Junior Burnett, a three-year letter-winner on the men's track & field team, enters his 10th season as the program’s assistant sprint coach in 2020-21, and 14th overall as a Great Dane dating back to his career as a student-athlete. Burnett’s coaching has resulted in his athletes setting and holding new school records in nine events, and America East Championship records in four events.
Since his coaching career began, Burnett has coached nine NCAA First Round qualifiers in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, including Stephanie Osuji, Chanel Smith, Dayleen Santana Rodriguez, Taahira Butterfield, Robert Harris III, and Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina.
Burnett has produced 33 America East sprint champions between the indoor and outdoor seasons, and 19 runners-up across his event groups, claiming at least on of each in all short sprinting events and the sprint relays.
In 2020, Jan Michael Gutierrez Almedina became the first Great Dane to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m, running 20.98 to set an America East Championship record. His athletes made up the top sprint quartet in the Northeast at 200m by average time. Collectively, the UAlbany men qualified five sprinters to the finals of the 60m at the 2020 indoor championships, and four to the finals of the 200m, coming away with 55 total points. The women scored 33 points, qualifying two to finals in the 60m and three in the 200m
In 2019, the men and women each swept the short sprints at outdoor championships. Indoors, the women swept the short sprints, while the men won the 200m and placed second in the 60m.
In 2018, the women won the 100m and 200m at America East Outdoor Championships, qualifying five to the finals in the 200m and one to the finals in the 100m. Indoors, the women swept each sprint event, with Burnett’s athletes taking the 60m and the 200m, with four qualifying for finals in the 60m. The men swept the top three places in the 200m, and won the 60m as well.
Highlighting Burnett’s run from 2016-18 was his work with the women’s short sprint group, including Stephanie Osuji, Dayleen Santana Rodriguez, Chanel Smith, Taahira Butterfield, and Chidinma Matthew. The group was undefeated in conference competition over the course of two years in the 60m and over three years in the indoor 200m, while extending that run to four years outdoors in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. The group peaked at the 2018 Penn Relays, placing third in the 4x100m Championship of America with a school-record time of 44.83, finishing ahead of Clemson, Houston, Oklahoma, and Penn State.
In 2017, Burnett’s efforts with the short sprinters resulted in five women scoring 53 points across two events at America East Indoor Championships, and four men scoring 19 points across the same two events. Outdoors, Burnett’s sprinters scored 56 points in three women’s events, headlined by Stephanie Osuji, who claimed the individual 100m and 200m titles, and ran on the victorious 4x100m relay. For the men, Robert Harris III claimed the 100m crown. The women’s sprinters scored 18 of the team’s 27 points at ECAC Outdoor Championships, with Osuji winning the 200m and placing third on the 4x100m relay. Further, the women’s 4x100m relay team, which broke the school record three times during the season, won the College division at the Penn Relays.
Due to the success the women’s sprinters experienced in 2017, Burnett was a nominee for the USTFCCCA Northeast Assistant Coach of the Year.
In 2016, Burnett cultivated the short sprinters to additional championship performances. Osiris Nicholson won the 60m at the America East Indoor Championships, and was one of four men to place in the top five in the 200m with Robert Harris III, Elliott Everett, and Jaymen Teemer. Later in the season, the women’s 4x100m relay won the ECAC division at the Penn Relays.
In 2015, Burnett oversaw Jaymen Teemer’s sweep of the 100m and 200m at the America East Outdoor Championships.
Under Burnett’s direction, UAlbany has won six sprint relay conference championships, including the three straight women’s 4x100 titles from 2015-17, and 11 individual conference championships, and has had seven top-five finishers. In addition, Burnett has coached three IC4A and ECAC finalists and one champion, as well as six IC4A and ECAC sprint relay qualifiers and 10 individual qualifiers. Each of the women’s short sprint records has been broken during Burnett’s tenure, and two men’s outdoor records have also fallen.
Burnett, an All-East selection in 2007, holds five school records in the indoor 55- and 60-meter dashes, outdoor 100- and 200-meter, and the men’s sprint medley relay. He ran a leg for the winning 4x400-meter relay team at the America East Conference Indoor Championship in 2007, and he went on to win the 100-meter dash while also being victorious as a member of the 4x100-meter relay team at the league outdoor championship meet. As an indication of the impact Burnett has had on the sprinters’ performances, Robert Harris III improved from 11.10 in the 100m to 10.39, qualifying for three consecutive NCAA East Preliminary Championships, and Stephanie Osuji improved from 12.50 to 11.50 in the 100m and 26.21 to 23.75 in the 200m.
Burnett earned his USATF Level 2 Certification in 2013 in Sprints, Hurdles and Relays, and has also earned a USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning Certification. Beyond UAlbany, Burnett has worked with the Nigerian women’s 4x100m relay team which qualified for the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London.
A native of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, Burnett competed in the 200-meter dash at the Jamaica National Championships in 2005. He earned his bachelor's degree in human biology in 2007 and also has a Master’s degree in geography and geographic information systems (GIS) from UAlbany.
