There was a time when Carrie Lane didn't think she'd ever get back into collegiate coaching.

Then the University of Wyoming called.

Fortunately for the sport of track and for UW, she did get back into it.

Carrie is the most accomplished "throws" coach Wyoming has ever had, and Head Coach Bryan Berryhill feels extremely fortunate she's on his staff.

"Carrie has been a huge part of our program," Berryhill says. "Her knowledge and expertise have been important to our staff across all areas of track and field.

"When we needed a throws coach I began looking at options," Berryhill continues.  "I remembered Carrie when she was at Nebraska.  So I called her, and got a strong maybe.  She told me she had received a number of opportunities that she had passed on.  But she said that Wyoming might be the one situation she would be interested in.   She asked me to give her a few days to think on it. She called me back, came up for a visit, and took the job. She has been a very special addition." 

Her experience in the business of collegiate throwing is unparalleled.  She's coached Olympians, world champions and NCAA champions.  

But Wyoming is her fit.  She loves it here because it gives her the opportunity to do the things she enjoys outside of coaching.  One of those activities is rock climbing. Yes, when she's not coaching the largest athletes on a track team, Carrie likes to climb, and for all of you out there afraid of heights (like me) she relishes it.

She spends a good part of her free time climbing in the area.  Vedauwoo east of Laramie is one of her go-to areas.  She's climbed Devil's Tower for crying out loud, and says it's more difficult than it looks.  Wow!

It was during her undergraduate days at Marquette University, that Lane got the climbing bug. She studied for a semester in South Africa.  While there she joined an "outdoor" group that included rock climbing as one of its activities. She had never done it until then.

"It was just so amazing," she says. "We would be climbing while zebras and ostriches were walking below us. What an experience.  I really got hooked on the sport." 

The great outdoors is her thing, and Wyoming and surrounding areas have afforded her the opportunity to pursue that passion.

After nearly a decade of collegiate coaching, Lane decided to leave the profession to enter the private sector in the business of sports performance and strength and conditioning. During the two-and-a-half years in that business she trained a variety of athletes.   

"I enjoyed growing my business, and never thought I'd get back into collegiate coaching.  I thought I'd continue to grow my business. But there was a part of her that missed coaching, so when Berryhill placed that call, she thought it could be a fit.

That was three years ago, and she's extremely happy with her choice.

One of the most interesting coaches I've had the pleasure to visit with, Lane was an outstanding cross country runner at Marquette.  Her bag was distance and endurance.

So how does a cross country athlete translate into coaching weight throwers?

"It actually happened in graduate school at Eastern Illinois," Carries says.  "I was an assistant cross country coach there, but decided that if I ever wanted to be a head coach I needed to talk the language of the other event groups.  I worked with jumpers and then I worked with the throwers.  I really liked that area.  So when I got my first job at Costal Carolina, I coached with a master's hammer thrower.  I learned a great deal from that experience.

"I watched a lot of tape, and worked hard at developing a 'technical' eye.  Like most areas of track, throwing is very technical.  Strength is a huge part of it, but so is technique.

"At first the two appear to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum. But there's a lot of cross over between throws and cross country.  They are more similar than you'd think.  They both take a tremendous amount of hard work, weeks and months of it, and in both you have to build your endurance engine."

It's easy to detect in her voice how much she enjoys working with throwers.  "They are special.  There's the physical aspect, and the ability to summate forces in a short period of time. Then there's the mental part which is huge for success in their events.

"They are everybody's buddy.  I lovingly call them elephants.  Everyone likes them, but everyone's scared of them.  They don't do things fast, but they are not high strung.  They are generally jovial, but once in the competition they could punch you in the nose.  

"They are great people."

While at Costal, Lane was fortunate to work with a young woman by the name of Amber Campbell.  They came in the same year, Campbell as a freshman, Lane as a first-year coach.  "She was a very special athlete, and I learned so much from her, while coaching her and then actually coached her.  It was a great experience."

They honed their craft together, and under Lane's watchful eye, Campbell set two American collegiate records in the hammer throw and weight throw while earning five All-America honors.  Campbell has since become a three-time Olympian, reaching the finals in the hammer throw at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.  

"I think about Amber often and how fortunate I was to work with her.  She taught me a lot about the sport and about competing."

From Costal where she was named the 2004 Mondo National Women's Assistant Coach of the Year, Lane moved onto the University of Virginia where she coached for seven years. During that time she coached 17 First Team All-Americans and nine ACC individual champions.

It was at Virginia where she worked with Adam Nelson, who would become one of the country's greatest shot putters of all time. He competed in three consecutive Olympic Games, and won Gold during the 2004 Games. 

"He wanted me to coach him, and I will be forever grateful for that.  For me, it was an experience of a lifetime.  It was something truly special to sit with coaches from around the world at the Olympic final. What a moment that was.

One can only imagine how difficult it was for Carrie to earn respect in a sport of giants as a female cross country runner.  "It's small vs. big, and I experienced a lot of that," she admits. "Early on, when I walked into a home to recruit or on a practice field I had to come out swinging, show them what I knew in the first minute. I had to have the technical knowledge so that I had confidence in what I was talking about.

"And that's not isolated to men.  I had to overcome the same thing with females. I'm a small female coaching large men and women."

During her amazing career, Lane also coached at Nebraska, one of the top track programs in the country.  She was there seven years and coached Chad Wright to a national championship in the men's discus.  Wright eventually became the Jamaican national discus champion in both 2013 and 2014. While at Lincoln, Lane coached six First Team All-Americans and four Big Ten champions.

She has earned both Midwest Region and Southeast Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year awards.

That's quite a resume

"I want to coach for as long as Wyoming will have me," Carrie says.  "Wyoming got me back in the business, so it's special to me.  The kids we can get here are blue collar workers and really good people.  I can envision Wyoming being a national power in throws.  I want to be here for that."

And, we want her here for that.  Just be careful on those rocks, Carrie!