Utah Track and Field Hires Chad Colwell

SALT LAKE CITY - Utah head track and field and cross country coach Kyle Kepler has announced the hiring of Chad Colwell as an assistant track and field coach, who will oversee the sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-event athletes. He brings over 10 years of experience to Utah, coaching at the Division I, Division II and NAIA levels throughout his career.

"Coach Colwell has a wealth of experience and success at all levels of track and field in nearly every event," Kepler said. "He is very passionate about track and field and will bring great knowledge and energy with him to Utah. Chad is an excellent communicator and is excited to get started as soon as possible."

Colwell previously served as assistant women's track and field coach at San Diego State, assisting with coaching the jumpers, sprinters and multi-event athletes. SDSU won the 2017 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship and the team was ranked 16th in the final USTFCCA poll.

While working at SDSU, Colwell was a volunteer assistant coach at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center (formerly the Olympic Training Center), working with respected jumps coach Jeremy Fischer.

Prior to his arrival at San Diego State, Colwell spent three seasons as an assistant at the University of Portland (2013-16), coaching the sprints, jumps, javelin and 800 meters. He coached honorable mention All-Americans Kory Thieleke (400, 2015) and Kaylie Van Loo (javelin, 2016) while Katherine Maus was a West Regional qualifier in the triple jump. Thieleke, Van Loo and Maus all hold Portland school records. He also coached 2016 Guam Olympian Josh Illustre.

Colwell served as head track and field and cross country coach at Division II St. Martin's University in 2012-13. That year, Laura Tesch became the first female in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships (high jump). Three of his men's student-athletes won Great Northwest Athletic Conference outdoor individual titles. Colwell was also the head coach at the University of Great Falls in the NAIA in 2011-12. He coached Travis Price to indoor All-America honors in the 600 while the 4x800 relay team also earned All-America honors during the indoor season, and Andrew Hornung (800) and Rigoberto Jimenez (10,000) both finished ninth at outdoor nationals. Several student-athletes set school records that still stand.

While working towards his master's degree, Colwell was a two-year volunteer assistant at Duke University. He mentored 2009 ACC long jump champion and triple jump runner-up Jade Ellis while with the Blue Devils.

Colwell also worked as an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona (2007-08) and Eastern Oregon University (2004-06).

Colwell is a USA Track and Field Level 1 certified coach and also holds a USTFCCCA coaching certification. He has served as meet director of the Portland Twilight and was youth coordinator of the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Colwell, who is originally from Oregon, has a Master of Arts from Duke and a bachelor's degree from Eastern Oregon University.

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Utah Track and Field Hires Chad Colwell

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