Women’s track and field star Marlee Berg (2009) is one of just four Westfield State athletes to win an individual NCAA Championship, earning the 2009 NCAA Division III indoor high jump crown.

She was a four-time qualifier for the NCAA Division III National Championships, three times for the high jump in 2008 and 2009, and for the pentathlon in 2009, the first-ever NCAA Division 3 women’s pentathlon event.

 Berg’s accomplishments spanned multiple track and field events - holding the school record in four events: the high jump, 200-meter dash, 500-meter run, and pentathlon. As a three-year team captain, she set the standard of excellence for the team with three All-ECAC honors and nine All-New England awards. She was also a member of four school-record-setting relay teams.

Berg dominated the MASCAC by winning fifteen different events over a three-year span (2007-2009). In 2008 alone, Berg won eight events (indoor/outdoor high jump, indoor long jump, indoor/outdoor 200 and 400-meter dash, and outdoor triple jump).   She set the MASCAC’s outdoor high jump record.

In her National Championship year of 2009, she won the outdoor high jump with a leap of 5’-6.5” at the NCAA Division III indoor championships at Terre Haute, Ind.

Berg was also a member of the women’s cross country team in her junior and senior year where she won two MASCAC team championships. In her senior year, she placed fourth individually at the MASCAC Championships.

 A native of Chelmsford, Mass., Berg graduated from Westfield in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication, public and corporate relations. She also furthered her studies at Smith College, earning a Master’s of Science in Exercise and Sport Studies.

She served as a graduate assistant coach at Smith, an assistant coach at UMass Lowell and then Brandeis University before returning to Westfield State in 2016, as part of an NCAA Women’s and Ethnic Minority Grant, and now serves as assistant athletic director for recruitment, retention & student-athlete well-being.

Berg is married to Westfield State alumnus Daniel Haryasz. The couple resides in Longmeadow.