California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo Women's Track & Field

Ryan Vanhoy, who spent nine seasons building the Ole Miss cross country and track distance programs into powerhouses in the SEC, was named Cal Poly's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country on June 20, 2022, and is in his fourth year with the program in 2025-26. In his first year leading the Cal Poly cross country program, Vanhoy, the 2022 Big West Men's Coach of the Year, helped the Mustangs earn their first sweep at The Big West Championships since 2018 and their sixth in program history. Vanhoy was the associate head coach of men's and women's cross country at Ole Miss from 2015-21, elevating the programs to heights never seen in the school's history, earning 14 NCAA Championship team berths along the way. In 2021, Vanhoy was named the USTFCCCA South Region Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year after leading both the Rebels' men's and women's teams to NCAA South Regional titles and second-place finishes at the SEC Cross Country Championships. Vanhoy also spent seven seasons at Ole Miss (2016-22) as the assistant track and field coach for the distance team. Vanhoy arrived in Oxford, Mississippi in 2013 to take over as the men's cross country coach and serve as an assistant track coach for the men's distance team. Prior to his time at Ole Miss, Vanhoy coached at Northeastern University for one year and at his alma mater, University of North Carolina, for three years. Vanhoy, who competed on the North Carolina track and cross country teams in 2006 and 2007, gr

Brad Pickett joined Cal Poly’s staff as the Assistant Coach specializing in pole vaulting and high jumping in October of 2017. During his time with the Musta...

Brandon Lawrence in his first year as an assistant coach for the Cal Poly track & field and cross country teams. He joined the coaching staff in September 20...

Les Courtemanche joined the Cal Poly track & field coaching staff as a throws specialist in September 2016, From 2018-23, he also instructed Cal Poly’s decat...

Michelle Chewens was named head coach of the women's cross country program in July 2022 and is in her first season with the Mustangs. Chewens is also an assistant track coach for the women's distance team. At the 2022 Big West XC Championships, Chewens led an overlooked Cal Poly women's team to its first Big West title since 2018 and eighth in program history in her first season at the helm. The Mustangs (63 points) edged out UC Irvine (64) in the closest finish in the history of the Big West Championships. Julia Heckey captured third at the conference meet to secure All-Big West honors and four other Cal Poly runners placed inside the top 20 individually. Chewens garnered Big West Women's Co-Coach of the Year praise, while Tatiana Cornejo, who earned 14th at the conference meet, became Cal Poly's first Big West Women's Freshman of the Year award recipient since 2017. At the NCAA West Regionals in Washington, Chewens guided the Mustang women to an 11th-place result, their best finish since 2018. Additionally, Heckey grabbed 35th at regionals to become Cal Poly's highest individual finisher at regionals since 2018. During the 2023 track season, Chewens mentored NCAA West Preliminaries qualifier Rachel Victor, who ran the second-fastest women's 3,000-meter steeplechase time in school history (10:16.43). Prior to arriving in San Luis Obispo, Chewens spent three seasons (2019-22) as a volunteer assistant coach for the Ole Miss track and field and cross country programs, working p

Mohammad Nourani was named an assistant track coach, specializing in sprints, jumps and hurdles in August 2022. He began overseeing Cal Poly's multi-event athletes during the 2023-24 season. During his first year with the Mustangs in 2022-23, Nourani saw his athletes record six top-10 marks in school history outdoors and six top-five marks in program history indoors on the women's side. Under his coaching, Jadyn Snaer and Shelby Daniele both had historic seasons, shattering the school records in the women's indoor 60 and 200. Daniele also ran the second-fastest indoor 60 time and the third-fastest outdoor 200 time. She posted a personal best in the 100-meter dash of 11.58 seconds — tied with Snaer for No. 2 in school history — and she went on to finish second in the 200 at the 2023 Big West Championships. Nourani also helped Melody Nwagwu break the indoor school record in the women's long jump and post two top-10 marks outdoors (No. 7 in the triple jump, No. 9 in the long jump). Across both genders, nearly every athlete in the sprints, jumps and hurdles group recorded at least one lifetime best in Nourani's first year with the program. Nourani came to Cal Poly after spending the 2021-22 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Texas A&M. With the Aggies, he worked with the long, triple and high jumpers, and aided the steeplechase athletes. During the 2022 outdoor track season, Nourani saw five of his high jumpers qualify for the NCAA West Preliminaries and three of his ath