Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- jashcrof@calpoly.edu
- Phone:
- (805) 756-2937
Jenni Ashcroft, a former first-team All-American at Nevada, came to Cal Poly before the start of the 2013 season after spending her previous six years on the staff at Oregon.
Ashcroft coaches the Mustangs’ pole vaulters, high jumpers, throwers and multi-events specialists.
In her first spring in San Luis Obispo, she coached John Prader to the Big West Conference pole vault championship, along with a school record of 18 feet, 7.25 inches that ranked third nationally.
High jumper Danielle Bryan also earned an All-America honorable mention under Ashcroft’s guidance in 2015, when she advanced to the NCAA Championships by clearing 5’ 10”.
In 2016, Mustang freshman Megan Mooney won the conference title for the javelin with a mark of 153’ 2”. Cal Poly’s decathletes were also No. 2 in the country in the USTFCCCA national rankings, as Devin Bennett, Ted Scranton, Ivy Adair and Jacob Rickman averaged season-best scores of 6,932 points, placing them ahead of No. 3 Texas A&M (6,918), behind only No. 1 Wisconsin (7,423).
Altogether at Cal Poly, Ashcroft has coached 14 student-athletes who rank in the top 10 throughout school history for their respective events.
During her tenure with the Ducks from 2006 to 2012, she coached four individual national champions and 40 All-Americans.
While on the staff at Oregon, Ashcroft was part of eight Pac-10 and two Pac-12 team conference championships and four NCAA team national championships. During that stretch, Ashcroft mentored Melissa Gergel to seven All-American performances, culminating in the NCAA national pole vault title in 2011 (at 14’ 7.25”, an all-time meet record). Also in 2011, Anne Kesselring (800m outdoor) and Jordan Hasay (mile and 3K indoor) won national championships under the guidance of Ashcroft and legendary coach Vin Lananna.
Prior to coaching at Oregon, Ashcroft spent four seasons (2003 to 2006) on the Wichita State staff, first as a graduate assistant and then as an assistant coach.
Over that span, in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump, the Shockers recorded six Missouri Valley Conference titles, earned 26 all-conference accolades, set 11 program records and seven MVC records, and made four NCAA Championships appearances.
The graduate of Nevada took seventh place at the 2002 NCAA Championships after setting the Wolf Pack’s school record with a jump of 13’ 3.75”. She was also a conference pole vault champion in both the Big West and the WAC, as well as a 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier, and was named the State of Nevada’s NCAA Woman of the Year.
Ashcroft earned her degree in secondary education at Nevada and added a master’s in sports administration at Wichita State in 2005.
