Torrey Olson was named the Head Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track & Field Coach the summer of 2018. He is the second cross country and track & field coach at CSUSM since the program began in 1999-2000.
Olson came to CSUSM after spending the last three years as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University. Olson served as the head cross country coach the previous three years.
In his first year as the head track & field coach, Olson's men's squad took fifth place at the CCAA Championships with four medals (two gold and two silver). The women's team took seventh with one gold-medal performance by Clarissa Garcia. Men and women combined, CSUSM earned five All-CCAA honors. while five men earned USTFCCCA All-West Region honors. Jax Heckers also qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
In his first season at the helm of the men's and women's cross country programs, the men's team took second at the 2018 CCAA Championships while the women earned third. At the NCAA West Region Championships, the men took seventh with two All-West Region nods while the women took took ninth with one All-West Region honoree. The women's Lisa Flora also qualified for the NCAA Championship.
From 2015-2018, the Urban Knights earned 50-plus All-American honors collectively. Five Urban Knight squads earned top 10 finishes at NCAA National Championships in indoor and outdoor track & field including two podium finishes in 2016. In fall of 2016, the men’s cross country team became the first-ever team to qualify for NCAA National Championships, placing 11th among 32 teams.
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Olson mentored three individual PacWest cross country champions as the both the men's and women's teams finished a program-best second in 2017. Over the six years at Art U, Olson worked directly with 12 All-Americans in the mid-distance and distance events including Gatien Airiau who was the NCAA Division II National Champion in the 3000m steeplechase. He was also instrumental in the guidance of 45 individual PacWest track & field champions in the three season (2016-18) since the PacWest reinstated a conference championship in track & field.
In his time at University of San Francisco over two season beginning in 2010, he was a part of the first squad to qualify for NCAA Division I Nationals where they finished 25th.
Prior to working with the Dons, Olson served as the distance coach at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for the 2009-10 seasons, where three athletes qualified to NCAAs, and two earned All-American honors.
A graduate of Pomona College in 2009, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary's College (2012).
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