Blazevica Promoted to Director of Operations
October 16, 2026 | Women's Track & Field, Men's Track & Field
NEWS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois director of track, field and cross country Petros Kyprianou has announced the promotion of Kristine Blazevica (pronounced blahz-ee-vih-CHA) to director of operations on Saturday (Oct. 17). In addition to now handling operations duties, Blazevica will retain her previous duties and title of jumps/combined events assistant and international recruiting liaison from when she was hired back on May 31, 2026.
In her short time as assistant coach she helped five jumps and combined events athletes reach All-American status at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships including Rose Yeboah (second, high jump), JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (third, heptathlon), Luuk Pelkmans (third, decathlon), Sophia Beckmon (fourth, long jump) and Meagan Humphries (fifth, heptathlon.)
Blazevica competed at Illinois and Texas where she was a decorated combined events athlete standing on the national podium seven times in her athletic career. She's a four-time All-American in the pentathlon indoors and a three-time All-American in the heptathlon outdoors.
In addition to her athletic accolades, she holds degrees from both Illinois and the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing from Texas and a Master of Science, Recreation, Sport and Tourism from Illinois. She also speaks three languages: English, Russian and Latvian, her native language.
