Track and Field
Ryan Vanhoy
- Title:
- Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
- Email:
- rvanhoy@calpoly.edu
Coaching Resume
3 NCAA National Champions (2017 DMR, 2 individuals)
4th Place Trophy at 2016 NCAA XC Championships
12 NCAA Top 25 Team Finishes in XC, 5 Indoor TF, 2 Outdoor TF
45 First Team Track All-Americans, 69 Total
8 Cross Country All-Americans
10x Conference Coach of the Year (8 Big West, 2 SEC)
14 Conference Team Championships (12 Big West, 2 SEC)
18 Big West Individual Champions (15 Track, 3 XC)
57 SEC Individual Champions
11x USTFCCCA South Region Coach of the Year (7 XC, 4 Track)
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.
During his time with the Mustangs, Vanhoy has led the program to unprecedented success, capturing all eight Big West Championships in men's and women's cross country that have been contested since his arrival in San Luis Obispo and guiding the men's track and field team to three consecutive conference titles (2024-26). He also helped the Cal Poly women's track and field team secure its second Big West Championship all-time in 2024. He has been named a Big West Coach of the Year a combined eight times between track and field and cross country (4 TF, 4 XC).
Across his time at Cal Poly, Vanhoy has personally coached 18 Big West individual champions between track and cross country, mentored Aidan McCarthy to three First Team All-American finishes in the men's 800-meter (2023 7th outdoors, 2025 3rd indoors, 2025 5th outdoors) and Chris Caudillo to one in the men's 1,500 (2026 7th outdoors), and overseen eight school-record breaking performances and 47 top-10 marks all-time between the men's indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.
In 2025-26, Vanhoy helped Cal Poly sweep the Big West men's and women's cross country team titles for the fourth straight year, achieving the first four-peat sweep in the sport in the history of the conference. Six Mustang runners finished inside the top 10 in the men's Big West Championship 8K race, aiding the Cal Poly men to their 21st Big West title overall and allowing Vanhoy to be named the Big West Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, tied for the second longest streak by a coach in the history of the conference and only trailing former Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mark Conover, who won the award seven consecutive times from 2003-09. On the track, the Cal Poly men coasted to an historic third straight Big West Championship thanks to an impressive 141 points from the distance events overseen by Vanhoy and scored a total of 201.5 team points — the most by the Big West Champion under the current 10-team conference championship format. The Mustangs earned a program record 19 entries in the NCAA West Preliminaries between the men’s and women’s teams, and the Cal Poly men recorded their second most entries ever (13) at the meet. Cal Poly ultimately qualified five athletes for this year’s NCAA Championships, a new program record since the two regional format was adopted in 2010, and Vanhoy coached Chris Caudillo to a seventh-place finish in the men's 1,500-meter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, helping the Clovis, Calif. native become the second Mustang in program history to secure First Team All-American honors in the men’s 1,500 and the first in 47 years.
Cal Poly finished with a total of five All-Americans between the men's and women's teams at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships, a new program record, and the Mustangs saw three of them secure First Team All-American honors.
In 2024-25, Vanhoy was tabbed as the Big West Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the third straight season after guiding the Mustang men to their 20th Big West title overall, finishing a commanding 51 points in front of second place Cal State Fullerton. Cal Poly swept the top three places in the Big West meet and went on to place eighth as a team at regionals for the third straight year, tied for its best finish since placing seventh in 2013. In the spring, Vanhoy guided Aidan McCarthy to First Team All-American performances both indoors and outdoors in the 800 and helped the Cal Poly men's track and field program secure its second straight conference title thanks to 114 points from the distance events. Vanhoy’s distance crew won five Big West individual titles (800, 1,500, 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000) and the Mustang men posted a program record 14 entries in the NCAA West Preliminaries.
During Vanhoy's second year with the program in 2023-24, Cal Poly reigned supreme over the rest of the conference, winning all four Big West titles in men's and women's cross country and track & field to become the first school in the history of the conference to sweep all four championships during a single academic year. The Mustangs were also the only program in Division I to sweep the conference titles in all four of those sports during the 2023-24 academic year. While hosting the Big West Track & Field Championships for the first time in program history, Cal Poly became the first school in 14 years to sweep the men's and women's conference titles as the men won their first Big West Championship in program history while the women captured their second and first since 2021. Vanhoy won the Big West Men's and Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year awards for his efforts. In cross country while hosting the conference meet at Blacklake Golf Resort, the Mustangs swept the Big West titles for the second straight year and Vanhoy guided Davis Bove to his first and only appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, capturing eighth at the NCAA West Regional to qualify for the meet — tied for the second-highest individual finish by a Mustang man at the West Regional in program history and the best in 20 years.
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 a total of six runners secured All-Big West honors. Vanhoy guided the Cal Poly men to a dominant performance at the conference championships as the Mustangs finished with 22 team points — the best mark by the men's Big West champion since 2016. Cal Poly swept the top three places in the race and five athletes finished inside the top 10 individually.
Jake Ritter made history under Vanhoy's watch in 2022, becoming the first athlete in conference history to capture three Big West individual cross country titles by running a conference meet record 8K time of 23:27.4 at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course. The Big West Men's Athlete of the Year went on to place 12th overall at the NCAA West Regionals to grab All-Region honors and punch his ticket to the NCAA XC Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At nationals, Ritter placed 90th to become Cal Poly's highest individual finisher on the men's side since Phillip Reid in 2007.
During his first season leading the Mustang track program in 2023, men competed indoors for Cal Poly for the first time in Division I program history and the women broke four school records indoors. Outdoors, 24 new top 10 marks were recorded across the men's and women's teams and three school records were broken, including a pair by distance phenom Aidan McCarthy (men's 800-meter and 1,500-meter). Under Vanhoy's guidance in 2023, McCarthy secured First Team All-American honors in the 800, placing seventh at the NCAA Championships. McCarthy was named Big West Men's Co-Track Athlete of the Year, finished first in the 800 at the NCAA West Preliminaries and advanced to the 800 semifinals at the USATF Outdoor Championships during the summer.
In 2023, Vanhoy also helped professional runner John Rivera qualify and compete at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in the men's 800.
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. The Ole Miss women went on to capture 10th at the NCAA National Championships, the best finish in program history, and the men 15th, their third-best result in school history.
Nationally, Vanhoy is the eighth coach ever to sweep the USTFCCCA regional men's and women's cross country awards since the current format was put in place, and the first to sweep the South Region awards.
Vanhoy also spent seven seasons at Ole Miss (2016-22) as the assistant track and field coach for the distance team. In the spring of 2022, Vanhoy mentored two NCAA Champions in Mario Garcia Romo (men's indoor mile) and Sintayehu Vissa (women's outdoor 1,500-meter). Garcia Romo and Vissa were among four athletes Vanhoy coached during the 2022 outdoor track season that received All-American honors and two of 12 All-American honorees he oversaw during the 2022 indoor season.
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. Unprecedented success, school records and program firsts soon followed. He led the Rebel men to their first appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2014, as well as their first South Regional title that same year.
Overall, Vanhoy led the Ole Miss men's cross country team to eight NCAA Championship appearances, five NCAA South Regional titles and the program's first two SEC team titles in 2018 and 2019. He won the men's South Region Coach of the Year award five times and helped the Rebel men place fourth at the 2016 NCAA Championships, a program best.
Vanhoy added to his coaching duties at Ole Miss in the fall of 2015 by becoming coach of the women's cross country team and the women's distance crew on the track. In cross country, he guided the women to six straight NCAA appearances, including the program's first in 2016, and two NCAA South Regional titles, and earned a pair of women's South Region Coach of the Year awards.
Across both cross country teams at Ole Miss, Vanhoy coached 61 NCAA All-South Region honorees, 34 All-SEC runners and eight total All-Americans. Ole Miss was also one of just four schools nationally to have both men's and women's cross country teams finish inside the Top 25 at each of the six NCAA Championship meets from 2016-21.
On the track at Ole Miss, Vanhoy's athletes were just as impressive. Sixteen of the 20 indoor and outdoor school records in distance events are owned by Rebels Vanhoy coached. Vanhoy guided 65 Rebels to All-American honors (41 first-team, 24 second-team), 57 to SEC Championships and 21 to SEC runner-up finishes. Vanhoy was named USTFCCCA South Region Men's Assistant Coach of the Year four times and his 2017 distance medley team won the NCAA title.
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 coached his runners at Northeastern to four Colonial Athletic Association conference titles. During his tenure at North Carolina, Vanhoy helped produce two ACC champions, five NCAA East Region qualifiers and two Olympic Trials qualifiers.
With the Tar Heels, Vanhoy was an assistant track and field and cross country coach during his first two seasons prior to be being promoted to head men's and women's cross country coach in January 2012.
Vanhoy, who competed on the North Carolina track and cross country teams in 2006 and 2007, graduated from UNC in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in biology. The Asheboro, N.C. native received his master's degree in exercise physiology from UNC in 2012. Vanhoy is married to Cal Poly Head Women's Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track Coach Michelle Chewens and the couple has two sons, Hudson and Henry.
Coaching History
Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, 2022-Present
Ole Miss Associate Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach, 2015-22
Ole Miss Assistant Track & Field Coach, men’s and women’s distance, 2016-22
Ole Miss Assistant Track & Field Coach, men’s distance, 2014-15
Ole Miss Men’s Cross Country Coach, 2013-15
Northeastern Assistant Track and Cross Country Coach, 2013-14
North Carolina Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach, 2012-13
North Carolina Assistant Track and Cross Country Coach, 2010-12
3 NCAA National Champions (2017 DMR, 2 individuals)
4th Place Trophy at 2016 NCAA XC Championships
12 NCAA Top 25 Team Finishes in XC, 5 Indoor TF, 2 Outdoor TF
45 First Team Track All-Americans, 69 Total
8 Cross Country All-Americans
10x Conference Coach of the Year (8 Big West, 2 SEC)
14 Conference Team Championships (12 Big West, 2 SEC)
18 Big West Individual Champions (15 Track, 3 XC)
57 SEC Individual Champions
11x USTFCCCA South Region Coach of the Year (7 XC, 4 Track)
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.
During his time with the Mustangs, Vanhoy has led the program to unprecedented success, capturing all eight Big West Championships in men's and women's cross country that have been contested since his arrival in San Luis Obispo and guiding the men's track and field team to three consecutive conference titles (2024-26). He also helped the Cal Poly women's track and field team secure its second Big West Championship all-time in 2024. He has been named a Big West Coach of the Year a combined eight times between track and field and cross country (4 TF, 4 XC).
Across his time at Cal Poly, Vanhoy has personally coached 18 Big West individual champions between track and cross country, mentored Aidan McCarthy to three First Team All-American finishes in the men's 800-meter (2023 7th outdoors, 2025 3rd indoors, 2025 5th outdoors) and Chris Caudillo to one in the men's 1,500 (2026 7th outdoors), and overseen eight school-record breaking performances and 47 top-10 marks all-time between the men's indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.
In 2025-26, Vanhoy helped Cal Poly sweep the Big West men's and women's cross country team titles for the fourth straight year, achieving the first four-peat sweep in the sport in the history of the conference. Six Mustang runners finished inside the top 10 in the men's Big West Championship 8K race, aiding the Cal Poly men to their 21st Big West title overall and allowing Vanhoy to be named the Big West Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, tied for the second longest streak by a coach in the history of the conference and only trailing former Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mark Conover, who won the award seven consecutive times from 2003-09. On the track, the Cal Poly men coasted to an historic third straight Big West Championship thanks to an impressive 141 points from the distance events overseen by Vanhoy and scored a total of 201.5 team points — the most by the Big West Champion under the current 10-team conference championship format. The Mustangs earned a program record 19 entries in the NCAA West Preliminaries between the men’s and women’s teams, and the Cal Poly men recorded their second most entries ever (13) at the meet. Cal Poly ultimately qualified five athletes for this year’s NCAA Championships, a new program record since the two regional format was adopted in 2010, and Vanhoy coached Chris Caudillo to a seventh-place finish in the men's 1,500-meter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, helping the Clovis, Calif. native become the second Mustang in program history to secure First Team All-American honors in the men’s 1,500 and the first in 47 years.
Cal Poly finished with a total of five All-Americans between the men's and women's teams at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships, a new program record, and the Mustangs saw three of them secure First Team All-American honors.
In 2024-25, Vanhoy was tabbed as the Big West Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the third straight season after guiding the Mustang men to their 20th Big West title overall, finishing a commanding 51 points in front of second place Cal State Fullerton. Cal Poly swept the top three places in the Big West meet and went on to place eighth as a team at regionals for the third straight year, tied for its best finish since placing seventh in 2013. In the spring, Vanhoy guided Aidan McCarthy to First Team All-American performances both indoors and outdoors in the 800 and helped the Cal Poly men's track and field program secure its second straight conference title thanks to 114 points from the distance events. Vanhoy’s distance crew won five Big West individual titles (800, 1,500, 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000) and the Mustang men posted a program record 14 entries in the NCAA West Preliminaries.
During Vanhoy's second year with the program in 2023-24, Cal Poly reigned supreme over the rest of the conference, winning all four Big West titles in men's and women's cross country and track & field to become the first school in the history of the conference to sweep all four championships during a single academic year. The Mustangs were also the only program in Division I to sweep the conference titles in all four of those sports during the 2023-24 academic year. While hosting the Big West Track & Field Championships for the first time in program history, Cal Poly became the first school in 14 years to sweep the men's and women's conference titles as the men won their first Big West Championship in program history while the women captured their second and first since 2021. Vanhoy won the Big West Men's and Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year awards for his efforts. In cross country while hosting the conference meet at Blacklake Golf Resort, the Mustangs swept the Big West titles for the second straight year and Vanhoy guided Davis Bove to his first and only appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, capturing eighth at the NCAA West Regional to qualify for the meet — tied for the second-highest individual finish by a Mustang man at the West Regional in program history and the best in 20 years.
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 a total of six runners secured All-Big West honors. Vanhoy guided the Cal Poly men to a dominant performance at the conference championships as the Mustangs finished with 22 team points — the best mark by the men's Big West champion since 2016. Cal Poly swept the top three places in the race and five athletes finished inside the top 10 individually.
Jake Ritter made history under Vanhoy's watch in 2022, becoming the first athlete in conference history to capture three Big West individual cross country titles by running a conference meet record 8K time of 23:27.4 at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course. The Big West Men's Athlete of the Year went on to place 12th overall at the NCAA West Regionals to grab All-Region honors and punch his ticket to the NCAA XC Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At nationals, Ritter placed 90th to become Cal Poly's highest individual finisher on the men's side since Phillip Reid in 2007.
During his first season leading the Mustang track program in 2023, men competed indoors for Cal Poly for the first time in Division I program history and the women broke four school records indoors. Outdoors, 24 new top 10 marks were recorded across the men's and women's teams and three school records were broken, including a pair by distance phenom Aidan McCarthy (men's 800-meter and 1,500-meter). Under Vanhoy's guidance in 2023, McCarthy secured First Team All-American honors in the 800, placing seventh at the NCAA Championships. McCarthy was named Big West Men's Co-Track Athlete of the Year, finished first in the 800 at the NCAA West Preliminaries and advanced to the 800 semifinals at the USATF Outdoor Championships during the summer.
In 2023, Vanhoy also helped professional runner John Rivera qualify and compete at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in the men's 800.
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. The Ole Miss women went on to capture 10th at the NCAA National Championships, the best finish in program history, and the men 15th, their third-best result in school history.
Nationally, Vanhoy is the eighth coach ever to sweep the USTFCCCA regional men's and women's cross country awards since the current format was put in place, and the first to sweep the South Region awards.
Vanhoy also spent seven seasons at Ole Miss (2016-22) as the assistant track and field coach for the distance team. In the spring of 2022, Vanhoy mentored two NCAA Champions in Mario Garcia Romo (men's indoor mile) and Sintayehu Vissa (women's outdoor 1,500-meter). Garcia Romo and Vissa were among four athletes Vanhoy coached during the 2022 outdoor track season that received All-American honors and two of 12 All-American honorees he oversaw during the 2022 indoor season.
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. Unprecedented success, school records and program firsts soon followed. He led the Rebel men to their first appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2014, as well as their first South Regional title that same year.
Overall, Vanhoy led the Ole Miss men's cross country team to eight NCAA Championship appearances, five NCAA South Regional titles and the program's first two SEC team titles in 2018 and 2019. He won the men's South Region Coach of the Year award five times and helped the Rebel men place fourth at the 2016 NCAA Championships, a program best.
Vanhoy added to his coaching duties at Ole Miss in the fall of 2015 by becoming coach of the women's cross country team and the women's distance crew on the track. In cross country, he guided the women to six straight NCAA appearances, including the program's first in 2016, and two NCAA South Regional titles, and earned a pair of women's South Region Coach of the Year awards.
Across both cross country teams at Ole Miss, Vanhoy coached 61 NCAA All-South Region honorees, 34 All-SEC runners and eight total All-Americans. Ole Miss was also one of just four schools nationally to have both men's and women's cross country teams finish inside the Top 25 at each of the six NCAA Championship meets from 2016-21.
On the track at Ole Miss, Vanhoy's athletes were just as impressive. Sixteen of the 20 indoor and outdoor school records in distance events are owned by Rebels Vanhoy coached. Vanhoy guided 65 Rebels to All-American honors (41 first-team, 24 second-team), 57 to SEC Championships and 21 to SEC runner-up finishes. Vanhoy was named USTFCCCA South Region Men's Assistant Coach of the Year four times and his 2017 distance medley team won the NCAA title.
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 coached his runners at Northeastern to four Colonial Athletic Association conference titles. During his tenure at North Carolina, Vanhoy helped produce two ACC champions, five NCAA East Region qualifiers and two Olympic Trials qualifiers.
With the Tar Heels, Vanhoy was an assistant track and field and cross country coach during his first two seasons prior to be being promoted to head men's and women's cross country coach in January 2012.
Vanhoy, who competed on the North Carolina track and cross country teams in 2006 and 2007, graduated from UNC in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in biology. The Asheboro, N.C. native received his master's degree in exercise physiology from UNC in 2012. Vanhoy is married to Cal Poly Head Women's Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track Coach Michelle Chewens and the couple has two sons, Hudson and Henry.
Coaching History
Cal Poly Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, 2022-Present
Ole Miss Associate Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach, 2015-22
Ole Miss Assistant Track & Field Coach, men’s and women’s distance, 2016-22
Ole Miss Assistant Track & Field Coach, men’s distance, 2014-15
Ole Miss Men’s Cross Country Coach, 2013-15
Northeastern Assistant Track and Cross Country Coach, 2013-14
North Carolina Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach, 2012-13
North Carolina Assistant Track and Cross Country Coach, 2010-12
Wednesday, August 05
Thursday, July 30
Thursday, June 18
Sunday, June 07
