Coach Olivia Pratt

Following up a successful collegiate career at Butler University, where she earned All-American honors three times and won 5 conference championships, Olivia Pratt joined the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project based in Rochester, MI, where she’s gone on to find success in distances from the 5k to the marathon. 

Some goals took longer to achieve than others, though. In 2020, after four years without an improvement in her 10,000m personal record, she had a breakthrough in her favorite event – eventually improving her PR by 80 seconds within the span of a few months, to a time of 31:48. She followed this up with an appearance at the US Olympic Trials in 2021, where she placed 25th in a strong field. 

Olivia’s experiences racing the 10,000m taught her that patience is key for a distance runner’s success – a lesson reinforced by a long drought and then a breakthrough in the half marathon distance, when she improved her personal best by more than two and a half minutes, to a time of 1:10:57, over the course of 2023. As her focus shifts toward the marathon, she’s applying these lessons learned as she works towards her goals in that event. 

Alongside her running career, Olivia has enjoyed working as a volunteer assistant cross country and track and field coach at Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, MI. She’s found there are few things more rewarding than helping these young athletes towards breakthroughs of their own, and getting to celebrate their successes alongside the team.