Alexandra Rechen

Alex Rechen joined the sports performance staff at UMass in August 2019 and works directly with the men’s and women’s Track and Field and Cross Country programs as both an Assistant Sports Performance Coach and as an Assistant Track and Field Coach. Thus far at UMass, Rechen has been a part of four Atlantic 10 Championship titles: Women’s Indoor Track and Field 2019, Women’s Outdoor Track and Field 2022, Men’s Cross Country 2024, and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field 2025. She has coached athletes to four individual A10 titles in the women’s pole vault, re-writing the UMass record books along the way; six of the top 10 performers on the indoor list and five of the top 10 performers on the outdoor list have achieved those marks, including the school records, during her tenure.

Rechen came to UMass from UConn, where she was an Assistant Sports Performance Coach, assisting with the UConn Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive teams, as well as the Women’s Tennis team. Rechen also worked as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the College of the Holy Cross, and as an Assistant Track and Field coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she coached Carley Dykstra to All-American status in the indoor pole vault 2019. Dykstra also set school records indoors at 3.82m and outdoors at 3.78m. Rechen was a Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach and Track and Field coach at Springfield College in 2016-18 while earning her Master’s in Exercise and Sport Studies with a concentration in Strength and Conditioning. During her time at Springfield College, Brad Deckel set the indoor pole vault record at 4.70m.

Rechen also runs her own USATF club, Rex Performance Training, specializing in pole vault, high jump, and athletic development.

Rechen has multiple certifications: Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (National Strength and Conditioning Association), Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified (Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Specialist), Level 1 Sport Performance Coach (USA Weightlifting), Basic Olympic Lift Certification (Totten Training Systems), and Level 1 Track and Field Coach (USA Track and Field).

Rechen is a graduate of Ithaca College where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Clinical Exercise Science with a minor in Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2016. While attending Ithaca College, she competed on the women’s track and field team as a pole vaulter, where she set the indoor and outdoor school records and was named a Division III Indoor Track and Field All-American in pole vault in 2015.