HONOLULU — University of Hawai‘i track and field head coach Carmyn James announced the addition of Seilala Sua-Zumbado as assistant coach in charge of the throwers. Sua-Zumbado comes to UH from Cal State Northridge, where she was a throwing coach
HONOLULU — University of Hawai‘i track and field head coach Carmyn James announced the addition of Seilala Sua-Zumbado as assistant coach in charge of the throwers. Sua-Zumbado comes to UH from Cal State Northridge, where she was a throwing coach for the last five seasons.
From 2007-11, Sua-Zumbado was in charge of both the Matador men’s and women’s throwers. During her career, she coached 25 student-athletes, who qualified for the NCAA West Regionals. Sua-Zumado also served as volunteer coach at her alma mater UCLA in 2006.
“I am honored and truly excited to have Seilala join our coaching staff,” James said. “Besides having a wealth of expertise in the throwing events, she is passionate about coaching and has a heart of gold. No doubt her positive energy and enthusiasm will be felt by our entire team and everyone within the UH Athletics Department. We are blessed to have her in our ‘ohana.”
Sua-Zumbado graduated from UCLA in 2001 with a degree in sociology and is the winningest athlete in NCAA track and field history. While at UCLA, Sua-Zumbado won seven NCAA championships and was a 14-time All-American, who competed in all four throwing events – shot put, discus, hammer and javelin. She still ranks in the UCLA’s all-time Top 10 in each of those events.
In Pac-10 competition, Sua-Zumbado won six individual titles and was a two-time Pac-10 women’s track and field Athlete of the Year. In NCAA competition, she won four consecutive discus crowns and became only the second woman in NCAA history to win four straight individual titles in the same event. Her other titles include an Outdoor Championship in the shot put in 1999 and 2000, and an Indoor Championship in the shot put in 2000.
Sua-Zumbado’s collegiate success continued as a professional where she was a member of two U.S. Olympic teams in the discus (2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens), four-time USATF National Champion in the discus, one-time USATF National Champion in the shot put and a three-time World Championships competitor. She has ranked in the Top 10 nationally in the discus for eight consecutive years and had the No. 6 mark in the world in 2001. While competing in the shot put, she also ranked in the Top 10 nationally for seven consecutive years.
