Cross Country
Michelle Chewens
- Title:
- Women's Cross Country Head Coach / Assistant Track Coach
- Email:
- mchewens@calpoly.edu
4x Big West Women’s XC Coach of the Year (2022-25)
Michelle Chewens was named head coach of the women's cross country program in July 2022 and is in her fourth year in 2025-26. Chewens is also an assistant track coach for the women's distance team.
During her tenure at Cal Poly, Chewens has coached seven Big West individual champions between track (six) and cross country (one), 32 All-Big West honorees (19 track, 13 XC) and two Big West Cross Country Freshman of the Year, and overseen four school-record breaking performances and 19 top-10 marks in program history. Cal Poly has also won four consecutive Big West team titles in women's cross country (2022-25) under Chewens' direction. In the fall of 2025, Chewens won her fourth straight Big West Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year award to become just the second coach in conference history to achieve that feat. She is the first female coach in Big West history to win the award four times.
In 2025-26, Chewens led the women's cross country team to the third Big West four-peat in the history of the conference and first since the UC Irvine women won four straight from 1989-1992. Cal Poly built off that performance at conference with a strong showing at the NCAA West Regional, securing eighth as a team for the third straight season and the fourth time in the last eight years — tied for their third highest finish in program history at the meet. Junior Kelli Gaffney stole the show, placing 16th overall to earn All-Region honors and earning an individual berth to the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Cal Poly women to qualify for the national meet in seven years. Gaffney was also Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the women’s side at the regional meet since Peyton Bilo placed ninth in 2016.
On the track, Chewens helped Tatiana Cornejo secure Second Team All-American honors in the women's indoor mile with a 16th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Cornejo became the first Mustang in program history, male or female, to secure All-American honors in the indoor mile and the fourth Mustang on the women’s side to earn All-American honors indoors in an event on the track and the first in 23 years. Outdoors, Chewens guided Kelli Gaffney to a Big West title in the women's 10,000-meter and her second straight trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries in the event.
In 2024-25, Chewens led Cal Poly to its third straight conference championship in women's cross country, leaving the rest of the field in the dust with an impressive 33 team points — the best mark by the Big West champion since 2021 and tied for the second-best score ever by Cal Poly at the meet. Schuyler Gooley became Cal Poly's first Big West individual champion in women's cross country in five years, and Tatiana Cornejo placed 25th at the NCAA West Regional to earn USTFCCCA All-West Region honors for the second straight year and become Cal Poly’s first multiple-time All-Region honoree since Peyton Bilo in 2015-16. On the track, Chewens helped Cornejo capture her second straight Big West title in the women's 1,500, saw Gooley (5,000) and Isabel Sanchez (steeplechase) claim conference titles as well and oversaw a women's distance crew that scored 96 out of Cal Poly's 149 total points at the meet. Gaffney and Cornejo also qualified for the NCAA West Prelims.
During her second year on the staff in 2023-24, Chewens saw the women's cross country team capture its second straight Big West title and mentored Big West Women's Freshman of the Year Sydney Sundgren. In track, Chewens coached Cornejo to Big West titles in the women's 800 and 1,500, helping her become the first athlete in Mustang history to sweep the events at the conference meet. Cornejo was crowned Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Meet for her performance and became the first Cal Poly athlete ever to win the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Year award.
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.
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 primarily with the women's distance runners. Chewens' coaching experience spans more than a decade, and includes stints at UNC Greensboro, Toledo, Columbia and Wake Forest prior to helping turn the Ole Miss women's distance program into one of the best in the nation.
During her time at Ole Miss, Chewens helped the women's cross country team reset its best finish at the NCAA Championships each year from 2019-21, capping it off with a program record 10th-place finish in 2021. She guided the Rebels to the NCAA South Region team title in 2021 along with their highest national ranking in program history (No. 9). Five of her athletes also earned NCAA All-South Region honors in 2021, a school record.
Ole Miss women's cross country finished inside the top three in the SEC each year during Chewens' tenure, and she coached nine NCAA All-South Region honorees and five All-SEC runners.
On the track, Chewens' resume with the Rebels was just as impressive. She coached 22 NCAA East Region qualifiers, 10 NCAA qualifiers, nine first or second team All-Americans and six SEC champions. From the 800 meters all the way to the 10,000, eight of the 10 possible school records across the indoor and outdoor track seasons were dismantled under Chewens' watch from 2020-22, and during the 2022 indoor season, the Rebel women tied for sixth as a team at the NCAA Championships, a program best.
With the Rebels, Chewens also mentored one of the greatest distance runners Ole Miss has ever seen in Sintayehu Vissa. In June 2022, Vissa, who owns four school records, won the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Championships to earn the Rebels' first ever NCAA individual title on the track on the women's side. In 2021, Vissa, who was selected to represent Italy in the 2022 World Athletics Championships, became the first All-American in Ole Miss women's cross country history, and she finished runner-up in the mile at NCAAs during the 2022 outdoor season.
Prior to arriving in Oxford in fall 2019, Chewens spent three seasons at Wake Forest (2016-19) as the head women's cross country coach and an assistant track coach. Chewens made an immediate impact on the program, helping the Demon Deacons' women's cross country team finish sixth at the 2016 ACC Championships, a significant improvement from its 12th-place result a year prior. The team went on to finish fifth at the 2016 Southeast Regional, 23 points shy of an NCAA automatic bid.
In 2017 on the track at Wake Forest, Chewens coached two All-ACC performers indoors, and two East Regional qualifiers and one All-American outdoors. From 2018-19, she mentored four East Regional qualifiers, two NCAA qualifiers and a pair of All-American honorees. In 2018, Chewens led the women's cross country program to its best finish at the ACC Championships since 2003.
Chewens spent time as an assistant track & field and cross country coach at Columbia (2014-16) and Toledo (2013-14) prior to Wake Forest, overseeing 11 East Preliminary qualifiers outdoors across the two schools.
From 2012-13, Chewens got her first taste of coaching at the collegiate level at her alma mater, UNC Greensboro. She oversaw three All-Americans on the track and one in cross country while serving as an assistant coach for both programs.
Chewens graduated from UNCG in August 2011 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a concentration in sports medicine. Chewens, originally from Cornwall-On-Hudson, N.Y., was a four-time letterwinner in track and cross country for the Spartans, earning Academic All-SoCon honors each year. She was also a part of UNGC's first SoCon Championship in women's cross country in 2011. Chewens is married to Cal Poly's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy and has one son, Hudson.
Coaching Resume
Cal Poly Women’s Cross Country Head Coach / Assistant Track Coach, 2022-Present
Ole Miss Volunteer Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2019-22
Wake Forest Women’s Cross Country Head Coach / Assistant Track Coach, 2016-19
Columbia Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2014-16
Toledo Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2013-14
UNC Greensboro Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2011-13
Mentored 2022 women’s 1,500 NCAA Champion Sintayehu Vissa at Ole Miss
Michelle Chewens was named head coach of the women's cross country program in July 2022 and is in her fourth year in 2025-26. Chewens is also an assistant track coach for the women's distance team.
During her tenure at Cal Poly, Chewens has coached seven Big West individual champions between track (six) and cross country (one), 32 All-Big West honorees (19 track, 13 XC) and two Big West Cross Country Freshman of the Year, and overseen four school-record breaking performances and 19 top-10 marks in program history. Cal Poly has also won four consecutive Big West team titles in women's cross country (2022-25) under Chewens' direction. In the fall of 2025, Chewens won her fourth straight Big West Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year award to become just the second coach in conference history to achieve that feat. She is the first female coach in Big West history to win the award four times.
In 2025-26, Chewens led the women's cross country team to the third Big West four-peat in the history of the conference and first since the UC Irvine women won four straight from 1989-1992. Cal Poly built off that performance at conference with a strong showing at the NCAA West Regional, securing eighth as a team for the third straight season and the fourth time in the last eight years — tied for their third highest finish in program history at the meet. Junior Kelli Gaffney stole the show, placing 16th overall to earn All-Region honors and earning an individual berth to the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Cal Poly women to qualify for the national meet in seven years. Gaffney was also Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the women’s side at the regional meet since Peyton Bilo placed ninth in 2016.
On the track, Chewens helped Tatiana Cornejo secure Second Team All-American honors in the women's indoor mile with a 16th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Cornejo became the first Mustang in program history, male or female, to secure All-American honors in the indoor mile and the fourth Mustang on the women’s side to earn All-American honors indoors in an event on the track and the first in 23 years. Outdoors, Chewens guided Kelli Gaffney to a Big West title in the women's 10,000-meter and her second straight trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries in the event.
In 2024-25, Chewens led Cal Poly to its third straight conference championship in women's cross country, leaving the rest of the field in the dust with an impressive 33 team points — the best mark by the Big West champion since 2021 and tied for the second-best score ever by Cal Poly at the meet. Schuyler Gooley became Cal Poly's first Big West individual champion in women's cross country in five years, and Tatiana Cornejo placed 25th at the NCAA West Regional to earn USTFCCCA All-West Region honors for the second straight year and become Cal Poly’s first multiple-time All-Region honoree since Peyton Bilo in 2015-16. On the track, Chewens helped Cornejo capture her second straight Big West title in the women's 1,500, saw Gooley (5,000) and Isabel Sanchez (steeplechase) claim conference titles as well and oversaw a women's distance crew that scored 96 out of Cal Poly's 149 total points at the meet. Gaffney and Cornejo also qualified for the NCAA West Prelims.
During her second year on the staff in 2023-24, Chewens saw the women's cross country team capture its second straight Big West title and mentored Big West Women's Freshman of the Year Sydney Sundgren. In track, Chewens coached Cornejo to Big West titles in the women's 800 and 1,500, helping her become the first athlete in Mustang history to sweep the events at the conference meet. Cornejo was crowned Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Meet for her performance and became the first Cal Poly athlete ever to win the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Year award.
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.
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 primarily with the women's distance runners. Chewens' coaching experience spans more than a decade, and includes stints at UNC Greensboro, Toledo, Columbia and Wake Forest prior to helping turn the Ole Miss women's distance program into one of the best in the nation.
During her time at Ole Miss, Chewens helped the women's cross country team reset its best finish at the NCAA Championships each year from 2019-21, capping it off with a program record 10th-place finish in 2021. She guided the Rebels to the NCAA South Region team title in 2021 along with their highest national ranking in program history (No. 9). Five of her athletes also earned NCAA All-South Region honors in 2021, a school record.
Ole Miss women's cross country finished inside the top three in the SEC each year during Chewens' tenure, and she coached nine NCAA All-South Region honorees and five All-SEC runners.
On the track, Chewens' resume with the Rebels was just as impressive. She coached 22 NCAA East Region qualifiers, 10 NCAA qualifiers, nine first or second team All-Americans and six SEC champions. From the 800 meters all the way to the 10,000, eight of the 10 possible school records across the indoor and outdoor track seasons were dismantled under Chewens' watch from 2020-22, and during the 2022 indoor season, the Rebel women tied for sixth as a team at the NCAA Championships, a program best.
With the Rebels, Chewens also mentored one of the greatest distance runners Ole Miss has ever seen in Sintayehu Vissa. In June 2022, Vissa, who owns four school records, won the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Championships to earn the Rebels' first ever NCAA individual title on the track on the women's side. In 2021, Vissa, who was selected to represent Italy in the 2022 World Athletics Championships, became the first All-American in Ole Miss women's cross country history, and she finished runner-up in the mile at NCAAs during the 2022 outdoor season.
Prior to arriving in Oxford in fall 2019, Chewens spent three seasons at Wake Forest (2016-19) as the head women's cross country coach and an assistant track coach. Chewens made an immediate impact on the program, helping the Demon Deacons' women's cross country team finish sixth at the 2016 ACC Championships, a significant improvement from its 12th-place result a year prior. The team went on to finish fifth at the 2016 Southeast Regional, 23 points shy of an NCAA automatic bid.
In 2017 on the track at Wake Forest, Chewens coached two All-ACC performers indoors, and two East Regional qualifiers and one All-American outdoors. From 2018-19, she mentored four East Regional qualifiers, two NCAA qualifiers and a pair of All-American honorees. In 2018, Chewens led the women's cross country program to its best finish at the ACC Championships since 2003.
Chewens spent time as an assistant track & field and cross country coach at Columbia (2014-16) and Toledo (2013-14) prior to Wake Forest, overseeing 11 East Preliminary qualifiers outdoors across the two schools.
From 2012-13, Chewens got her first taste of coaching at the collegiate level at her alma mater, UNC Greensboro. She oversaw three All-Americans on the track and one in cross country while serving as an assistant coach for both programs.
Chewens graduated from UNCG in August 2011 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a concentration in sports medicine. Chewens, originally from Cornwall-On-Hudson, N.Y., was a four-time letterwinner in track and cross country for the Spartans, earning Academic All-SoCon honors each year. She was also a part of UNGC's first SoCon Championship in women's cross country in 2011. Chewens is married to Cal Poly's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Ryan Vanhoy and has one son, Hudson.
Coaching Resume
Cal Poly Women’s Cross Country Head Coach / Assistant Track Coach, 2022-Present
Ole Miss Volunteer Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2019-22
Wake Forest Women’s Cross Country Head Coach / Assistant Track Coach, 2016-19
Columbia Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2014-16
Toledo Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2013-14
UNC Greensboro Assistant Track & Cross Country Coach, 2011-13
Mentored 2022 women’s 1,500 NCAA Champion Sintayehu Vissa at Ole Miss
Thursday, June 18
Sunday, June 07
Friday, June 05
Monday, June 01
