Kristin Parunak enters her second season with the Royals in 2017 after helping Sarah Jansen guide Queens to a South Atlantic Conference Tournament appearance for the first time in program history during the 2016-2017 campaign.
Parunak joined the program after previously working as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Newberry College women's basketball team during the 2015-16 season. With Parunak on the staff, the Wolves reached the semifinals of the SAC championships and extended its streak of consecutive winning seasons to 12, a South Carolina state record. Parunak focused most of her time at Newberry nurturing post players, coaching one athlete to SAC Rookie of the Year honors and a statistical ranking of 14th nationally in blocked shots per game.
Prior to joining Newberry, Parunak coached alongside Jansen at Mars Hill University in 2014-2015, helping the Lions to their first SAC postseason appearance in five years.
Other stops in Parunak’s career include serving as an assistant at Christopher Newport University (2012-2014) where she helped lead the Captains to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances, and an Elite Eight appearance in 2013, while compiling an overall record of 53-9, and at Catawba Valley Community College (2011-2012) as both an assistant athletic director and an assistant basketball coach.
In her time at Christopher Newport, Parunak coached a Division III WBCA Honorable Mention All-American and three first-team all-conference selections. She also oversaw the academic progress of the student-athletes, helping to produce the highest team GPA in program history and 10 Dean’s List students.
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As a player, Parunak was a starter at both Presbyterian College and Concord University. At Presbyterian she once earned Big South Rookie of the Week honors and at Concord was co-captain of the team. Parunak earned a degree in psychology with a concentration in sports from Concord.
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