Judy Geist serves as a volunteer assistant with The Rock track and field program and works with the throwers.
A 1991 graduate of Slippery Rock and a 2007 Rock Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Geist has built a tremendous legacy in throwing circles, both as an athlete herself and as a coach.
She was a two-time All-American in the shot put and a two-time PSAC champion in the event. In 2007, she joined her husband Jim Geist in the Rock Athletics Hall of Fame, becoming the first husband and wife duo to be inducted. Jim, a 1989 Rock graduate who also volunteers with SRU, was inducted into the SRU Hall of Fame in 2000 after a stellar career as a javelin thrower.
Geist, who works full-time as the athletics and activities secretary at Slippery Rock High School, coached high school track and field for 18 years at Knoch High School. She coached multiple district and state champions at Knoch, including her son Jordan Geist, who had one of the best high school careers for a thrower in U.S. history. Jordan is currently a star performer on the University of Arizona track and field team. She also coached her son Jared Geist, who attended Slippery Rock and was a jumper for The Rock track and field team before his graduation in 2018.
Since joining The Rock program as a volunteer, Geist has played a significant role in the development of the SRU throwers, helping multiple athletes to All-PSAC finishes and giving the program a significant scoring boost in the throws at the PSAC Championships. In 2021, she helped coach Jena Reinheimer to the Most Outstanding Field Athlete award at the PSAC Championships and in 2022, she helped guide John Eakin to an SRU record in the shot put and an All-America finish at the outdoor national meet.
She helped lead Sarah Corrie to back-to-back-to-back PSAC titles in the shot put in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and oversaw Seaton Wozniak breaking the SRU record in the indoor shot put and earning a trip to nationals during the 2024-25 indoor season and proceeding to earn All-America honors during the 2025 outdoor campaign.
Geist helped SRU women to four of the top six places at the PSAC indoor meet in 2025 with Savannah Schneck earning All-Region honors in both the shot put and weight throw to become the only thrower in the region to own top five marks in both throws. Corrie and Olivia Heckman both earned all-region honors during the outdoors season as well.
Working alongside her husband, fellow SRU Hall of Famer and javelin record holder Jim Geist, Judy also had a hand in Danielle Collier winning the 2021 national title in the javelin and reaching the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. SRU followed that up in 2022 with a pair of first team All-Americans in the javelin with Trinity Clark placing third at nationals and Dalton Anderson placing eighth.
