Dave Smith - Director of Track & Field and Cross Country - Cowgirl Cross Country & Track Coaches

Dave Smith

Title:
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
Email:
dave.smith@okstate.edu
Phone:
(405) 744-2108

Dave Smith is truly at the top of his profession, and is only getting better.

The Oklahoma State head coach was honored as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s Division I Cross Country National Coach of the Year in 2009, 2010 and again in 2012. That is the highest honor awarded to a cross country coach.

He was voted by his peers as Big 12 Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He also coached the Cowgirls to their first Big 12 cross country championship in 2015 and was named the 2015 Big 12 Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, capping a stretch of six seasons of top-four finishes for the Cowgirls at the conference meet. He also recently served as the men’s distance coach for Team USA during its stay at the 2014 World Junior Championships and the USA coach for the Great North Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Smith led OSU to three NCAA team cross country
championships in four years (2009, 2010, 2012) to go with nine straight Big 12 team titles from 2008-16 and has coached six different Cowboy runners to seven Big 12 cross country individual championships.

The Cowboys have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in every year but two under Smith. Additionally, the Pokes placed in the top 25 at the 2009 outdoor track and field meet for the first time since 1985 in his first year as head track and field coach.

In his most recent campaign, Smith coached Hassan Abdi to an individual cross country title, becoming the first OSU runner to do so since Vegard Oelstad in 2015. Abdi and fellow Cowboy Luis Martinez took the top two spots at the Big 12 Championships in Smith’s most recent cross country season.

In the track and field seasons, Smith guided two of his athletes to the outdoor championships round in unfamiliar territory. Blake Scott made it to Eugene in the pole vault and Jacob Fincham-Dukes once again made an appearance in the long jump.

For the Cowgirls, Smith produced a breakout season from Sinclaire Johnson, who represented the Cowgirls in Eugene and coached veteran runners such as Molly Sughroue and Ariane Ballner to Big 12 track titles.

The 2015-16 season saw the women’s program reach new heights under Smith’s guidance. Those Cowgirls
finished seventh at the NCAA Cross Country
Championships - their highest since 1989 - and pulled off their best finishes ever at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 10th and 12th, respectively.

Additionally, the 2015-16 Cowgirl season included a
national championship from Edwards in the indoor mile, a Midwest Region cross country championship, a best-ever 107-point, second-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, NCAA runner-up finishes from Chase Ealey (outdoor shot put) and Aurora Dybedokken (outdoor 5,000m), additional impressive All-America performances from Ingeborg Loevnes (fourth in 3,000m steeplechase), Savannah Camacho (fourth in indoor 800m) and Ealey (sixth indoor shot put), several Big 12 individual titles and a third-place finish for the USTFCCCA Program of the Year award.

The men’s program also had a notable year in 2016, with another Big 12 cross country title, Josh Thompson named 2016 Midwest Region Indoor Athlete of the Year, Nick Miller named 2016 Midwest Region Outdoor Athlete of the Year, All-America performances from John Teeters (fifth in the outdoor 100m and fourth in indoor 60m) and the men’s distance medley relay team (fifth place) and numerous
individual Big 12 titles.

Smith led the Cowboys to back-to-back top 10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2013 and 2014. The Cowboys’ eighth-place finish in 2013 was OSU’s highest finish since 1984, followed by a sixth-place finish in 2014 which was OSU’s second-highest team finish in school history behind a second-place finish in 1965.

In addition to another Big 12 men’s cross country
championship, Smith’s 2014-15 year included an individual cross country conference champion in Kirubel Erassa, an individual NCAA champion in Chad Noelle (outdoor 1,500 meters), a pair of NCAA runners-up and a total of 15
All-America honors for the men’s and women’s teams.

Smith’s recent efforts have included a resurgence of the track program as a whole. Oklahoma State has been known for its elite distance program for years, but Smith has expanded OSU’s vision to include elite throwers and sprinters as well. John Teeters and Nick Miller have provided the most evidence of all-around success, with Teeters earning four All-America honors, including a national runner-up finish in the 60-meters, and Miller
earning a total of seven All-America honors in the weight and hammer throws with one NCAA title in the hammer throw. Miller has also earned elite international success, claiming gold at the 2015 Sainsbury British
Championships, taking gold at the European
Championships and reaching the final at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Miller competed for Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where joined Smith’s pupils Shadrack Kipchirchir (USA - 10k), Tom Farrell (Great Britain - 5k) and Ingeborg Loevnes (Norway - steeplechase).

The 2013-14 cross country/track & field season can easily be considered the best in school history, as Smith coached the Cowboys to a third-place place finish at the NCAA Cross Country championships, a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Additionally, Smith’s squad won Big 12 titles in cross country and indoor track & field and had a third-place conference finish in outdoors,
helping the team to a second-place finish for the
USTFCCCA’s Program of the Year award.

Smith has coached 129 All-Americans and 101 Big 12 champions. As the head coach for both squads at OSU, he has coached 86 Big 12 champions and 439 All-Big 12 performers. To put that figure into perspective, Oklahoma State had only 13 total All-Americans from 2000-06.

German Fernandez won the 2009 NCAA title in the 1,500 meters and was the Big 12 individual cross country
champion in both 2008 and 2011. He swept all of the Big 12’s major awards as a freshman, claiming the
conference’s male athlete of the year honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons to go with his 2008 cross country crown. Ryan Vail was the 2009 Big 12 individual cross country champion and was a five-time All-American under Smith. John Kosgei was the 2010 NCAA runner-up in the 10,000 meters and was honored as the 2010 Big 12 Outdoor Performer of the Year after winning the 5,000
meters and the 10,000 meters at the conference meet. Girma Mecheso won the 2010 Big 12 individual cross country title and was one of five cross country
All-Americans coached by Smith in 2010.

Chad Noelle took home the 2015 NCAA title in the 1,500-meter run to become the 15th Cowboy in school
history to win an outdoor championship. In 2016, Kaela
Edwards won an NCAA title in the indoor mile and to become the fourth Cowgirl to ever win an NCAA title. Nick Miller won the hammer throw title in the outdoor season in 2016 as well to give Smith four individual national
championships in addition to his three cross country team titles.

That success has rolled over into the classroom as well.

In addition to winning the NCAA cross country title in both 2009 and 2012, Smith’s Cowboys were honored as the USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year for their excellence in the classroom both seasons. Under Smith’s watch, Oklahoma State cross country has been recognized as an all-academic team by the USTFCCCA eight times. In 2013, the OSU track and field teams combined for 12
USTFCCCA All-Academic individuals, and both the men’s and women’s teams had the highest GPA’s in the Big 12. Ryan Vail was an ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American in both 2008 and 2009 to become the first repeat Academic All-American in OSU track history.

In the Big 12, OSU has had 160 first-team Academic All-Conference honorees in track and field since Smith took over the women’s team as well in 2009.

Smith arrived in Stillwater in 2002 and served as an
assistant coach under Dick Weis for four years before being elevated to head men’s cross country coach in 2006. Upon Weis’ retirement following the 2008 cross country season, Smith was promoted to head men’s track coach and in the summer of 2009, Smith assumed control of both the Cowboy and Cowgirl programs under the title of
director of cross country and track and field.

Having placed 10th at the NCAA Cross Country
Championships in 2006, third in 2007 and eighth in 2008, the Cowboys entered the 2009 cross country season as a proven commodity and were considered a possible threat to reigning NCAA champion Oregon and traditional power Stanford. OSU spent the entire season ranked in the top five nationally, but was not ranked No. 1 at any point during the campaign. However, the Pokes toppled Oregon by 16 points at the NCAA Championships and overwhelmed top-ranked Stanford by a whopping 227 points to put an exclamation point on their NCAA title season.

Smith’s strategy going into the race was to let his senior captain Vail lead the way. Through the first 3,000 meters, OSU was in third place, six points ahead of the Cardinal. At the midway point, OSU created some separation between itself and the rest of the field, with Vail leading the posse of Cowboy runners. Through 8,000 meters, OSU held a
comfortable lead over second-place Oregon. From that point, the Pokes made their final surge to seal the victory.

When the smoke cleared, OSU crowned four All-Americans en route to winning the title, with Vail finishing seventh, sophomore Colby Lowe eighth, Kosgei 11th and
sophomore Girma Mecheso 24th. For his efforts, Smith was honored as the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year.

It was a different refrain in 2010, as the distance-running community had already developed a familiarity with Oklahoma State as the top dog. That said, Smith and the Cowboys still managed to turn heads by destroying the NCAA competition, racking up the fourth-largest margin of victory in the history of the NCAA Championships in
defeating the field by a whopping 120 points.

All five Oklahoma State scorers earned All-America
recognition at the 2010 NCAA Cross Country
Championships, led by the trio of Mecheso, Fernandez and Lowe, who finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. Tom Farrell was 29th and Johnathan Stublaski was 36th. Perhaps the scariest part of the Cowboys’ domination of the 2010 NCAA Championships is the fact that Smith actually utilized a conservative strategy in dropping Farrell back in the field. Farrell had run side-by-side with Mecheso, Fernandez and Lowe during the season, but Smith’s NCAA strategy was to have Farrell stay back in the field and then make his move at the end in a manner that would help the team in case any other squad threatened.

In 2012, OSU went back and forth with Wisconsin all year at the No. 1 and No. 2 national rankings. The Cowboys took the No. 1 ranking to the NCAA meet, and ran like it, decimating the competition and winning the national title by 63 points over second-place Wisconsin. It was OSU’s third team NCAA title in four years. Tom Farrell, Shadrack Kipchirchir, Girma Mecheso and Joseph Manilafasha took home All-America honors.

During the 2009 outdoor season – Smith’s first as head coach – the Cowboys placed 25th in the final team
standings and Fernandez won the 1,500 meter title. OSU’s team finish was the best for a Cowboy team in 24 years and Fernandez became the Pokes’ first NCAA champion since Paul Larkins in 1986. Additionally, Vail earned All-America honors in the 5,000 meters.

In the 2013 indoor season, OSU spent most of its time smashing school records. It started at the Razorback Invitational, when Farrell, Kirubel Erassa, Fabian Clarkson and Shane Moskowitz ran sub-four minute miles at the same meet, something that had never been done in NCAA history. It ended with the Cowboys taking eighth place at the NCAA meet, a feat that had not been accomplished since 1984. Seven Cowboys combined for nine All-America honors--the most in OSU indoor history.

The Cowboys took home the Big 12 Indoor title again two years later in a dramatic 1.5-point win over Texas. The Pokes won five individual Big 12 titles en route to the team victory with Josh Thompson winning two titles. OSU scored 27 points in the 3,000-meter final, including 10 points from event champion Craig Nowak, to take the lead back from Texas with one event remaining. In the 400-meter relay, the Cowboys finished fifth to score four points to secure their second team title in three seasons.

Since Smith took over the women’s program in 2009, he has already coached the Cowgirls to 32 All-America honors and 26 individual Big 12 championships, led by NCAA champion, eight-time All-American and nine-time Big 12 champion Natalja Piliusina, who also set seven school records during her time in Stillwater.

Piliusina paved the way for a new era of Cowgirl track and field and cross country that has since finished runner-up in the 2016 Big 12 Indoor Championships, and finished in the top-10 at an NCAA Cross Country Championships and Indoor Championships, and 12th at the 2016 Outdoor Championships.

To put those numbers into perspective, the Oklahoma State women’s program had tallied five All-Americans and seven Big 12 champions from 2004-09.

Kaela Edwards added to OSU’s trophy case when she won the fourth NCAA Indoor title in Cowgirl history at the 2016 Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. Edwards is also one of two Cowgirls since 2014 to finish runner-up
nationally in the 800-meter run with Savannah Camacho.
The 2016 season was by far the most successful in OSU history for the Cowgirls, having finished third in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings with top-12 finishes at each NCAA Championships during the season.
Ingeborg Loevnes and Natalie Baker were the two Cowgirl leaders during the cross country season, helping OSU to a perfect regular season and its first Big 12 title and Midwest Region Title. Loevnes took home an All-America honor and the Cowgirls finished seventh at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The Cowgirls carried the momentum from the historic cross country season into a great 2016 indoor season that was capped off with a 10th place finish and Edwards’ title. Camacho also scored in the 800 and Chase Ealey in the shot put helped the Cowgirls to their best finish in school history.

Loevnes, Edwards and Ealey were at it again during the outdoor season along with Aurora Dybedokken who finished runner-up in the 5,000-meter final at the NCAA Championships a month after showing off her range and winning the Big 12’s 1,500-meter title. Ealey also finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships in the shot put, and earned her 11th and 12th All-Big 12 honor to cement her place in the OSU history books. Loevnes finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Edwards took sixth in the 1,500-meter final, battling through a nagging injury. Overall the Cowgirls finished 12th for their highest outdoor finish in school history.

Under Smith’s watch, the Oklahoma State women’s cross country team placed fourth at the 2010 Big 12
Championships and was 17th at the 2010 NCAA
Championships. Both of those showings were the best for the Cowgirls since 2005.

Smith came to Stillwater from Texas Tech, where he was the head men’s and women’s cross country coach, as well as assistant track coach from 1998-2002. Prior to his stint at Tech, Smith was a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Washington track and cross country programs from 1997-1998. He was also the head coach of Club Northwest women’s cross country and track those same years. Athletes that Smith coached prior to his arrival at Oklahoma State won two NCAA Championships, 10 All-American awards, 11 Big 12 Championships, and a World University Games gold medal.

While competing collegiately at Michigan State, Smith was the Big Ten Conference champion in the 10,000m in 1993 and placed second in the 1,500m that season. He earned All-Big Ten honors four times in cross country and track during his career. Was also an 11-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and three-time Academic All-America selection. Smith also won the Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor in 1993.

Smith graduated from Michigan State in 1993 with a
degree in fisheries and wildlife, and continued his education at the University of Washington, where he earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology in 2000.