Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Track & Field Coach (Hurdles, Jumps, Multis)
- Email:
- eric.fremd@ucr.edu
Coach Fremd by the Numbers
- 3x NCAA D1 All-Americans (2x First Team)
- 2 USATF Championships Qualifiers
- 23 NCAA West Prelims qualifiers (TJ x12, LJ x8, HJ x2, 400H x1)
- 16 Conference Champions
- 70 All-Conference Performers
- 870 points scored by his athletes at conference championships
- 14 School Records
- 189 All-Time School Top-10 Performances
Eric Fremd enters his ninth season on the UC Riverside coaching staff as the assistant coach in charge of jumps, hurdles, and multi-events. Under Fremd, his athletes have elevated to new levels of success through dramatic development and postseason readiness.
The 2026 season was a banner year for Fremd’s event group. He guided Chelsea Aninyei to a 5th-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships in the Women’s Triple Jump. Chelsea’s jump of 44’ 4.25” (13.52m) broke the Big West Conference record and made her the conference’s first triple jump First-Team All-American in over a decade. Fremd also led a group of his athletes to the NCAA postseason by qualifying four athletes in six events for the NCAA West Preliminary Round: Kazu Kimura in LJ & HJ, Aaron Frugé in LJ, Andrew Robinson in TJ, and Chelsea Aninyei in LJ & TJ.
At the conference level in 2026, Fremd’s event group took the Big West Championships by storm. UCR’s men’s and women’s jumpers scored more points in the jumps than any other Big West school, totaling 49 combined points. In the Men’s Long Jump, Aaron Frugé, Kazu Kimura, Elijah Yoshinaga, and Addae Ma’at took 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th place—accounting for 50% of the possible scoring positions in the final. Kazu Kimura also became UCR’s first-ever Men’s High Jump Champion after clearing a PR of 6’ 11.5” (2.12m). Andrew Robinson and Elijah Yoshinaga added to the tally in the Men’s Triple Jump with 3rd and 8th-place finishes. On the women’s side, Chelsea Aninyei captured her first conference championship in the Women’s Triple Jump, while also placing 3rd in the Women’s Long Jump. In the hurdles, Arthur Celestine scored in both events, placing 7th in the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles.
Other notable performances from Fremd’s athletes at UCR over the years include Kyan Thomas—a multiple-time NCAA Prelims qualifier—capturing the ’26 MPSF Triple Jump Title, as well as Maxwell Jefferson and Martin Billings breaking the 60m Hurdle school record with identical times of 7.96. Fremd also led six triple jumpers to the ’25 Big West final (three men and three women), coached Melanie Ceballos to three podium finishes at the ’25 MPSF Championships (LJ, TJ, 4x4), and guided Aaron Frugé to the ’25 MPSF Long Jump title. Quinn Williams became the 2019 Big West 400m Hurdle Champion under his guidance. Additionally, multiple school records have fallen during his tenure, including Didi Amarasekara in the Heptathlon (5,151 points) and indoor Long Jump (6.08m), Purnima Gunarathna in the indoor High Jump (1.72m), Melanie Ceballos in both the indoor & outdoor 4x4, and Chelsea Aninyei in the outdoor Triple Jump (13.52m).
Prior to arriving at UC Riverside, Fremd spent five seasons at Sacramento State coaching horizontal jumps, and multi-events. During his time in Sacramento, Fremd’s group rewrote the record books and thrived in the postseason. In 2018, Fremd led Darius Armstead to a 7th-place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships in the Men’s Triple Jump with a mark of 53’ 0.75” (16.17m). Armstead became Sac State’s first-ever Triple Jump First-Team All-American. During that same season, Fremd led two podium sweeps at the Big Sky Championships. At the outdoor meet, his women’s triple jumpers, led by Emilia Del Hoyo, scored 30 points by placing 1st through 4th, and 8th. At the indoor championship, his men’s triple jumpers swept the top three spots, led by Jah Strange, who also broke the indoor school record. At the same meet, Emilia Del Hoyo secured MVP honors by scoring 22 individual points, placing 2nd in the triple jump (behind teammate Brittany Patterson), 3rd in the pentathlon, 4th in the long jump, and 7th in the 60m hurdles.
In 2017, Fremd’s multi-eventers had a podium sweep of their own, with Max Jette winning the Decathlon and Elizabeth Venzon winning the Heptathlon at the Big Sky Championships. Michael Turner won MVP honors at the same meet by winning the Long Jump (25’ 8”), placing 4th in the 100m, 3rd in the 200m, and running legs on the 2nd-place 4x400m and 4th-place 4x100m relays. Other conference champions that year were Darius Armstead in the indoor & outdoor Men’s TJ and Elizabeth Venzon in the indoor HJ.
In addition to Armstead, several of Fremd’s Sacramento State athletes achieved NCAA postseason success. Cory Barger qualified for the 2017 NCAA Championships after jumping 25’ 3.25” (7.70m) at the West Prelims, ultimately placing 17th at NCAA Finals to earn Second-Team All-American status. Seven of Fremd’s athletes earned a combined 12 qualifications to the NCAA West Prelims: Jah Strange (LJ & TJ x2), Mohammed Abdullah (TJ x2), Darius Armstead (TJ x2), Emilia Del Hoyo (TJ), Cory Barger (LJ x2), Michael Turner (LJ), and Elizabeth Venzon (HJ).
Prior to Sacramento State, Fremd spent two seasons as the Head Track & Field and Cross Country Coach at Yuba College. During the 2015 season, the women's team captured the Golden Valley Conference Championship—its first conference title in 15 years. Fremd was named the 2015 GVC Women's Coach of the Year for his efforts.
Before his arrival at Yuba College, Fremd served as an assistant coach for sprints/relays and jumps at Sacramento City College for two seasons. He began his coaching career in 2011 as an assistant coach at Pomona-Pitzer, working with sprinters and jumpers.
As a student-athlete, Fremd competed for Cal State Northridge while earning his B.S. in Kinesiology. While competing for the Matadors, CSUN won back-to-back Big West Conference team championships in 2009 and 2010. In 2013, he earned his M.S. in Kinesiology (Sports Performance) from Sacramento State. Fremd also attended Sacramento City College, where he served as a team captain for the 2007 State Championship Track & Field Team. He 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). The couple has two sons, TJ (10) and Tyson (7).
|
Coach Fremd Jumps & Multis Development Highlight Chart |
||||||
|
Event |
HS PR or Previous Univ. Best |
New PR |
Improvement Amount |
Years Coached |
School |
|
|
Kyan Thomas |
TJ |
47' 0" (14.33m) |
50' 8.5" (15.46m) |
3' 8.5" |
4 |
UCR |
|
Calvin Black |
TJ |
46' 10.25" (14.28m) |
50' 6.75" (15.41m) |
3' 8.5" |
4 |
UCR |
|
Aaron Fruge |
LJ |
22' 11.5" (7.00m) |
24' 10.5" (7.58m) |
1' 11" |
3 |
UCR |
|
HJ |
6' 5" (1.96m) |
6' 6.25" (1.99m) |
0' 1.25" |
|||
|
Kazu Kimura |
LJ |
22' 5.25" (6.84m) |
24' 9.5" (7.56m) |
2' 4.25" |
2 |
UCR |
|
HJ |
6' 6" (1.98m) |
6' 11.5" (2.12m) |
0' 5.5" |
|||
|
Anthony Reyes |
TJ |
46' 6.5" (14.19m) |
49' 1.5" (14.97m) |
2' 7" |
2 |
UCR |
|
Andrew Robinson |
TJ |
49' 8" (15.14m) |
51' 0" (15.54m) |
1' 4" |
1 |
UCR |
|
Darius Armstead |
TJ |
49' 4" (15.04m) |
53' 1" (16.19m) |
3' 9" |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Jah Strange |
TJ |
49' 0" (14.94m) |
51' 4" (15.64m) |
2' 4" |
2 |
Sac State |
|
LJ |
21' 5.5" (6.54m) |
24' 11.5" (7.61m) |
3' 6" |
|||
|
Cory Barger |
LJ |
23' 11.75" (7.31m) |
25' 3.25" (7.70m) |
1' 3.5" |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Michael Turner |
LJ |
24' 6.5" (7.48m) |
25' 8" (7.82m) |
1' 1.5" |
1 |
Sac State |
|
Chelsea Aninyei |
TJ |
39' 6.5" (12.05m) |
44' 4.25" (13.52m) |
4' 9.75" |
3 |
UCR |
|
LJ |
18' 0" (5.50m) |
20 '9.25" (6.33m) |
2' 9.25" |
|||
|
HJ |
5' 5" (1.64m) |
5' 7" (1.70m) |
0' 2" |
|||
|
Melanie Ceballos |
LJ |
17' 9.75" (5.43m) |
19' 7.5" (5.98m) |
1' 9.25" |
4 |
UCR |
|
TJ |
36' 3" (11.05m) |
40' 4" (12.29m) |
4' 1" |
|||
|
Jessica Onwu |
TJ |
36' 1.75" (11.02m) |
38' 1.75" (11.63m) |
2' 0" |
1 |
UCR |
|
Michelle Algiers |
TJ |
36' 4.25" (11.08m) |
39' 5.5" (12.03m) |
3' 1.25" |
3 |
UCR |
|
Emilia Del Hoyo |
TJ |
38' 5.5" (11.72m) |
41' 2.5" (12.56m) |
2' 9" |
1 |
Sac State |
|
Brittany Patterson |
TJ |
39' 6" (12.04m) |
41' 0" (12.50m) |
1' 6" |
1 |
Sac State |
|
Elizabeth Venzon |
HJ |
5' 6.5" (1.69m) |
5' 8.75" (1.75m) |
0' 2.25" |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Bold = Current Athlete |
||||||
|
Hep/Decs |
Event |
Previous Best Score |
New PR Score |
Improvement Amount |
Years Coached |
School |
|
Elizabeth Venzon |
Hep |
4713 |
5322 |
609 |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Kassandra Corrigan |
Hep |
5006 |
5163 |
157 |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Julia Grimm |
Hep |
4686 |
4937 |
251 |
2 |
Sac State |
|
Sareena Patzke |
Hep |
4109 |
4742 |
633 |
1 |
Sac State |
|
Didi Amarasekara |
Hep |
4,921 |
5,157 |
236 |
1 |
UCR |
|
Monea Jennings |
Hep |
4,249 |
4,601 |
352 |
2 |
UCR |
|
Max Jette |
Dec |
6565 |
6960 |
395 |
3 |
Sac State |
|
Andrew Stich |
Dec |
6,379.00 |
6,606 |
227 |
2 |
Sac State |
