Rebecca Roberts, now in her sixth season as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s track & field teams, works primarily with the Violets’ pole vaulters.
Last season, Roberts helped the women’s team set new school records for the pole vault during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. In her collegiate debut, freshman Dana Placentra set a new indoor pole vault mark at 3.10m. The very next week, she bested that mark with a height of 3.15m. That record was later eclipsed by sophomore Ilana Brown, who ended the season as the current record-holder at 3.30m.
Roberts’ crew kept up the pace during the outdoor season, as Brown set a new mark of 3.20m in the first meet of the season and went on to produce a seventh-place finish at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships.
In 2014, Roberts also oversaw the continued development of current NYU outdoor pole vault record-holder junior Tom Longabaugh, who produced a fifth-place finish with a height of 4.27m at the UAA Outdoor Championships.
Roberts helped athletes break outdoor pole vault records for both the men’s and women’s squads in 2012-13, as well.
For the men, Longabaugh established the current Violet outdoor mark of 4.60m at the Matthew Vassar Twilight Meet, shattering the previous record of 4.51m which had stood since 2000. His previous personal best was 4.40m.
On the women’s side, Brown surpassed the previous NYU record of 2.90m on several occasions, settling on a mark of 3.05m.
Roberts also guided both Longabaugh and Brown to scoring results at the UAA Outdoor Championships, where Longabaugh took eighth place and Brown tied for seventh.
During the 2012 season, Roberts worked with Nikki Hill, who went on to score for the Violets with an eighth-place finish at the UAA Outdoor Championships. On the men’s side, Longabaugh posted a season-best fifth-place finish at The College of New Jersey Invitational.
A 2005 graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance, Roberts was a four-year member of the Rams’ track & field team which won six Atlantic 10 team championships during that span.
Prior to her collegiate career, Roberts honed her skills at elite camps such as Bill Falk’s Pole Vault Camp, the University of Southern Maine - Mike Drummey Camp, and the Holy Cross Pole Vault Camp.
In addition to her coaching duties at NYU, Roberts also works as a principal consultant with Siwel Consulting, Inc.
A native of East Greenwich, RI, Roberts resides in New York City.
