Xavier University Women's Track & Field

Xavier Vice President for Administration and Director of Athletics Greg Christopher announced the hiring of Sam Burroughs as the Musketeers new Head Coach for Cross Country and Track and Field on Jan. 4, 2021. During his time at Xavier, he has coached student-athletes to 93 top-10 finishes in the Xavier cross country and track and field record books - including nine school-record performances. He has also coached three runners who participated in the NCAA Track and Field East Regionals. Burroughs has over 24 years of collegiate experience. He has coached 96 individual conference champions and 48 individual NCAA qualifiers, while leading 18 teams to conference championship titles. Burroughs joined the Musketeers after previously working as associate head coach at Cincinnati from 2013-20. He guided the men’s cross country team to six top-five finishes at the AAC Cross Country Championships, including two runner-up finishes. Burroughs also assisted in helping the women’s cross country team place fifth at the conference championships in 2019 – the team’s highest finish since joining the conference in 2013. Burroughs helped the Bearcats set seven school records and coached four NCAA individual qualifiers. Academically, the men’s and women’s cross country programs combined to post perfect APR scores five times. Prior to Cincinnati, Burroughs was the head cross country coach at North Texas (2010-13). He coached three conference ‘athletes of the year’ and helped two student-athletes

Lauren Etheridge was named assistant coach for the cross country and track and field programs in August of 2021 and was promoted to associate head coach in July of 2023. She was previously the head cross country coach at USC Aiken from 2019-21. During her time with the Musketeers, she has helped coach student-athletes to 93 top-10 finishes in the Xavier cross country and track and field record books - including nine school-record performances. Etheridge has also helped coach three runners who participated in the NCAA Track and Field East Regionals. In the spring of 2021, she guided the women’s cross country team to an eighth-place finish at the Peach Belt Conference Championships – the team’s highest finish since 2011. She restarted the program in 2019 after a one-year hiatus (the women did not have a team in 2018). Etheridge also restarted the men’s program in the fall of 2019 after a 20-year hiatus. All told, she helped 17 student-athletes establish new personal-best times from 2020-21. Off the course, the team had 10 runners earn PBC All-Academic team honors in 2020-21. The women’s team also posted a department-leading 3.67 grade point average, while the men recorded a 3.24 grade point average. At USC Aiken, she also served as the school’s first head strength and conditioning coach. She focused on sports performance and injury prevention for all 10 teams. Prior to USC Aiken, she was a graduate assistant cross country coach at Auburn University at Montgomery (2017-18). She