Brennan leads Falcons to success in new season

The UW-River Falls track coach, Martha Brennan, has been gifted in the sport of track and field for many years.

Brennan lived on a dairy farm in Byron, Minn., all her life. She always had to get up early and do chores.

“I milked cows and bailed hay,” Brennan said. “I even showed horses because we had some horses on our farm.”

Brennan went to Byron High School, where she played three varsity sports: track and field, volleyball and gymnastics. She competed in gymnastics for 15 years, but decided not to pursue it after high school.

“I was more built for track,” Brennan said. “There are more places to go and better options for track than there is for gymnastics.”

Track was what Brennan was really good at. She was on the high school varsity team when she was in seventh grade.

She made the state tournament every year, all the way up to her senior year. She took first place in the hurdles her junior and senior year.

After high school, Brennan went to Louisiana State University where she ran the heptepthalon.

She won a national championship with her team and graduated with a mathematics degree. She also has a masters and Ph.D. in educational administration.

Track isn’t all Brennan thinks about. She is also the mother of three children and a wife.

“I love to cook and clean,” Brennan said. “Pretty much the mom thing is what I do.”

She also likes to ride horses, dance and do everything there is to do outdoors.

Before coaching at River Falls, Brennan was the assistant coach at Texas A&M for seven years.

She went from a division one school to a division three school because “everything is more stressful in a division one school.”

Brennan coaches both the men’s and women’s track teams, which is a very rare occasion for any school.

She is the only coach in the conference that coaches both men and women.

“When it comes to coaching, I coach events,” Brennan said. “I don’t coach genders.”

A lot of people respect what Brennan has done for this organization.

They only have good things to say.

“Coach Brennan is very dedicated to our team,” sophomore Krista Hasselquist said. “She is also educated in the sport and knows exactly what she is doing.”

The track teams next meet is the Falcon Invitational April 7 and 8.

The Invitational begins at 3 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday. Brennan and the Falcons look forward to hosting their first home meet of the season.

After this weekend the Falcons travel to UW-Eau Claire for a meet on April 15.