George Fox University Men's Cross Country

Dalzell was named NCAA West Region Mens Assistant Coach of the Year for his development of the mens distance program.  That development carried over to the 2014 outdoor track season where the mens distance group outscored all of the other teams at the Northwest Conference meet, scoring 48 points compared to 36 for the next closest team, and included conference champions Will Lawrence in the 800m and Joseph Pia in the 1500m. Six GFU distance runners earned all-conference honors Will Lawrence (1  800m), Joseph Pia (1  1500m), Katie Dyk (2  800m), Kyle Dreibelbis (2 - Steeplechase), Kody Tarbell (2  10,000m), and Emily Painter (2  10,000m).  A number of the distance runners have also broken into the top 10 all-time GFU performance lists with the following marks - Will Lawrence (1:51.25 800m)  2 all time, Emily Painter (36:10.87 10,000m)  2 all-time, Courtney Hochstetler (11:46.74 Steeplechase) 2 all-time, Joseph Pia (14:50.24 5,000m)  5 all-time, Katie Dyk (2:15.77 800m)  6 all-time, Sarah MacKenzie (2:18.09 800m)  9 all-time, Emily Painter (4:45.06 1500m)  10 all-time, Kody Tarbell (32:09.74 10,000m) 10 all-time. Prior to coming to George Fox, Dalzell inaugurated and coached the cross country and track and field programs at Concordia for seven years (2005-12). In that time, he led the Cavaliers to fifteen Cascade Collegiate Conference titles, winning seven in a row in men's track & field, six in women's track & field, one in women's cross country, and one in men's cross country, as well as the NAIA regional title in men's cross country in 2006. In 2011, the women's outdoor track and field team won the NAIA National Championship while the men finished fifth. In his final year at Concordia, women's outdoor track came in second in the nation, men's outdoor track finished fourth, men's indoor track finished third , women's indoor track was seventh, women's cross country finished placed eighth, and men's cross country finished 19th. This accounted for over 70% of the NAIA National Director's Cup points for the university. At Concordia, he produced 24 NAIA individual national champions, 165 All-Americans, and 23 NAIA Scholar-Athletes. He was the NAIA Women's Track and Field National Coach of the Year in 2011, and was named regional or conference Coach of the Year 17 times. Concordia was the third collegiate program Dalzell started, having also launched programs at Cascade College in 1996-97 and at Northwest Nazarene, where he coached from 1999-2002. At NNU, Dalzell was named the National Christian College Athletic Association Men's Cross Country National Coach of the Year in 2001 after his men's team at NNU won the NCCAA National Championship with all seven runners finishing in the top 14, making the entire team All-Americans. He produced 19 NCCAA and NAIA All-American at NNU and 16 NAIA or NCCAA Scholar-Athletes. He also had three NAIA All-Americans at Cascade. In all, Dalzell was named conference, regional, or national Coach of the Year a total of 25 times, 18 in seven years at Concordia and five times while at NNU, and produced 39 Scholar-Athletes and 187 All-Americans. Also a successful high school coach with 10 years of track and field experience at that level in the Portland (Ore.) and Bend (Ore.) areas, Dalzell was twice named Intermountain Conference Coach of the Year while at Bend High School. Taking the George Fox post brought Dalzell 'full circle', as the Bruins' coach recalled, "My first college coaching experience was here in the early 1990's, and then-coach Wes Cook was one of my early mentors who had a significant impact on my development as a coach. My wife went to George Fox, we were married in Newberg, our first child was born here, and my wife's parents still live here." Coach Smith forms another connection to the university with Dalzell, who explained, "I was an assistant here during John's first two years as a college athlete, and his first coaching experience was as an assistant with me for a year when I started the program at Cascade. We have been good friends ever since. I appreciate so much his hard work with the athletes here." When Dalzell was first approached for the George Fox position, he was immediately intrigued with the possibility, saying that "I thought it would be a great fit. George Fox's strong Christian background, the development of its athletic department, nice facilities, and strong reputation in general made it, in my mind, an attractive place to be. "We are excited about bringing Randy back in a full-time capacity as both a coach and an instructor," said George Fox director of athletics Craig Taylor when he announced the hiring of Dalzell. "His record as a college coach and his knowledge of track and cross country are amazing, and we are glad to give him this opportunity to build a similar success story with the Bruins. His strong Christian faith and his outstanding ability to relate to student-athletes make him an ideal fit for our institution and our athletic program." In addition to his coaching duties, Dalzell serves in the health and human performance department at George Fox, teaching subjects such as lifetime fitness and tennis. Dalzell received a bachelor's degree with honors in secondary education/mathematics from Columbia Christian College in 1987, where he played basketball and soccer and was named the school's Scholar-Athlete of the Year while earning an NAIA Academic All-America Award.  He did post-graduate studies at Abilene Christian University in biology, Oregon State University in exercise physiology, the University of Puget Sound in physical therapy, and Seattle Pacific University in education. He attained his master of education degree from Linfield College in 1995, and is currently working on a doctorate in education leadership, which he hopes to complete at George Fox. As a sidelight, Dalzell owns and operates the Athletic Transportation Services, LLC, providing charter bus transportation for numerous college sports teams in the area. In his spare time, he enjoys running, playing "catch with the kids", and coaching youth league basketball. Dalzell lives in Damascus, Ore., with his wife Charlene and their three children.