1Lt Michelle Roca - Assistant Coach | Hurdles - Track and Field Support Staff

1Lt Michelle Roca

Title:
Assistant Coach | Hurdles

Former Air Force standout 1Lt Michelle Roca, the program record holder in the 400-meter hurdles, returned to the Academy in 2026 as an assistant coach with the track and field team. Roca, who previously served on Harvard’s coaching staff while completing her master’s degree, will work with the Falcons’ hurdlers.

Roca had a stellar career for the Falcons, becoming the first female hurdler to compete at the NCAA Division I Championships and the first in Academy history to break 60 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. Roca, who first reset the Air Force Record in her signature event as a junior (60.01), lowered that time to 59.81 in her final race to record the program’s first sub-60 finish. In addition to her success in the hurdles, Roca also led off the 4x400-meter relay that registered the program’s fastest outdoor time in 38 years at the conference meet and raced on the sprint medley relay that crushed the Academy standard at the Drake Relays

A native of Spanish Fork, Ala., Roca also excelled away from the track during her time at USAFA. The 2021-22 Mountain West Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Roca was the top-ranked senior in terms of Physical Education Average and graduated 16th overall in a class of more than 1000 cadets. A member of the USAFA Scholars Program, she was a two-time member of the Dean’s Ace Team for achieving a semester GPA of 4.00 (2020, 2022). A four-time MW Scholar-Athlete and academic all-conference selection, she was named an All-Academic Athlete by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Following her graduation from the Academy in May 2022, Roca completed a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. During her time at Harvard, she served as an assistant with the Crimson – working with the men’s sprint, hurdle and jump athletes during the 2022-23 season and the men’s and women’s cross country and long distance runners from 2023-24 season.

Roca, a first lieutenant in the Space Force, completed her intelligence training at Goodfellow AFB, Texas in December 2024, and is currently stationed at Schriever AFB in Colorado Springs. Working within the 3D Test and Evaluation Squadron, Roca is the intelligence officer-in-charge for the Orbital Warfare Integrated Test Force.