Idaho State University Men's Track

Houle enters his inaugural season as Idaho States head cross country  and assistant track and field coach.   Houle was most recently an assistant at Southern Utah where he coached the mid-distance and steeplechase events. As an assistant at Southern Utah, Houle over saw recruiting efforts and specifically coached the middle-distance and steeplechase events.   Within one year of his arrival SUU was ranked No. 27 in 2013 and finished the 2014 NCAA championships ranked No. 22. During Houle's time at SUU he coached 18 all-conference athletes, seven NCAA Championship first-round qualifiers, four NCAA all-region athletes, two NCAA cross country championships individual qualifiers and one NCAA track and field All-American. As a graduate assistant at Georgia State, Houle was a part of the school's first-ever CAA outdoor track and field championship. He also coached the middle-distance runners where each runner under his direction obtained lifetime best marks.    Houle ran at Southern Utah where he was an NCAA West regional qualifier and he currently holds the fifth best-time at SUU in the 800m. Houle and his wife Kacee, who was also a runner in college, have one son, Ames.              

Hillary Merkley was recently promoted to the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. She officially became the head coach of the Idaho State Track and Field team in 2016.  A former Bengal herself, Merkley joined the Idaho State track and field coaching staff during the 2013-14 season. Merkley competed from 1998-01 and graduated with a Bachelors in Secondary Education and a Masters in Athletic Administration. Academically, the Bengals have performed well since Merkley took charge. In 2017 Idaho State's runner Andrew Kaler was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American second team. Kaler was the first Idaho State student-athlete to ever receive the award.  Merkley won two Big Sky Championships as a Bengal. She won the 1999 Indoor Shot Put Championships with a distance of 46' 5.5" and the 2001 Outdoor Heptathlon Championships with 5,320 points, third all-time for Idaho State. Merkley holds the indoor shot put record with a distance of 48' 0.25", ranks third in the pentathlon with a score of 3,750, and third in the outdoor shot put with a distance of 47' 10.5". Merkley's athletic honors include Big Sky Outdoor Outstanding Female Field Athlete, Most Valuable Track and Field Athlete, and North Central Washington College Athlete of the Year finalist. In 2012, she was inducted into the Idaho State University Hall of Fame. Underneath Merkley, the Bengals have won multiple individual Big Sky Titles and in 2019, seven student athletes qualified for the NCAA West Region round of the NCAA Championships. Multiple new school records have been set during her time as head coach. In 2019 Idaho State athlete Michael Dean broke the 43-year-old record in the 60m with a time of 6.78s. In 2000, Merkley was named the National Association for Sport and Physical Education Major of the Year and received the NCAA Continuing Education Grant in 2001. She was named Big Sky All-Academic from 1999-01. Merkley was the President of Students of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Club and a College of Education Interclub Council Member in 2000. In 2001, she was the President of the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the NCAA Representative from Idaho State University for the Big Sky Conference. She participated in the Student Athlete Mentor Program and was a student representative on the NCAA Athletic Integrity Revision Committee from 1998-99. She previously served as an assistant coach for the Bengals while she pursued a master's degree in 2002-03. She coached at Paradise Valley Community College from 2003-04 in Phoenix, Arizona and at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas from 2004-07. Merkley was the head track and field coach at Capital High School from 2009-11.

Litvinski coaches the horizontal jumps, sprints and relays as an assistant coach at Idaho State. He also serves as the Director of Meet Management for the Bengals.   Litvinski has a USATF level I track and field coaching certification and is currently working towards his level II certification. He is a strength and conditioning specialist and was previously certified by the NSCA and USA Olympic Weightlifting Committe.   In 2016 Litvinski was named the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Womens Assistant Coach of the Year for the South Central Region. In 2014 he was named the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Womens Assistant Coach of the Year for the South Central Region. Both honors were awarded by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Litvinski spent the last three years coaching jumps, hurdles, sprints and multi-events at Angelo State. While at Angelo State, he mentored Kearah Danville, a NCAA National champion in the women's triple jump, and two NCAA runner-ups in the triple and high jump. He also coached two NCAA All-Americans, one in the 110m hurdles and one in the triple jump. Peniel Richard qualified for the NCAA outdoor championships and broke the national record of Papua New Guinea in the triple jump. Walla Gime broke the 110m hurdles national record of Papua New Guinea two times. Litvinski also coached an All-American in the long jump and eight All-Americans in the multi-events.   Prior to Angelo State, Litvinski was an assistant track and field coach at Western State from 2010-13 and from 2008-10 he served as a graduate assistant at Central Missouri. He was the strength and conditioning coach at each of the universities listed above and designed and implemented event specific strength and conditioning programs for the mens and womens teams. From 2006-08 he was a volunteer assistant at Northern Iowa.   He coached jumps and multi's at Western State and was a part of coaching one All-American, four NCAA national champions and three All-Americans in the high jump. During his time at Central Missouri, Litvinski coached three All-Americans in the triple and long jumps and assisted in guiding eight NCAA Division II All-Americans and three national champions in the multi-events. Under his teaching, Brittany Roldan broke the schools indoor and outdoor records in the womens triple jump. She placed second in the triple jump at the 2009 NCAA indoor national championship and finished third in the NCAA outdoor national championship. Litvinski also served as UCMs international student-athlete recruiting coordinator. As a volunteer assistant at Northern Iowa he coached two All-Americans in the decathlon.   In 2010 Litvinski received a Master of Science degree from the University of Central Missouri while majoring in physical education and exercise and sports science. In 2007, he received a Bachelor of Art degree while majoring in physical education and exercise science and a minor with an emphasis in coaching from the University of Northern Iowa.   His athletic accomplishments run deep as he had a personal best triple jump of 544 and earned All-American honors in 2006 with a fourth-place finish in the NCAA DI Indoor Track and Field Championships. Litvinski is a three-time regional and national qualifier, a two-time Missouri Valley Conference champion and a six-time national champion of Bulgaria in the triple jump. He placed sixth in the European championships in 2003 and second in the European Cup in 2002.