformatted conference’s first two team championships.
In Burroughs’ 17 track seasons assisting the men’s and women’s middle and long distance runners, CU athletes have made an impact at the conference, NCAA, American and world levels. To date, 59 have captured individual conference titles and 126 have earned All-American accolades. The women have won 15 individual NCAA titles and have broken six collegiate records. Since 2007, CU runners with eligibility remaining have won four U.S. outdoor titles and earned four berths on U.S. outdoor world championship teams as well as three individual berths on the U.S. Olympic Team.
Burroughs, in partnership with Wetmore, coaches CU post-collegian Jenny Simpson. Simpson, who won a silver medal in the 1,500-meter run at the 2013 IAAF World Championship, also won the 2014 IAAF Diamond League title at 1,500 while earning the No. 1 world ranking in the event. At the conclusion of 2014, Burroughs and Wetmore were named the USA Track & Field Co-Coaches of the Year. Simpson became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in the 1,500, a bronze, at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. In 2017, Simpson earned another silver medal at the IAAF World Championships (1,500). Burroughs and Wetmore also coached CU grad Emma Coburn to five USA Outdoor titles, the American steeplechase record and the United States’ first women’s Olympic steeplechase medal in Rio. The duo also coached Val Constien, another Buff turned professional, to her first Olympic team in the steeplechase. She made the finals of the 2020 games in Tokyo.
During Burroughs’ CU cross country career, she was a top-five and all-conference finisher each of her four seasons, as well as an All-American in 1994, ’95 and ’98. The CU women finished in the top four of the NCAA in three of those seasons, including a runner-up finish in 1995.
On the track, she was the Big 8 Conference Women’s Indoor Track Newcomer of the Year in 1995. She won one conference individual title, scored in 15 conference races and was an indoor 5,000-meter All-American. Burroughs qualified for six NCAA indoor and outdoor races during her career.
Burroughs was born in Kansas City, Kan. and attended Pembroke Hill High School. She graduated from CU in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in biology.
