In her fourth season with the Highlanders (2020-21), Coach Fuller was able to put together another great year at the Big West Conference Championships after foregoing the 2021 Indoor Season due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Her standout red-shirt freshman Shiloh Corrales-Nelson was able to score her first points as a Highlander by placing fourth in hammer. She then went on to break the Philippines U23 National Record in the shot with a PR throw of 13.45. In hammer, Shiloh broke another Philippines National Record and U23 Record with her PR throw of 176’ 5”. Redshirt sophomore JT Ober III came back strong with a fourth-place finish at the Big West Conference Championship and a season best of 194’ 8”.
During her third season as an Assistant Coach of Track & Field for UCR (2019-20), Fuller was able to kick off the year with a great indoor season. Corrales-Nelson broke the Philippines Junior National Indoor Record with a PR throw of 13.07 and qualified for her first appearance at the MPSF Championships. Senior Natalie Mitchell earned her place in the Highlander history books by matching the sixth best all-time throw with a PR of 13.68. Unfortunately, the 2020 outdoor season was canceled before the Highlanders were able to have any outdoor competitions.
In her second year with the Highlanders (2018-19), Coach Fuller’s efforts produced more point scorers and podium finishers at the Big West Conference Championships. Junior Natalie Mitchell returned to see a third place podium finish in the shot and Junior Jordan Davis placed 7th for the men. In addition, Jordan secured a spot in Highlander history by throwing the third best all-time mark in the discus of 173’0”. Freshman JT Ober III had an exciting freshman year as he won the javelin at the Big West Conference Championships and subsequently qualified for the NCAA West Regionals Championships with a lifetime best and school record of 206’6”. JT then went on to represent UC Riverside at the USA Track and Field (USATF) Under 20 Championships in Florida.
A former standout student-athlete at UCLA and now an elite Division I coach, Fuller joined the Highlanders in 2017. In her first season with the program, she led the men throwers to a second and third place finish in the shot put and an eighth place finish in the discus at the 2018 Big West Conference Championships. The Highlanders’ women throwers took eighth in the hammer and sophomore Natalie Mitchell earned a sixth place finish in the shot while achieving a personal record (PR) in the event.
Prior to her current coaching tenure with the Highlanders, Fuller was an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) where she led the team’s throwers to a stellar finish at the CCAA Championships in 2017 (Men taking first and third place in discus and second place in the javelin). While at CPP, Fuller coached senior Damani Brown to the NCAA Division II Championships where Brown hit a lifetime PR of 219’ 0” in the javelin, soaring 10 places in the event and skyrocketing from 15th to finish fifth. And, in doing so, Brown became Coach Fuller’s 12th All-American and landed 2nd on CPP’s all-time list in this event.
Just before making the decision to join Cal Poly Pomona, Fuller spent several years in the private sector for organizations such as the NBA’s Miami Heat, NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and fitness chains 24-Hour Fitness, Gold’s Gym and Velocity Sports Performance.
Fuller was a standout member of the UCLA Track & Field team and enjoyed a tremendous career with the Bruins where she was an NCAA automatic qualifier, Pac-10 and Cal/Nevada champion in the discus, before graduating in 1994 with a B.A. in Sociology. Always the clutch performer, Fuller scored points in shot, discus and javelin, while helping the Bruins win back-to-back Pac-10 titles in 1993 and 1994. Her discus personal record (PR) landed her sixth all-time at UCLA in the event. She also earned an M.S. in Sports Administration from St. Thomas University, where she graduated with honors.
Coach Fuller is currently certified as a USATF Level II Throws and Jumps Coach, USA Weightlifting Coach, and has current certifications in strength & conditioning and mobility. She is also a graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy put on by WeCOACH.
Fuller began her coaching career immediately after graduating from UCLA in 1994 when she joined the Cal State University, Northridge (CSUN) Matadors as an assistant coach. Just one year later in 1995, Fuller helped guide the team to an indoor MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) title in women’s shot followed by three outdoor America West Championships in the men’s discus, hammer and women’s javelin, securing a team win for both the men and women. And, CSUN senior javelin thrower, Kristin Dunn, threw 176’4” (a school record) and placed 6th at NCAA’s, earning her All-American honors. In 1996, sophomore Beth Burton, won the MPSF Indoor Championships and placed 8th at NCAA’s with a school and personal record of 59’4” to earn All-American honors. In the Matadors’ outdoor season that year, both Dunn and Burton helped the Matadors win the America West Championship for men and women. The women throwers took first and second in shot and first in hammer, and the men took 1st in shot and javelin. Burton qualified for NCAA’s and broke school records in shot (52’ 3.75”) and women’s hammer (170’10”). Coach Fuller capped off what proved to be an incredible year at the 1996 Olympic Trials where she guided open thrower Kristin Dunn to a seventh place in the javelin, matching her lifetime best in the event.
With CSUN’s move to the Big Sky Conference in 1997 for both indoor and outdoor seasons, the Matadors’ Burton placed first in the weight with a PR of 67’3/4” (second in the nation at the time) at Big Sky Championships. Burton then competed at the USATF Indoor Championships where she placed fifth and followed up with a sixth place finish in the event at NCAA’s, earning All-American honors along the way. The Matadors’ men’s team took 1st and 2nd at Big Sky Championships in shot with PR’s from freshman Jason Hammond (58’6”) and sophomore Billy Bush.
The 1997 Big Sky Outdoor Conference Championships proved to be as successful for the Matadors who were led by Bush’s first place PR and Hammond’s second place finish in shot. Freshman Cheree Hicks broke the school record with a throw of 180’2” in discus and then placed seventh at NCAA’s becoming the school’s first freshman All-American. The Lady Matadors’ Burton and Christina Tolson also qualified for the USATF Championships in women’s hammer and Hicks in women’s discus. Hicks and Tolson went on to USATF Jr. Championships in discus and hammer and both competed in shot. Hicks took second in shot with a PR of 50’11 1/2” and Tolson placed fourth in shot and third in hammer. With her second place finish at USATF Jr’s, Hicks earned a spot on Team USA that competed at the 1997 Pan Am Games in Cuba where she earned a bronze medal for the US in shot.
In 1998, Tolson (then a sophomore) took first at Big Sky Indoor Championships to win the women’s shot with a PR of 50’2.75” and made her first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Redshirt Burton continued to improve in the US by taking second at the USATF Indoor Championships in the women’s weight and a 6th place finish in the indoor shot. In the 1998 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, the men and women throws groups swept the shot with Billy Bush (1st), Hammond (2nd), and Brian Tade (PR) for third. The women finished with Senior Beth Burton 1st (PR) 54’8 3/4”, Tolson second and Hicks third. In addition, Bush won men’s discus, Tolson won hammer with PR 196’9” breaking Burton’s school record and Burton second with Hicks finishing first in women’s discus. The men scored 34 points and the women tallied 52.
Additionally, Tolson joined Bush, Hicks and Burton at the NCAA Outdoor Championships where Burton earned her 3rd All-American honors after placing 9th in the women’s hammer. Following the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Tolson, Burton and Bush headed to the 1998 USATF Outdoor Championships. The meet was highlighted by Tolson’s 7th place finish in hammer and 8th place finish in shot. Fuller then prepared post-collegian Windy Dean for her first appearance with Team USA at the IAAF World Cup in South Africa where she placed seventh in the women’s javelin.
After four years at CSUN, Coach Fuller moved to the Big East Conference where she joined Syracuse University to begin building their throws program.
After transferring to Syracuse, Hicks became a two-time Big East Indoor & ECAC Champion in the shot, two-time Big East Outdoor & ECAC Champion in the shot and discus while setting all Big East indoor and outdoor meet records as well as meet records in the ECAC Championships both years. She is the school record holder in shot (56’6”) and discus (199’8”) and became a six-time All-American for Syracuse, with appearances at indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships in 1999 and 2000. Hicks was ranked second in the nation in shot and discus and placed second in both at the 2000 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets.
Hicks joined Dean on a run to prepare for the 2000 Olympic Trials by competing at the USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 1999 where Dean finished 3rd in hammer and Hicks finished fifth in indoor and eighth in outdoor shot. They both went on to compete at the 2000 Olympic Trials where Hicks finished fifth in the shot.
In 2000, Coach Fuller also worked with freshman Steve Bedard from Canada, who competed for Syracuse at the Canada Jr. Outdoor Championships and the 2000 Canada Olympic Trials. During Canada Jr.’s, Bedard placed second in the shot and third in the hammer and discus, and at the Canada Olympic Trials he placed fifth in the shot.
In her final season at Syracuse in 2001, Coach Fuller produced another Big East Discus Champion in sophomore Tim Adrian from Moorpark, Calif., who won the meet with a PR throw of 182’3”.
