Ron Stonitsch was the 1969 NCAA Division II Cross-Country National Champion, a multiple All-American in Cross-Country and Track, a 4:01 miler and the C. W. Post College record holder in the one, two, and three-mile events. He also holds the Penn Relays 2 mile record (8:38). Since 1982, Stonitsch has coached cross-country at Vassar College. There he coached three runners to All-American status: Tracy Nichols (1990), James McCowan (1997), and Colin Sanders (2006).
Steve Scott is an American former track athlete and one of the greatest mile runners in American history. The silver medalist in the 1500 meters at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki in 1983, Scott owns the U.S. indoor record in the 2000 meters (4:58.6-1981). He held the American outdoor mile record for more than 26 years and also is the former American indoor record holder in the same event. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on 10 occasions, and 11 times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Additionally, he participated for the US team at the 1984 Olympics. He finished 5th in the 1500 meter run at the 1988 Olympics held in Korea. Scott was also an Olympian on the 1980 Olympics team which was not allowed to go to Moscow. He ran the sub four-minute mile on 136 occasions in his career, more than any other runner in history.
Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine was an US-American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and was preparing for the 1976 Olympics with the Oregon Track Club at the time of his death in 1975.
Phillip George Vassar Jr. is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Collin Raye, and Alan Jackson. In 1999, he was named by American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) as Country Songwriter of the Year.
William Henry Rodgers is an American runner, Olympian, and former record holder in the marathon. Rodgers is best known for his four victories in both the Boston Marathon, including three straight from 1978 to 1980, and 4 straight wins in the New York City Marathon, between 1976 and 1979.
Marcus O'Sullivan is an Irish retired middle-distance runner. He competed for Ireland at four Summer Olympics. After Steve Scott and John Walker, he is the third all-time by total of sub-4 minute miles run over the course of his career, at 101.
James Calvin Spivey is a former American middle-distance runner and Olympian. Spivey took up competitive running in Illinois where he became one of the best high school runners from his state. He was the 1982 NCAA DI men's 1500-meter champion with Indiana University. Spivey enjoyed a long Olympic career, in which he participated in the Olympic Summer Games in 1984, 1992, and 1996.
Chris Solinsky is a retired American distance runner and an American college cross country coach. Solinsky is the current assistant coach of the Oregon Ducks cross country team at the University of Oregon. Among his more notable achievements, he won eight state championships in high school and five NCAA Division I championships at the University of Wisconsin. He was the American 10,000 meters record holder with a time of 26:59.60 as well as the first non-African to break the 27-minute barrier in the 10,000 m.
Francis Xavier Cretzmeyer, Jr. was the greatest track and field coach at the University of Iowa in the 20th century, leading their team the Hawkeyes to multiple Big Ten team titles. Before being a coach, he was a superb track and field athlete, but prevented from claiming individual titles by having the misfortune of being a contemporary of the legendary Jesse Owens, which meant that Cretzmeyer regularly came in second to Owens at Big Ten track meets.
George L. Young was an American track athlete and college coach. He won a bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the 3000 meter steeplechase and held several American records in events ranging from the two mile to the 5000 meter race. He broke two world records, in the indoor two and three mile events.
Jeffrey Patrick Atkinson is a male former middle-distance runner from the United States. He has held the outdoor mile record at Stanford University since 1986. He was the fastest American male in the 1500 metres in 1989. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, and came in tenth place in the 1500m race. He tried to make a comeback at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but did not pass the Olympic trials.
The Malone Pioneers are athletic teams of Malone University in Canton, Ohio, United States. The Pioneers compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). Malone joined the G-MAC after four seasons in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) from 2012–13 to 2015–16. Malone joined the GLIAC and Division II in the 2011–12 season and completed the NCAA Division II membership process in July 2013 after having previously competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA); mostly known for its tenure with the now-defunct American Mideast Conference from 1965–66 to 1988–89, and from 1993–94 to 2010–11. In 2016, the Pioneers began play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, also known as the G-MAC.
German Fernandez is a retired American professional runner from Riverbank, California, known for his performance in high school and collegiate cross country and track and field. Later he trained under Jerry Schumacher for the Bowerman Track Club. He is most well known for running the California Cross Country State Meet course record (14:24), as well as running a new American high-school record, 8:34.40 for two miles, at the 2008 Nike Outdoor Nationals championship. He also holds the World Junior Indoor Mile record at 3:55.02. A local meet in Riverbank, California, the German Fernandez Distance Carnival, is named after him.
Ward H. Haylett was an American football, basketball, track and field, and cross country running coach. Haylett served as the head football coach at Doane College—now known as Doane University—in Crete, Nebraska from 1924 to 1927 and Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science—now known as Kansas State University compiling a career college football coaching record of 23–32–6. He was enshrined in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1979.
Matthew Centrowitz Sr. is a two-time Olympic distance runner, a four-time United States champion, a collegiate All-American, a nationally renowned high school athlete, and a collegiate cross country and track coach.
Jack Strangl Bacheler is an American former long-distance runner and two-time U.S. Olympian. Born in Washington, District of Columbia, Bacheler was a founding member of the Florida Track Club at Gainesville, Florida in the late 1960s, and personally designed the club's distinctive "orange" logo. Standing 6 feet 7 inches, yet weighing only 165 pounds, he towered over most of his competitors. Now living in Clayton, North Carolina, he is married to Patricia Bacheler. Bacheler has two children, daughter Teresa (Teri), and son Matthew (Matt).
Eastern Michigan Eagles men's cross country is a varsity level sport at Eastern Michigan University. The Eagles compete at the Division I level in the NCAA, but previously have been in the NAIA as well as Division II and III of the NCAA. The team is a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), where it has won twenty team championships. Its current head coach, Mark Rinker, started in January 2021. His predecessor, John Goodridge, won *ten MAC championships in his fifteen years as head coach. *(limited Mac school team participation 2004-2015 vs.1972-2003) His predecessor Bob Parks holds the other nine MAC championships.*
Alan Webb is an American former track and field athlete and former triathlete. He held the American national record in the mile, with a time of 3 minutes 46.91 seconds, from July 2007 to September 2023. Webb represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's 1500-meters race. He competed professionally for Nike until the end of 2013. He retired after the 2014 Millrose Games.
Thom Hunt is a retired distance runner who specialized in various events from the 1500 meters to the marathon. He represented the United States in international competition and was particularly prolific in cross country running. He was the junior runner-up at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1976 and won in 1977. He currently coaches Women's Cross Country at Cuyamaca College.
Jamey Harris is an American athlete and coach in track and field and cross-country. He is the 1998 USA national champion in the men's 1500 meters and finished fourth in the world in the men's mile at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Jamey Harris is currently Head Coach for Cross Country and Assistant Coach of Track and Field at Humboldt State University.
Ray Treacy is a former competitive distance runner and coach of collegiate and professional runners. He began coaching track and field and cross country at Providence College in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in 1984, and became the head coach in 1986.