Eric Fremd joined the UC Riverside Track & Field program as an assistant coach overseeing jumps, multis and hurdles in August 2018. He enters his seventh full season at UCR in 2024-25.
Fremd's inaugural outdoor season with UCR was quite the introduction. He led Quinn Williams to the 2019 Big West title in the 400mH, also leading Hana Johnson (TJ), Didi Amarasekara (LJ), and Ondrej Rapp (LJ) to podium finishes. In addition to her podium finish in the long jump, Amarasekara set a new school record in the Heptathlon, scoring 5,157 points for a fourth-place finish.
2019 was also a record-breaking season for indoor; Purnima Gunarathna tied the high jump school record with a clearance of 5-7.75ft, Amarsekara broke the UCR school record in the long jump with a jump of 19-11.50ft, and Julian Read broke the school heptathlon record with a score of 4,697 points. In all, Fremd’s group accounted for one Big West Champion, two NCAA West Prelims qualifiers, four school records, four All-Big West honors, and 25 UCR top-10 marks achieved during the 2019 indoor and outdoor seasons.
Prior to his current position with the Highlanders, Fremd spent three seasons at Sacramento State (2016-18) where he led the Hornets student-athletes competing in the horizontal jumps and multis. During his tenure with the Hornets, Fremd produced two NCAA All-Americans, 12 NCAA Prelim qualifiers, 41 All-Conference selections, 50 Top-10 All-Time marks, and four school records.
During the 2018 outdoor season, Fremd coached triple jumper, Darius Armstead who became Sacramento State’s first NCAA First Team All-American in the triple jump after placing 7th at National Championships with a jump of 53-0.75ft. At the Outdoor Big Sky Conference Championships, Fremd help lead a dominant Hornet squad to overwhelming success in the Men’s and Women’s horizontal jumps, highlighted by the Women’s 30-point scoring effort in the triple jump, which including a 1st through 4th place sweep. Emilia Del Hoyo led the charge with 41-2.5ft, narrowly edging out her teammate Brittany Patterson’s best of 41-0.25ft, to land 1st place. Fremd also enjoyed equal coaching success on the Men’s side with four finalists in the men’s long jump, and three in the men’s triple jump, led by Darius Armstead’s title defense in the men’s triple jump.
To highlight the depth of Fremd’s jumpers, in the final USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings of the 2018 outdoor season, both Sacramento State’s Men’s and Women’s four-person triple jump squads were ranked third in the NCCA, with averages of 50-5.25ft. and 40-4.25ft., respectively.
The 2018 indoor season saw Emilia Del Hoyo earn Big Sky Conference MVP honors at the Big Sky Conference Championships for her efforts of placing 2nd in the triple jump (to her teammate Brittany Patterson), 3rd in the pentathlon, 4th in the long jump, and 7th in the 60m hurdles, to earn a meet high 22-points. In addition, Jah Strange led a podium sweep in the men’s triple jump with teammates Mohammed Abdullah and Darius Armstead rounding out the top three spots on the platform, respectively. Strange also set the triple jump school record during that season, with a mark of 51-3.5ft.
Overall in 2018, Fremd’s group accounted for one NCAA All-American, six NCAA West Preliminary qualifiers, four Big Sky Conference champions, 18 All-Conference honors earned, and 19 top-10 marks achieved during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
During the 2017 outdoor season, Fremd coached long jumper, Cory Barger, who jumped a lifetime best of 25-3ft at the NCAA West Prelims to qualify to the NCAA National Championship Finals where he would earn honorable mention All-America honors by placing 17th. At the outdoor Big Sky Championships, Michael Turner was named Big Sky Conference MVP after winning the men's long jump with a mark of 25-8ft, placing 4th the 100m at 10.55, and 3rd in the 200m at 21.40. Elizabeth Venzon led a 1-2 finish with Kassandra Corrigan in the heptathlon (with scores of 5,322 and 5,163 points, respectively). Max Jette won the decathlon title with a score of 6,960 points. Darius Armstead won the men's triple jump title, setting a new school record and moving to 5th all time in Big Sky history in the event during the regular season with a jump of 53-1.5ft.
The 2017 indoor season was highlighted by Darius Armstead’s school record and Conference title winning jump of 51-2ft in the triple jump, and Elizabeth Venzon’s Conference title winning jump of 5-8ft (second-best mark in school history) in the women’s high jump.
Overall in 2017, Fremd’s group accounted for one NCAA All-American, six NCAA West Preliminary qualifiers, six Big Sky Conference champions, 18 all-conference honors earned, and 24 top-10 marks achieved during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
The 2016 season was highlighted by Kassandra Corrigan’s school record in the indoor pentathlon, with a score of 3,794 points.
Prior to his success at Sacramento State, Fremd spent two seasons as the Head Track & Field Coach at Yuba College. During the 2015 season, the women's team won its first Conference title in 15 years, by winning the Golden Valley Conference Championship. For his efforts, Fremd was also named the 2015 GVC Women's Coach of the Year.
Before his arrival at Yuba College, Fremd served as an assistant coach for the sprints/relays and jumps at Sacramento City College for two seasons. He began his coaching career during the 2011 season as an assistant coach at Pomona-Pitzer, where he coached the sprinters and jumpers.
As a student-athlete, Fremd competed for Cal State Northridge (CSUN) while earning his B.S. in Kinesiology. While competing for the Matadors, Fremd played an integral role on the team’s back-to-back Big West Conference team championships in 2009 & 2010. In 2013, he earned his M.S. in Kinesiology (sports performance) from Sacramento State. Fremd also attended Sacramento City College, where he was a team captain for the 2007 State Championship Track & Field Team. Fremd holds a USTFCCCA Jump Events Specialist certification and a USATF Level 2 Sprints/Hurdles/Relays certification.
Fremd is married to his former CSUN track teammate Crystal Fremd (formerly Spears), and the two have two sons, TJ and Tyson.
