After piloting the Beach women to the team title at The Big West Championships this past season, Long Beach State track & field head coach LaTanya Sheffield will helm USA Track & Field (USATF) as the women’s head coach in the upcoming Track & Field World Championships, held at Oregon’s Hayward Field July 15-24. It will be the first time that the World Championships will be held on American soil.
 
“There is nothing like it,” Sheffield says about representing her country. “There’s nothing like wearing the ‘USA’ on your chest. A lot of people don’t understand that you lose your given name, and you gain a country.”
 
Sheffield recently completed her 10th season at Long Beach State. The 2022 season was highlighted by the Beach winning their second women’s team title at The Big West Championships. During her tenure, she has produced 40 regional qualifiers and 11 national qualifiers in the sprints and hurdles. For her hard work, effort, and dedication, Sheffield was recently named the head coach and "Director in Waiting" of the Beach track & field program. 
 
On the international stage, Sheffield has served as the sprints, hurdles, and relays coach at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as well as the 2019 Pan-American Games for Team USA. She has also served on the USATF Development Committee as the event chair for women’s hurdles since 2007.
 
The majority of USA’s roster earned their spots by finishing in the top three in their events during last month’s USATF Outdoor Championships, which were also in Eugene. Some notable names on the roster include Allyson Felix, Athing Mu, Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad.
 
“The difference is the focus,” Sheffield says about the contrast between coaching collegiate student-athletes and the national team. “The elite athlete has piercing focus. They know what they want, they’ve studied how to get there, and they are committed to the execution.”
 
Sheffield utilizes her own experience as a world-class hurdler in her coaching. She participated in the 400 hurdles in the 1988 Seoul Olympics when it was first getting traction as a women’s event. The men’s 400 hurdles became an Olympic event in 1900, but it was not until 1984 where it was introduced to the women’s division. Sheffield credits Title IX for the opportunity it has given her to chase her dreams when she was an athlete and now as a mentor to those that follow in her footsteps.
 
“In ’88 when I went to the Olympic games, knowing that the 400 hurdles were in its infancy, but also understanding that Title IX made way for that, was absolutely amazing,” Sheffield says.
 
“Athletics has been a major element to the growth and development of our confidence, motivation, and determination. But also understanding that Title IX made way for that, is absolutely amazing. In 50 years, the opportunity to play, the opportunity for respect, the opportunity for equal pay, just breaking those ceilings, I’m hopeful that that’s where we move. Where it is no longer a conversation. That we are not celebrating it, but it is a thing that is normal. I am so happy to be part of that equation.”