Mark Conover - Head Coach - Cross Country Coaches

Photo by: Robert Huskey

Mark Conover

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
mconover@calpoly.edu
Phone:
805-756-2235

20-Time Big West Conference Coach of the Year

2020 USATF Pacific Association Hall of Fame Inductee / 3-Time USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year

1988 Olympian / 2-Time Individual NCAA National Champion

14 All-Americans Since 2003

25 USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams & 43 Individuals Since 2007

After coaching the men’s cross country team to an unprecedented seventh consecutive Big West Conference championship, Mark Conover was named Cal Poly’s Director of Track & Field and Cross Country in December of 2009.

Conover is currently in his 25th season overall at Cal Poly, and has led the Mustangs to 17 total appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships (with seven of those coming as a full team). Among those appearances, he’s coached the men’s squad to five Top 25 national rankings, including No. 10 in 2004-05.

Conover coached five Cal Poly cross country teams to top-25 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including a No. 10 national finish by the men's team in 2004. In addition, 17 of his men's cross country teams and seven women's squads from 1998 through 2019 claimed Big West Conference crowns.

Last spring, the Cal Poly women's track and field team captured its first-ever Big West team championship while the men were second for the eighth time since joining the conference in 1997, finishing just six points shy of the team title. The two teams combined for seven individual and relay titles. Nine Mustangs qualified for the NCAA Division I West Preliminary in College Station, Texas.

Conover has been named the Big West Cross Country Coach of the Year a combined 19 times on either the men’s or women’s sides, as well as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year in three seasons (2000, 2003 and 2011). Spring of 2021 20th in track

During his time at Cal Poly, Conover directly coached a total of 10 All-Americans, while the program as a whole also produced an additional four All-Americans since he was appointed director. He also coached 65 NCAA first-round or semifinals track qualifiers and 45 all-regional honorees in cross country.

Conover also coached 71 individual conference champions between track and cross country, including most recently Justin Robison in the 1,500 last May, and mentored six Big West Track Athletes of the Year, 16 Cross Country Athletes of the Year, three Freshmen of the Year in track and 17 Freshmen of the Year in cross country.

He’s guided Mustang student-athletes to 76 top-10 all-time performances in Cal Poly track history, including the school record-holders for the men’s 5,000 and 10,000 meters, along with the women’s steeplechase and hammer throw.

Meanwhile, the program’s women and men have also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team status a combined 31 times under Conover's watch in cross country and track and field.

In 2021, Conover also saw John Bennett claim a Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, making him one of 22 individuals among 2,500 student-athletes throughout the conference to be so honored. It was the ninth year in a row in which one of Conover’s student-athletes received the accolade (and the 13th occasion since 2000).

In addition, in 2019 Alex Merder was selected as an Academic All-American, making the Second Team to cap a Cal Poly career which included a trio of team championship rings alongside an individual conference title for the 1,500-meter run.

Conover also has coached the all-sports Cal Poly Athlete of the Year in 2007 (future Team USA XC member Phillip Reid), 2013 (All-American cross country runner Laura Hollander), 2017 (future Canadian Olympic Trials participant Clayton Hutchins) and 2018 (USATF Championship qualifier Swarnjit Boyal).

Conover was a nine-time All-American at Humboldt State, and earned the rare distinction of becoming an All-American in two NCAA divisions (including a 23rd-place finish at the 1980 Division I Cross Country Championships). In the spring of 1981, he won the Division II national title in the 10,000 meters, before also winning the national championship in cross country that fall.

In 1988, Conover was the U.S. Olympic Trials champion in the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 26 seconds, and went on to run at the Seoul Games. He competed professionally from 1984-96 and was a four-time Olympic Trials qualifier.

A graduate of Miramonte High School in Orinda, Calif., Conover earned his bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation at Humboldt State in 1983 and his master’s degree from Cal Poly in City and Regional Planning in 1989.

Conover was inducted into the Humboldt State University Hall of Fame in 1993, as well as the USATF Pacific Association Hall of Fame in 2020.

Prior to coaching at Cal Poly, Conover was an assistant planner with San Luis Obispo County from 1989-92 and editor of The Runner’s Schedule magazine from 1992-95.

Mark lives with his wife, Kelly, in San Luis Obispo. They had triplets in 2007 (two girls, Audrey and Marley, and a boy, Cordell).