UT Arlington alum Brandon Berger, a fixture in the Mavericks athletics department for more than a decade, was promoted to associate head track and field coach in 2012. Under his tutelage, UTA's field event and multi-event athletes have earned conference distinction and national prominence. Berger currently coaches the team's vertical and horizontal jumpers, hurdlers and multi-event specialists.
Most recently, Berger helped multiple student-athletes to top performances in the 2024-25 indoor and outdoor track seasons.Â
At the 2025 WAC Indoor Championship, Eliza Lemberga left Spokane with a silver medal in the women's pentathlon behind 3785 points. She took the top spot in the 800m behind a time of 2:20.29 and set a personal record in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.14. Calen Jones took home the gold in the men's high jump with a new indoor personal best jump of 2.14m. In the heptathlon, Luke Bontke posted a new indoor personal best of 5435 total points to leave Washington with the silver medal. Bontke posted indoor personal records in the 60m (6.99), high jump (1.78m) and the shot put (12.75m) while posting season's best times in the 60m hurdles (8.44) and the 1000m (2:42.70).
In the women's high jump, McKinley Novacek won the bronze medal behind a season's best jump of 1.71m.
At the 44 Farms Team Invitational back in April, JJ Taylor and Calen Jones both posted season best marks in the men's high jump while Jonathan Williams posted a new outdoor personal record. Taylor finished with a jump of 2.04m while Jones posted a mark of 1.99m. The freshman Williams finished with a new personal mark of 1.94m.
Berger and the Mavericks wrapped up the 2025 WAC Outdoor Championship with Adeyemi Talabi who added to her medal count on the final day, picking up a silver medal in the women's long jump. Talabi also picked up another silver medal in the women's 100m and a bronze medal in the women's 200m. In the 100m, Talabi finished with a new personal record of 11.36 which also moved her in the 32nd fastest in the west region. In the 200m, she finished with a time of 23.56 to pick up six points. Talabi was the lone Mav to pick up three solo medals in the meet.
In all, Berger has coached 121 all-conference performers, including 33 individual conference champions and four conference athletes of the year. His student-athletes have earned 11 NCAA All-America accolades, including seven first-team nods, and he has helped 52 Mavericks become national meet qualifiers.
McKinley Novacek claimed the bronze medal in the women's high jump. Her leap of 1.74m solidified her spot in the top three.Â
Berger guided Calen Jones (high jump) and Adeyemi Talabi (100m & long jump) to an appearance at the 2025 NCAA West Preliminary Round in College Station. Talabi finished with her second-best jump of the outdoor season, leaping 5.75m. In the 100m dash, Talabi finished in the top 40 with a time of 11.53, her fourth fastest mark of the outdoor season.
While the NCAA’s 2020 outdoor track and field season may have been canceled due to the worldwide Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, the UT Arlington men’s and women’s track and field program still found plenty of time to achieve greatness during the 2020 indoor track season.
Berger and the UTA men finished as the Sun Belt Conference runner up. The Mavericks have placed either first or second at every indoor meet since joining the league in 2014.
Bryson DeBerry claimed 2020 SBC Newcomer of the Year honors after taking the SBC high jump crown in his first league championship meet appearance. In his victory, he equaled both the UTA and Sun Belt Conference all-time records with a clearance of 7-2 ½ (2.20m). That mark also put him among the nation's top 20 in the event in 2020.
Freshman Joel Bengtsson won the 2020 SBC indoor title in the men's 60-meter hurdles with a clocking of 8.02. His time matched his season best and tied for the No. 5 time in school history. Lucas Van Klaveren made the podium in the men’s heptathlon after a third-place showing. He scored a personal-best sum of 5,305, which was the No. 3 mark in school history. In addition, he was just two points behind second place and 19 out of first place.
In 2018, Berger coached the first women's national champion in school history, as Alexus Henry claimed the title in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Berger helped Henry break four school records in 2018 alone, as she set school marks in the indoor high jump, indoor pentathlon, outdoor high jump and outdoor heptathlon. Henry remains the holder of more current school records than any athlete in school history.
In the summer of 2017, Berger was selected to coach the jumps and throws for Team USA at the World Junior Para Athletics Championships, where his five athletes recorded three gold medals and one silver.
Berger served as a mentor to former UTA jumper Tobi Fawehinmi, who won a gold medal in the triple jump and a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships. Fawehinmi was also named the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Outstanding Field Performer.
In addition, the Maverick men claimed the second "triple crown" in Sun Belt history in 2017, and Berger boasted three league individual event champions. Fawehinmi won the triple jump during the indoor season, while Christian Schiemann (decathlon) and Emeka Nwangwu (110m hurdles) claimed titles in the outdoor campaign. It was Nwangwu's second straight league crown in the event.
High jumper Roland Sales claimed league titles in the indoor and outdoor campaigns in 2016 a year after advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he placed among the nation's top 20. On the women's side, Chineme Obikudu reached the 2015 NCAA West Preliminary Round in the triple jump and competed for Team USA at the Junior Pan American Games. She also was the USA junior national champion in the event.
In 2014, Omar Barnes won the men's triple jump championship at the outdoor meet to help the Maverick men complete the program's first-ever triple crown by winning all three track and cross country championships. In addition, Sales set a school record by clearing 7-1 in the indoor high jump.
In 2013, Berger mentored an astounding 35 All-Western Athletic Conference performers, including four individual conference champions. In addition, the Maverick men (indoor) and women (outdoor) each grabbed runner-up team finishes in the WAC.
Among the list of notable athletes under Berger's direction is multi-event specialist Romain Martin, who secured six All-America plaques during his time in Arlington, with three in the heptathlon and three in the decathlon. Martin earned a runner-up finish in the decathlon at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the best individual finish by a Maverick athlete in two decades. His top heptathlon finish also came in 2012, when Martin took third at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Martin is not alone in his accomplishments, however. In 2011, Isiah Clements claimed second-team All-America accolades in the outdoor high jump, while Jon McDowell earned All-America plaudits in the 110m hurdles in 2007.
A total of 18 of Berger's athletes own top-3 marks in UTA history, led by Henry (four school records) and Martin, who owns the school record in both the heptathlon and decathlon. Roland Sales and DeBerry (men's indoor high jump) and Porschea Wilson (women's indoor 60m hurdles) are also UTA record holders.
A former UTA student-athlete from 1996-99 under head coach John Sauerhage, Berger competed in both the decathlon as well as the 110m and 400m hurdles. As a collegian, he helped the Mavericks win three indoor conference team championships and a pair of outdoor league titles.
As a prep, Berger was a state qualifier in the 110m hurdles and helped his Odessa Permian team to the 1993 Class 5A state championship. Berger is in his second stint as a coach with the track and field program. In 2000, he was a student assistant, coaching multi-event and field event athletes while also coordinating travel. Berger served as assistant events manager at Maverick Stadium from 2001 to 2007.
A 2000 graduate of UT Arlington with a degree in biology, Berger is married to former UTA track standout Mishael Bertrand-Berger, who is an associate athletics director for the department. They have two children, Ava and Noah.
