College of Charleston Men's Cross Country

Chris Bailey was named head coach of the College of Charleston men’s and women’s cross country programs in May 2024 after serving in that capacity on an interim basis during the 2023-24 academic year. He is also an assistant coach for the track and field teams, working primarily with the distance and mid-distance runners. Bailey, a former standout athlete for the Cougars, returned to his alma mater as assistant cross country coach in January 2021 and was added to the track and field staff the following December. He previously served as an assistant cross country coach during the 2016-17 season. Bailey has overseen the development of some of the top runners in Charleston history. Under Bailey’s coaching, there have been 33 new additions to the school’s Top 10 times for indoor and outdoor track. Four of those women have taken the top spot in the school record book. Leading the Cougars is current senior Cayden Crimson who holds the school record in the 10k (35:48.82) and holds the third best time in the 5k (17:20.64). Crimson also holds the fourth best time in the outdoor 3k with a time of 10:03.65. Returning for Charleston is sophomore Jeorgie Gavalas, brought in by Bailey as a freshman. Gavalas cracked the Top 10 times in the indoor mile with a time of 4:55.31, putting her fourth on the list. Bailey helped Gavalas excel in the spring and the Cougar ran a school record setting time in the 1500m at 4:25.79. Gavalas also made the 800m Top 10 with a time of 2:12.73, putting her fo

Hayley McMahon is an assistant coach and alum of the College of Charleston cross country and track & field program. Hailing from Poughkeepsie, New York, McMahon was coached by Hall of Fame Coach Steve Arnett at Arlington High School. She ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track and competed in the prestigious Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. McMahon graduated high school in 2011 as fifth in the state in the indoor 1500m and second in the outdoor 800m. She was awarded Best All Around Female Athlete of her graduating class and currently holds ten records in indoor and outdoor track. She went on to graduate from CofC in 2015 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Coaching. During her CofC career, she was named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team in cross country as well as indoor track (mile) and outdoor track (800m). She was the 2013 SoCon outdoor 1500m champion with a time of 4:28.45 In 2015, she was named CAA Female Track Athlete of the Week for setting the school record in the 800m with a time of 2:09.82. She remains among CofC’s top five finishers in the indoor and outdoor 400m, 800m, 1500m and mile and is the current recorder hold for the outdoor 800m, 4x400m and DMR. During her junior and senior year of college, she was an Assistant Cross Country and Track Coach at Garret Academy of Technology in North Charleston. She was proud to see her athletes compete in the Class 2A SCHSL Outdoor State Championship’s finishing first in high jump and sixth in discus, 100m and 4x

Kristina MacLure joined the College of Charleston Athletic Department in September 2025. MacLure works with women's basketball, women's soccer, track and field cross country programs at Charleston. Prior to Charleston, MacLure was at the University of Virginia as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach and worked primarily with the men and women's track and field and cross-country teams. During this time, the women's track and field team won the ACC conference championship, 35 athletes qualified for East Regionals, and 11 qualified for Nationals. Before UVA, she was an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for Lander University where she worked with women's basketball, volleyball, field hockey, acrobatics and tumbling, men and women's golf, men and women's track and field and cross country, and women's tennis teams. MacLure grew up in Stow, Massachusetts, and earned a Bachelors in Kinesiology and a bachelor's in communications at the University of Rhode Island. At URI she competed as a track and field athlete, earning All-American Honors in 2019 and 2021, two-time East Regional Qualifier, 5-time school record holder, and team co-captain those two seasons. She earned her master's degree in Exercise Science from Merrimack College in 2022 and earned her MBA from Lander University in 2024. She is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the NSCA and is CPR/AED/First Aid Certified.

Mikayla Ruiz joined the MUSC Health Sports Medicine team in the summer of 2025 to work with Charleston's cross country and track & field programs. She started her career at Kean University in Union, NJ. She received her bachelor's degree in athletic training in 2023, where she worked with various high schools, Kean Softball and physical therapy clinics. She then completed her graduate assistantship at Auburn University where she served as the athletic trainer for the men's and women's cross country and track & field teams. During her time at Auburn, she helped the men's track and field team to become outdoor NCAA runner-ups in 2024, and to a fourth place finish in 2025. She graduated with her master's degree in exercise science with a concentration of biomechanics in 2025. Ruiz played on the women's soccer team at Kean University for four years, is a member of NATA and presented to healthcare professionals through AT's Care.

Rachel Hamryka joined the College of Charleston staff in 2023 as an assistant cross country and track and field coach. Hamryka spent the 2022-23 season as a volunteer cross country and distance coach at the University of Georgia. She worked with one all-region men’s cross country athlete and a trio of Distance Dawgs who scored in the steeplechase at the SEC Outdoor Championships, including two that rank in the top 10 in school history. The women’s cross country team earned the highest GPA of any athletics program in Georgia history during her year on the staff. Hamryka enjoyed an outstanding career at Washington and Lee, earning all-conference and all-region honors in 2015 and 2016 and the team MVP award for cross country in 2014. She helped the Generals finish in the top five at the NCAA South/Southeast Region Meet three straight seasons. A two-time team captain, Hamryka was a Scholar-American Award recipient in 2014 and received the Coaches Award in 2017. Hamryka earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 2018 and Master of Science degree in marine biogeochemistry from Georgia in 2022. While in graduate school, she coauthored on three research publications and taught four semesters of an undergraduate organismal biology lab. She is an information warfare officer in the Navy Reserve and is married to William Hamryka.

Weddington joined the CofC staff in August 2021 as an Academic Advisor for Student-Athlete Academic Services. Sara serves as the primary advisor for Women’s ...