Priscilla Bayley serves as the women’s cross country coachfor the Harvard University Track and Field and Cross Countryprogram. In her three years on the Cambridge campus, Bayley has ledthe resurgence of the program to national prominence.
In 2012, the women’s cross country team qualified fortheir first NCAA national championship since 1983. The Crimsonqualified as a result of a fourth place team finish at the2012 Northeast Region Championship and garnered a third placefinish at the Ivy League championship.
Success continued for the Crimson in 2013 as the women earnedtheir first ever USTFCCCA poll ranking at #27, narrowly missing arepeat NCAA national championship appearance.
Under Bayley’s guidance, the Crimson women have reachedunprecedented success in track and field. The Harvard women wonback-to-back Ivy League indoor championship titles in 2013 and 2014and continued that success in winning the 2014 Ivy League outdoorchampionship. Bayley’s strong core of middle-distance anddistances runners have directly impacted Harvard’schampionship success and have set over 10 school records including:500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, sprint medleyrelay, and indoor/outdoor distance medley relay and 4x800m relaysrespectively.
Bayley’s pupils have also garnered regional and nationalrecognition in athletics and academics. Emily Reese ’14 andViviana Hanley ’15 earned USTFCCCA All-Region accolades,while Hanley and Lauren DiNicola have been inducted in the Phi BetaKappa honor society.
Prior to her role at Harvard, Bayley was an assistant coach forthe Santa Clara University cross country and track and fieldprogram. During the 2010-11 season, Bayley led threestudent-athletes to All-West Coast Conference distinctions and thebest men’s team finish since 2007, placing third.
During the 2009-2010 season, Bayley was an assistant coach forthe Saint Mary’s College cross country program.
Bayley began her coaching career in 2006 as a volunteer headcoach for the Buffalo Chips Running Team in Sacramento, Californiafrom 2006-09. During her time with the Buffalo Chips, she led themost success junior women’s club team in the nation as itboasted two national AAU titles, three national champions and oneUSA Junior World Team qualifier.
As a former cross country and track and field student-athlete atthe University of California, Davis, Bayley was a Division II NCAAnational championship competitor and all-conference awardwinner.
Bayley graduated from UC Davis in 2004 with a Bachelor of Artsdegree with double majors in communications and Chicano studieswith an emphasis on social and public policy.
Bayley and her husband, Tim, reside in Cambridge.
