Western Michigan University Athletics

Taryn Sheehan was announced as the Associate head coach for track & field/cross country on Sept. 20, 2016. 

During the 2017 Cross Country season, Sheehan led the Broncos to a seventh place finish at the MAC Championships and coached senior Hanne Christensen to a record breaking season. Christensen became just the second Bronco since 1986 to represent the WMU women's cross country team at the NCAA Championships as she finished 84^th overall with a personal best 6K time of 20:36.0. Concluding her lustrous career, Christensen became the first Bronco to win the Mid-American Conference Title since 1993.

The Broncos saw immediate gains in the distance events in Sheehan's first season back. The Broncos scored in the mile run and 5,000-meter run at the 2017 Indoor MAC Championships and followed it up with scoring performances in the 1,500-meter and 10k outdoors. 

Sheehan returns to WMU after a stint as an assistant coach at Louisville. While with the Cardinals she helped Holly Knight earn the first distance All-American honors for a female at Louisville in over 15 years. Knight was also named a COSIDA Academic All-American. She also coached Benadate Cheruiyot to a fifth-place finish in the steeple chase at the AAC Outdoor Championship in 2013 and a third-place finish in 2014. Under Sheehan, Kelsey Cramsey broke the school 800-meter run record and won the AAC title in the event at the 2014 AAC Indoor Championships.

Sheehan graduated from St. Francis (Pa.) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 2007. While with St. Francis she was a NCAA qualifier in the 10k and held the school and Northeast Conference record in the event. Following her time at St. Francis, she had one year of eligibility left and after graduating went to the University of Louisville, where she scored at the Big East indoor meet and holds the Cardinal record in the indoor 3,000-meter run.

She graduated from Louisville in 2009 with a Master's of Science degree in sport administration. Afterward, she served as an assistant coach with Western Michigan under Lycan from 2009-2011. Following her stint with the Broncos, Sheehan became the assistant coach at Louisville from 2011-2015. She helped coach the Cardinals to their highest finish in the cross country NCAA Regionals in school history in 2015.

Sheehan resides in Kalamazoo with her husband Ryan and her daughters Sloane and Aisling.