Honors
- 5 Olympians – 25 World Championships qualifiers
- 4-time National Assistant Coach of the Year (Indoor | 2013, 2014, 2023; Outdoor | 2023)
- 19 NCAA Individual National Champions – 6 different events
- 82 Individual Conference Champions
- 100 first-team NCAA All-Americans
- Coached 2016 Bowerman Award Winner, Jarrion Lawson
- Coached 2022 Bowerman Award Finalist, Ayden Owens-Delerme
- Coached 2023 Bowerman Award Winner, Jaydon Hibbert
- 2 Bahamian National Champions and 5 Jamaican National Champions (titles)
- 3 Collegiate Records
- 3 World Junior Records
- 3 American Junior Records
Travis Geopfert, who returned to the Razorback men’s track and field program on July 1, 2021, is entering his 22nd season as a collegiate track and field coach. From 2018-2021, Geopfert served as Associate Head Coach for both men’s and women’s track and field at Tennessee.
Previously, Geopfert was an assistant coach with Arkansas for nine seasons (2009-18) and was also with Razorback head coach Chris Bucknam for five seasons at Northern Iowa (2003-08), while serving as Head Coach at Northern Iowa from 2008-2009. Geopfert started his coaching career as a Graduate Assistant at Central Missouri State (2002-03).
The coaching trio of Coach Bucknam, Associate Head Coach Doug Case and Geopfert have worked together 16 of the past 20 years.
Historic performances enhanced the 2023 season as athletes coached by Geopfert produced world-leading marks in the long jump (28-0.25|8.54) and triple jump (58-7.5|17.87) with the Jamaican duo of Wayne Pinnock and Jaydon Hibbert.
Hibbert, the second Bowerman winner and third finalist coached by Geopfert, swept the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor triple jump titles as he broke multiple collegiate and World U20 records as an 18-year-old freshman with the Razorbacks.
In the process of earning a silver medal in the long jump at the World Athletics Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary, Pinnock produced his world leading distance in the qualifying round, while Hibbert produced the leading mark during the World Athletics Championships with a 58-1 (17.70) leap in the qualifying round. It produced the farthest distance during qualifying in the history of the World Championships, surpassing the previous best of 57-7.5 (17.56) set in 2003.
The 2023 world-leading triple jump mark was set by Hibbert at the SEC Championships in May, which shattered the previous collegiate record of 57-7.75 (17.57) set by Keith Connor of SMU in 1982 by nearly a full foot.
Indoors, Hibbert broke the collegiate record with his lone attempt at the NCAA Indoor Championship, which measured 57-6.5 (17.54) and bettered the long standing record of 57-1 (17.54) by Razorback legend Mike Conley, which was set in 1985, as well as the Jamaican national record of 56-4.75 (17.19) set by Clive Pullen of Arkansas in 2017.
Hibbert, who broke the World U20 record that had been set in 1985, became only the fourth freshman to win the NCAA Outdoor triple jump, and just the second to sweep NCAA titles as a frosh.
With Carey McLeod sweeping the NCAA long jump titles in 2023, it marked just the third time in NCAA history for a school to win the long jump and triple jump with different jumpers. It was the seventh time for the same school to sweep NCAA Indoor and Outdoor long jump and triple jump titles in the same season with the Razorbacks accounting for six of those sweeps.
A 1-2 finish in the NCAA Outdoor long jump by McLeod and Pinnock made Arkansas just the second school to achieve that feat.
Geopfert coached athletes have made their mark on the NCAA all-time top 10 marks in the long jump, high jump, triple jump, and decathlon.
NCAA top 10 marks coached by Geopfert include: Jaydon Hibbert – outdoor triple jump (17.87m | 58-7.5) and indoor triple jump (17.54m | 57-6.5), Jarrion Lawson – outdoor long Jump (8.58m | 28-1.75) and indoor long jump (8.39m | 27-6.5), Carey McLeod – indoor long jump (8.40m | 27-6.75), Darryl Sullivan – indoor and outdoor high jump (2.33m | 7-7.75), Clive Pullen – indoor triple jump (17.19m | 56-4.75), Ayden Owens-Delerme – decathlon (8,528) and indoor heptathlon (6,518). Kevin Lazas is also on the indoor all-time heptathlon list with a mark of 6,175 points enroute to winning the NCAA title in 2013.
A career that has produced 19 NCAA Champions in six different events and 100 first-team All-Americans, Geopfert’s work has not gone unnoticed, as he has been named USTFCCCA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year nine times, National Assistant Coach of the Year three times (2013, 2014, 2023) and Missouri Valley Conference Head Coach of the Year in 2009. In addition to NCAA success, he has coached five Olympians in seven different events and 25 World Championships qualifiers.
In the long jump, Geopfert has now coached nine different athletes over the elite 8.00m | 26-3 threshold. These athletes have produced 82 competitions over 8 meters, 28 competitions over 8.23 | 27-0. Among those impressive marks are Lawson’s 2016 Olympic Trials leap of 8.53 | 28-0 as well as Pinnock’s 8.54 | 28-0.25.
Those marks include three different long jump Olympians (Raymond Higgs ‘12, Jarrion Lawson ’16, and Carey McLeod ’21) as well as 10 different World Championships qualifiers. At the NCAA level, Geopfert coached long jumpers have produced 29 first-team All-Americans with six NCAA Champions and a remarkable 16 NCAA top-three finishes.
In the triple jump, Geopfert has produced four athletes that have gone over the 17.00m | 55-9.25 barrier (Jaydon Hibbert, 17.87m ’23, Clive Pullen, 17.19m ’16, Carey Mcleod 17.17m ’21, and Jah-Nai Perinchief 17.03m ’21). His triple jumpers have achieved a pair of Collegiate records, five NCAA titles, two Olympic appearances, five World Championships qualifiers, six NCAA top-three finishes, and 18 first-team All-America honors.
In the combined events, Geopfert’s athletes have set numerous records including three American Junior records, one World Junior record and a Collegiate record. Ayden Owens-Delerme leads the way winning both indoor and outdoor NCAA titles in 2022 as well as breaking the NCAA record at the Mt. SAC Relays and tying Ashton Eaton’s NCAA meet record while winning the outdoor campaign.
The 2022 season for Owens-Delerme also included finishing fourth with a personal best of 8532 points in the World Championships decathlon while being the youngest athlete in the field. He improved his Puerto Rican national record as he became the first person to represent the country in a World Championships decathlon.
His most notable mark in the World Championships decathlon was his 45.07 400 meters that ranks No. 2 only behind Eaton’s decathlon world best of 45.00 from 2015. The time also bettered the Puerto Rican national record.
Owens-Delerme remarkable 2022 season made him a Bowerman award finalist. All told Geopfert has had combined event athletes finish as first-team All-American on 19 occasions with three national champions and seven NCAA top-three finishes.
Owens-Delerme is Geopfert’s second Bowerman finalist, as he guided Jarrion Lawson to the “Jesse Owens triple” in winning the 100m, 200m and long jump during the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. This feat ultimately won Lawson the Bowerman Award.
On the professional front Geopfert coaches an elite group of post collegians with “Trackwired Elite” comprised mostly of former Razorbacks. The group is anchored by Olympians Omar McLeod, Jarrion Lawson, Clive Pullen, Kemar Mowatt, Darryl Sullivan, Hunter Woodhall, and Tara Davis, as well as World Championships qualifiers Laquan Nairn, Jah-Nhai Perinchief, and Marqueze Washington.
In 2022, the pro group sent seven athletes to the indoor and outdoor World Championships meets, which culminated in five top 10 finishes.
A standout student-athlete for Northern Iowa, Geopfert earned All-America honors and was a three-time MVC champion. Including his professional career as an athlete, he was a two-time Drake Relays decathlon champion, three-time member of the Thorpe Cup and a six-time USA Championships qualifier in the decathlon.
A native of Panora, Iowa, Geopfert earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern Iowa in 2002. Geopfert and his wife Nicole recently celebrated their 20th anniversary and have three children Jones – 11, Jax – 10, and Ellyn – 9.
