HEIGHT 6'1" WEIGHT 220 lbs

Follow Alex on Twitter @XanderPHarrison

Alex Harrison was born in Edmonds, Washington on December 4, 1987. He has a bachelor's and master's degree in kinesiology from Western Washington University. He is currently working on a PhD in sport physiology and performance from East Tennessee State University, with an expected graduation of August 2015.

In high school, he was originally a baseball player. He experimented with other sports until his junior year when he made a permanent switch to track and field. Realizing that he was a jack of all trades and could place well within the district in a handful of events, he decided to pursue the decathlon, though he didn’t compete in one until his sophomore year at WWU. In all, he played tennis and baseball, swam, ran cross country and competed in track and field.

The first three years of Harrison’s collegiate career were spent navigating the new environment of track and field, placing well in the conference decathlon, javelin, shot put and pole vault events. Having only done track and field for about 15 months prior to entering WWU as a freshman, he recognized that regimented training was at times more detrimental to his body, suffering stress fractures and pulled muscles. As a result, he was sidelined his entire freshman year, giving him the opportunity for his sixth year of collegiate track and field.

Harrison used a medical redshirt to regain his eligibility from his injurious fifth year at WWU. In Harrison’s fourth academic year at WWU he broke his first school record with a javelin throw of over 63 meters, and qualified for the Division II National Championships for the first time, in both javelin and decathlon. Harrison managed to earn All-America honors for the first time in javelin, placing fifth.

As a 6th year senior, Harrison qualified once again for the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships in both the decathlon and javelin. This time, he earned All-American honors placing seventh in the decathlon. Earlier that season Harrison had record breaking performances on several occasions. He set the conference meet decathlon record at 6598 points as well as breaking the Western Washington University (WWU) records in both the decathlon (6772 points) and the javelin (65.12m). Harrison was also the highest scoring male athlete at the 2012 Outdoor GNAC Conference Championships, scoring in five events.

Harrison continued to compete in track and field improving his marks in the throws and sprints, as well as dabbling in the other events of the decathlon. He also competed in his first ever weightlifting meets placing third both times at the Stoneage Weightlifting Meet at ETSU; once as 94 kg lifter and once as a 105 kg weightlifter. As 105 kg competitor he qualified for University Nationals but decided to forgo the competition to continue to focus his efforts on the bobsled team requirements leading up to the 2014-15 winter season.

He was originally introduced to the sport of bobsled by a friend and colleague, Doug Wheeler, who decided to try out. Subsequently, Michelle Howe called him after having looked at the combine scoring tables and said that he might be a good fit for the sport. He was pretty resistant to the idea, but as it turns out, it is a great fit for him in many ways.

FUN FACTS

- He is a Christian.
- He laughs hysterically at cat videos.
- He loves pushing heavy things.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2016-2017 World Cup in four-person for pilot Elana Meyers Taylor - 13th in Lake Placid (12/16)
2015 World Championships for pilot Nick Cunningham in four-person - 14th (3/15)
2015 World Championships for pilot Nick Cunningham in two-man - 12th (3/15)
2014-2015 World Cup in four-person for pilot Nick Cunningham - 7th in Sochi (2/15)
2014-2015 World Cup in two-man for pilot Nick Cunningham - 15th in Altenberg (1/15); 13th in Koenigssee (1/15); 9th in Sochi (2/15)
2014-2015 World Cup in two-man for pilot Codie Bascue - 13th in Lake Placid (12/14); 11th in Calgary (12/14); 12th in Altenberg (1/15); 16th in Igls (2/15)
2014-2015 World Cup in four-person for pilot Codie Bascue - 12th in St. Moritz (1/15); 15th in La Plagne (2/15); 19th in Igls (2/15)
2014-2015 World Cup in four-person for pilot Steven Holcomb - 6th in Lake Placid (12/14)
2014-2015 North American Cup in four-person for pilot Steven Holcomb - SILVER in Park City (11/14)
2014-2015 North American Cup in two-man for pilot Steven Holcomb - GOLD in Park City #2 (11/14)

Dave Owens

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