California State University, Monterey Bay Men's Cross Country

Rhines enters his seventh season at the helm of the Cal State Monterey Bay mens and womens cross country programs. He also returns to lead the womens track team after founding the program in 2015. He has all three programs on the rise entering the 2016-17 academic year   Both cross country teams are coming off their best-ever CCAA finishes in 2015. Otter harriers have continually improved in all aspects of the sport, including team average time, team score, individual placings and individual times under Rhines tutalege. Every individual school (both mens and womens) has been broken multiple times since the 2010 season by a handful of different runners.   The mens team has seen its five highest individual and team  finishes at the CCAA championship occur under Rhines. Other notable accomplishments include Connor Henderson earning the 2013 CCAA Freshman of the Year Award and Ben Garland earning All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA. Garland led the men to a the USTFCCCA Team Academic Award as well in 2014.    On the womens side, all five of CSUMBs top finishes at the CCAA meet have come with Rhines at the helm. Hannah Bell, CSUMBs Female Athlete of the Year for 201516, led the way to the last four. A 3time NCAA qualifier (twice in track, once in cross country), Bell became the first Otter harrier to earn All-CCAA honors. She doubled that effort with a repeat performance at the 2014 CCAA Championship meet, where she placed fourth. Like Garland on the mens side, Bell earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors while leading the Otter women to a USTFCCCA Team Academic Award in 2014.   With Bell again the leading the way, the Otter track program made a splash in its debutante season. Bell not only earned All-CCAA recognition in the 1500 as a junior, she also qualified for the the NCAA Division II National Championship Meet in the event in her first two track seasons.    More than just enjoying athletic success, the Otters have achieved highly in the classroom as well under Rhines. Since 2011, the womens cross country team has twice had the highest cumulative GPA of all teams at CSUMB. The mens team has won this honor two times as well. Haley Tharpe earned the CSUMB Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2012, leading 115 cross country/track All-CCAA Academic Award winner in the past five seasons.