Adams State University Women's Cross Country

Martin is recognized as one of the best coaches in the country, especially with distance runners, his specialty. After 26 years in charge of the womens program and 19 at the helm of the mens (including an interim year in 1988), Martin has coached a total of 28 National Championship teams (15 womens cross country, 8 mens cross country, 2 women's indoor track & field, 2 men's indoor track & field, 1 men's outdoor track & field), including a stretch of nine straight womens cross country titles from 1991-99, another stretch of seven straight women's titles from 2003-09 and two separate runs of three straight men's cross country national titles (2008-10 & 2012-14). He has also guided athletes to 986 combined all-America honors and 100 individual national championships while coaching eight national championship relay teams. Martin has also guided his mens XC and track & field teams to eight straight (2009-16) USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Program of the Year honors, awarded to the school with the best combined finish at the national championships in cross country, as well as indoor and outdoor track & field. He also led the ASU women to their first-ever USTFCCCA NCAA DII Women's Program of the Year in 2013-14. The award, which was handed out for the first time following the 2008-09 seasons, has never been given to a mens team besides Adams State. In 2014 the USTFCCCA officially named the NCAA DII Men's Program of the Year award after Martin. His strong relationship with USTFCCCA was reinforced in December of 2014 as Martin was voted by his peers as the next President for the USTFCCCA. His two year term began in the summer of 2015. Martin first came to Alamosa in the fall of 1985 after a brilliant collegiate career at the University of Arkansas-Monticello, where he was a two-time All-American and seven-time All-Conference middle distance runner. His career highlight was a second place finish in the National Championship 1,500-meter event. After earning his bachelor of arts degree in the summer of 1985, he came to Adams State as a graduate assistant for the womens cross country and track programs. The next year, Martin finished his masters degree while working at Valley Athletics and training under the Reebok flag. He continued training after completing his masters degree in the spring of 1985 and was the director of Alamosa Health Clubs Sports Injury Prevention program. In 1988, Martin competed in the United States Olympic Trials in the 5000 meters. Martin then caught his big break which vaulted him onto his absolutely amazing career path. In 1988, Martin was named the interim coach for the mens cross country team, filling in for ASU coaching great Dr. Joe I. Vigil, who was coaching at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The team won their sixth consecutive NAIA National title that year. The next spring, Martin began a teaching career serving as a half-time physical education instructor and volunteering as a mens track and field coach. In the fall of 1989, Martin was named the head womens cross country and track coach, but continued to serve as a half-time instructor. That year, Martins women won their first national title since 1981, and the second overall. After finishing second in 1990, the team was dominant, winning nine consecutive national titles from 1991-99. Martin won National Coach of the Year honors every year in that streak. In 1995, he also won the Womens Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year award after leading ASC to a fifth place finish at the national meet. OTHER NATIONAL COACH AND STREAKS, TRACK TITLES In 1996, Martin was named the head coach of the mens programs and has never looked back. He began with the rebuilding of the team that had gone through tough times the year before, not qualifying for the national cross country championships for the first time in school history. Soon after Martin took over, he returned the program to dominance with a 1998 Dual National Championship. The Grizzlies repeated that feat for the seventh time in school history in 2003 and then the eighth and ninth times in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In addition to his National Coach of the Year Awards, Martin has numerous Regional and 34 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors, including five in the 2004-05 academic year alone. Winner of five straight RMAC Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year honors from 1995-99, Martin has won the indoor track award 13 of the 14 times it has been awarded, including in each of the last four years, when the Grizzlies have won their unprecedented 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th titles in the 15-year history of the event. Under Martin, ASU Cross Country and Track & Field teams have won a total of 78 RMAC Championships. With all his success, have come special invitations. Martin has been a guest speaker at several coaching association conventions, including the 2001 National High School Coaches Convention in North Dakota. He also spoke at the Ohio State Coaches Association, the largest in the country. Martin was inducted into his alma-mater's athletics hall of fame in 2004, into ASU's Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Colorado Running Hall of Fame in 2015. He was also inducted into the Arkansas State Track & Field Hall of Fame in the fall of 2007. Around the same time, Martin became a published author as he wrote "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Injury Free Running:", a book that can be purchased world-wide. Martin graduated from Longview High School in Texas in 1981 and while at Arkansas-Monticello married his wife Konnie. The couple has two children; Lauren and Tanner. Lauren was a NCAA Division II champion distance runner at Adams State from 2012-16. Tanner led the Alamosa High School cross country team to win the 3A Colorado state cross country championship his senior season. Tanner  enters his second year at Adams State in the fall of 2016   Championships Won Under Coach Martin Men's XC National Titles Women's XC National Titles 1998, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015 8 Total 16 Total Men's XC Regional Titles Women's XC Regional Titles 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 11 Total 19 Total Men's XC RMAC Titles Women's XC RMAC Titles 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 10 Total 21 Total Men's T&F National Titles Women's T&F National Titles 2010 & 2015 (Indoor), 2012 (Outdoor)  2008 (Indoor), 2014 (Indoor) 2 Total     2 Total Men's T&F RMAC Titles Women's T&F RMAC Titles 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 (Indoor) 1997, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 (Outdoor) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (Indoor) 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (Outdoor) 20 Total 30 Total UPDATED: 6/16/16 Head Coach Damon Martin has built the Adams State University cross country and track programs to the absolute premiere level, not only at Division II, but in all of collegiate athletics. Winner of 33 National Coach of the Year awards, Martin is recognized as one of the best coaches in the country, especially with distance runners, his specialty. After 26 years in charge of the womens program and 19 at the helm of the mens (including an interim year in 1988), Martin has coached a total of 28 National Championship teams (15 womens cross country, 8 mens cross country, 2 women's indoor track & field, 2 men's indoor track & field, 1 men's outdoor track & field), including a stretch of nine straight womens cross country titles from 1991-99, another stretch of seven straight women's titles from 2003-09 and two separate runs of three straight men's cross country national titles (2008-10 & 2012-14). He has also guided athletes to 986 combined all-America honors and 100 individual national championships while coaching eight national championship relay teams. Martin has also guided his mens XC and track & field teams to eight straight (2009-16) USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Program of the Year honors, awarded to the school with the best combined finish at the national championships in cross country, as well as indoor and outdoor track & field. He also led the ASU women to their first-ever USTFCCCA NCAA DII Women's Program of the Year in 2013-14. The award, which was handed out for the first time following the 2008-09 seasons, has never been given to a mens team besides Adams State. In 2014 the USTFCCCA officially named the NCAA DII Men's Program of the Year award after Martin. His strong relationship with USTFCCCA was reinforced in December of 2014 as Martin was voted by his peers as the next President for the USTFCCCA. His two year term began in the summer of 2015. Martin first came to Alamosa in the fall of 1985 after a brilliant collegiate career at the University of Arkansas-Monticello, where he was a two-time All-American and seven-time All-Conference middle distance runner. His career highlight was a second place finish in the National Championship 1,500-meter event. After earning his bachelor of arts degree in the summer of 1985, he came to Adams State as a graduate assistant for the womens cross country and track programs. The next year, Martin finished his masters degree while working at Valley Athletics and training under the Reebok flag. He continued training after completing his masters degree in the spring of 1985 and was the director of Alamosa Health Clubs Sports Injury Prevention program. In 1988, Martin competed in the United States Olympic Trials in the 5000 meters. Martin then caught his big break which vaulted him onto his absolutely amazing career path. In 1988, Martin was named the interim coach for the mens cross country team, filling in for ASU coaching great Dr. Joe I. Vigil, who was coaching at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The team won their sixth consecutive NAIA National title that year. The next spring, Martin began a teaching career serving as a half-time physical education instructor and volunteering as a mens track and field coach. In the fall of 1989, Martin was named the head womens cross country and track coach, but continued to serve as a half-time instructor. That year, Martins women won their first national title since 1981, and the second overall. After finishing second in 1990, the team was dominant, winning nine consecutive national titles from 1991-99. Martin won National Coach of the Year honors every year in that streak. In 1995, he also won the Womens Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year award after leading ASC to a fifth place finish at the national meet. OTHER NATIONAL COACH AND STREAKS, TRACK TITLES In 1996, Martin was named the head coach of the mens programs and has never looked back. He began with the rebuilding of the team that had gone through tough times the year before, not qualifying for the national cross country championships for the first time in school history. Soon after Martin took over, he returned the program to dominance with a 1998 Dual National Championship. The Grizzlies repeated that feat for the seventh time in school history in 2003 and then the eighth and ninth times in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In addition to his National Coach of the Year Awards, Martin has numerous Regional and 34 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors, including five in the 2004-05 academic year alone. Winner of five straight RMAC Womens Cross Country Coach of the Year honors from 1995-99, Martin has won the indoor track award 13 of the 14 times it has been awarded, including in each of the last four years, when the Grizzlies have won their unprecedented 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th titles in the 15-year history of the event. Under Martin, ASU Cross Country and Track & Field teams have won a total of 78 RMAC Championships. With all his success, have come special invitations. Martin has been a guest speaker at several coaching association conventions, including the 2001 National High School Coaches Convention in North Dakota. He also spoke at the Ohio State Coaches Association, the largest in the country. Martin was inducted into his alma-mater's athletics hall of fame in 2004, into ASU's Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Colorado Running Hall of Fame in 2015. He was also inducted into the Arkansas State Track & Field Hall of Fame in the fall of 2007. Around the same time, Martin became a published author as he wrote "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Injury Free Running:", a book that can be purchased world-wide. Martin graduated from Longview High School in Texas in 1981 and while at Arkansas-Monticello married his wife Konnie. The couple has two children; Lauren and Tanner. Lauren was a NCAA Division II champion distance runner at Adams State from 2012-16. Tanner led the Alamosa High School cross country team to win the 3A Colorado state cross country championship his senior season. Tanner  enters his second year at Adams State in the fall of 2016   Championships Won Under Coach Martin Men's XC National Titles Women's XC National Titles 1998, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015 8 Total 16 Total Men's XC Regional Titles Women's XC Regional Titles 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 11 Total 19 Total Men's XC RMAC Titles Women's XC RMAC Titles 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 10 Total 21 Total Men's T&F National Titles Women's T&F National Titles 2010 & 2015 (Indoor), 2012 (Outdoor)  2008 (Indoor), 2014 (Indoor) 2 Total     2 Total Men's T&F RMAC Titles Women's T&F RMAC Titles 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 (Indoor) 1997, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 (Outdoor) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (Indoor) 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (Outdoor) 20 Total 30 Total UPDATED: 6/16/16

Foster begins his fourth year (2016-17) as an Assistant Coach for the cross country and track & field programs. Foster oversees training plans and competition strategies for all athletes from 800m-10,000m events. He also assists with recruitment, team travel, camps, and designing mobility/strength training sessions. His coaching success has helped Adams State to three combined cross country national titles and a pair of indoor track & field team championships. In association with Damon Martin, Grizzly performers have totaled 102 combined All-American honors, 22 individual champions, and three relay national titles. Seven ASU school records have fallen during Fosters tenure along with laying claim to 11 RMAC team titles. Since Fosters arrival, ASU performances within the classroom have been just as impressive.  Since 2013, the Grizzlies have notched 62 USTFCCCA All-Academic Student-Athlete honors and five USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year awards. As student-athlete at Minnesota State University-Moorhead, he was a four-time NCAA DII National Championships qualifier (800m, mile, 1500m, 4x400m relay), four-time NSIC individual champ, and two-time NSIC relay champ. By the end of his collegiate career, Foster was a 10-time NSIC All-Conference selection and the holder of two MSU-Moorhead school records. Foster was a captain from 2011-13 for both cross country and track & field. He holds a B.S. in Exercise Science from MSU-Moorhead and a M.S. in Human Performance & Physical Education (HPPE) from Adams State.