Jennifer Svoboda

Jennifer Svoboda coaches Stanford's throwers, joining the staff in September of 2019.

Under Svoboda in 2022, Virginia Miller won the Pac-12 women's javelin title and placed seventh at the NCAA Championships and Max McKhann earned his first All-America honor, in the men's weight throw..

MIller was a two-time first-team All-American under Svoboda, and an Olympic Trials finalist, placing sixth in 2021 as the second-best collegian in the field. In all, Stanford throwers had seven additions or improvements on the school's top-10 lists. 

In her first season at Stanford, three throwers entered or improved upon their marks on Stanford's all-time indoor top-10 list. McKhann moved to No. 5 on Stanford's list in the 35-pound weight throw. In four meets during the season, McKhann set personal bests in three, placing third at the 2020 MPSF Championships.

In addition, Jaimi Salone moved into the women's top-10 in the 20-pound weight throw and freshman Sam Liokumovich moved into the top-10 in the men's shot put.

Svoboda spent the previous four years as an assistant coach at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she also served Director of Operations for the indoor and outdoor track teams, organized and directed home meets, developed practice and training plans, and oversaw national and international scouting and recruiting.

In 2018, Svoboda helped guide the Southern Mississppi women to a C-USA outdoor championship, while the men's team finished runner-up. She assisted senior Alexis Chiles to school and conference records. Chiles advanced to the NCAA Championships in the women's shot put at 55-5 1/2 (16.90m). Eight of her athletes qualified for the NCAA East Prelims.

Svoboda also coached Nadia Maffo to a C-USA indoor championship and a school record in the women's weight throw (66-9 1/4, 20.35m).

In 2016-17, three of her throwers earned C-USA Female Athlete of the Week honors, and six advanced to the NCAA East Prelims. Nine of her throwers combined to score 65 points at the C-USA outdoor Championships.

Among the conference champions coached by Svoboda were Emron Gibbs in the men's javelin and freshman Nadia Maffo in the women's hammer. Maffo was named C-USA Female Freshman of the Year and later represented Italy in the Under-23 World Championships in Poland.

In 2015-16, Svoboda coached Gibbs to All-America status and fourth in the javelin (248-5, 75.73m) at the NCAA Championships. She helped Thomas Peters secure a position on Team USA for the 2016 World Under-20 Championships.

Prior to joining Southern Mississippi, Svoboda spent one season coaching throwers at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and was a graduate assistant at the Center for Academic and Tutorial Services at the University of Kentucky.

Svoboda attended the University of Kentucky from 2007-2011 and competed in the shot put, weight throw, discus, hammer and javelin. She qualified for the the NCAA Mideast Region championships in the shot put and discus, and made the Athletic Director's Honor Roll with the highest GPA on the team in 2009.

A native of Howells, Nebraska, Svoboda earned her undergraduate degree in education in 2012 and a master's of science in kinesiology, with a concentration of health promotion and sports leadership, in 2014.