The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Track & Field / Cross Country
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Women's Cross Country/Distance)
Texas Track & Field women’s distance coach PattiSue Plumer has spent two seasons on the Forty Acres. Plumer, a former two-time Olympian, previously worked with head coach Edrick Floréal during his time at Stanford.
In 2020, Plumer coached a number of impressive student-athletes, highlighted by graduate transfer Kathryn Gillespie. Gillespie was one of four Longhorns to earn All-Big 12 honors during Cross Country seasons. She was joined Destiny Collins, Beth Ramos and Claudine Blancaflor. Gillespie also dominated during the Indoor Track and Field season, winning three Big 12 titles (800m, Mile, DMR) en route to sharing High Point honors at the conference meet in Ames, Iowa. She, along with teammate Julien Alfred (60m, 200m, 4x400m), became the first UT women to win three Big 12 Indoor titles in the same season since Marshevet Hooker in 2006.
Under Plumer’s guidance, Gillespie shattered the school’s indoor mile record (4:34.64) by more than four seconds. She also was a part of a six-second school record in the DMR (11:04.81), as well as becoming the fourth-fastest 800-meter performer (2:06.33) in UT history. Plumer also helped direct Gillespie, Destiny Collins, Valery Tobias and Alexandria Cruz to the fastest UT 4x800m-relay time (8:46.16) in 28 years, and the fifth-fastest overall in school history, at the John Thomas Terrier Classic.
Texas’ Cross Country squad took second at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships during the fall, coming within two points of winning the school’s first Cross Country conference title since 1989. Plumer’s efforts with the women’s distance program also helped UT win its third-straight Big 12 Indoor Track and Field title behind a 180.33-point team effort, the highest scoring output in Big 12 history.
During her first season in Austin, Plumer helped oversee the development of Texas’ distance runners, including 2018 All-Big 12 Cross Country performer Destiny Collins. The Longhorns finished fifth at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships and qualified for the NCAA Championships during her first season at the helm.
Prior to coming to Texas, Plumer served as the Cross Country and Track & Field head coach at Gunn High School in Palo Alto since 2013. She also coached the Stanford Running Club.
At Gunn, she guided student-athletes to two California state championships and multiple Central Coast Section championships, as well as a team fifth-place finish at the California state meet which was Gunn's best finish ever. She has earned her numerous Coach of the Year awards throughout her career. Plumer has also coached athletes who have set national junior records in both the indoor and outdoor 3000m.
Additionally, Plumer has coached athletes to the Olympic Trials finals and medalist honors at Junior Nationals. With the Stanford Running Club, she has coached National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA) National Champions in the 4x800m Relay, 800m and 5000m. She also guided the SRC to a NIRCA Regional Cross Country Championship.
One of Stanford's all-time best distance runners, Plumer earned nine All-America honors with the Cardinal. She is a two-time NCAA champion and won four U.S. national championships, winning twice in both the 3,000 (1989, 1992) and 5,000 (1990, 1991). At Stanford, Plumer won the NCAA indoor two-mile title (9:45.54) in 1983 and the outdoor 5,000 (15:39.38) in 1984. She ran on three NCAA runner-up teams in cross country while at Stanford.
Plumer embarked on an incredible post-collegiate career following her time at Stanford. In 1989, she set an American record in the 5,000, running a 14:59.99 in Stockholm, Sweden. She then finished fifth in the 3,000 and 10th in the 1,500 in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She also qualified for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, finishing 13th in the 3,000. She also ran a 4:16.68 in New York City's Fifth Avenue Mile to set a course record that still stands today but was tied by Jenny Simpson in 2017.
Prior to coaching under Floréal at Stanford, Plumer had coached cross country and track at Los Altos (Calif.) High School for six years after working as a lawyer for several years. She also served as a volunteer coach at Stanford in 1992 and 1993.
She is a 1985 graduate of Stanford with a degree in earth sciences, and graduated with her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Stanford Law School in 1989. She was inducted as a member of Stanford's Athletics Hall of Fame after retiring from competition in 1998. Plumer is married to Steve Levere and the couple has two daughters - Jacqui and Jenna Levere.
