Letitia Saayman enters her second season as the Graduate Assistant Coach for the Campbell cross country and track & field teams. She graduated from Coastal Carolina in 2015 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology and is currently working towards her Master’s in School Counseling at Campbell. Saayman primarily works with the women’s distance runners.
In 2017, Saayman helped to coach the women's cross country team to a second place finish at the Big South Championship, the best finish for CU since rejoining the Big South in 2011. In addition, Michaela Louw finished as the runner-up to earn All-Conference honors along with teammates Lize Botha and Roshae Jackson. Collectively, the returners set 11 personal records during the year, including six at the 5K distance and five in the 6K.
She helped to lead the women’s distance program to new heights during the 2016-17 cross country and track & field seasons. The CU women’s squad placed third at the Big South Championship. In addition, the Camel women’s distance runners earned four individual conference titles and eight All-Big South honors in 2017.
Saayman was a member of the track & field and cross country teams during her undergraduate career at Coastal Carolina. In 2015, she was earned All-America honors in cross country after finishing 18th at the NCAA Championships. Prior to the national meet, Saayman was named the Big South Runner of the Year and the Southeast Region Runner of the Year.
She also saw success on track while at Coastal Carolina, winning six individual Big South titles (3x outdoor 10,000m, 2x indoor 5000m and outdoor 5000m) and earning All-Big South honors on 11 occasions. In 2015, she was named the Big South Women’s Runner of the Year for the outdoor season and qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary in the 10,000m.
The Pretoria, South Africa, native remains an avid runner and competed in the half marathon at the 29th annual Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan, during the summer of 2017. She clocked in at 1:23.6 to place 15th in the race.
