University of California - Santa Barbara Men's Track And Field

Assistant Coach Mitch Modin will begin his first season with the Gauchos in Oct. 2022. He brings a wealth of experience as an athlete and a coach into this role at UC Santa Barbara as he coaches the Multis, Hurdles and High Jump.  A seven-time NCAA All-American while competing for the University of Oregon, Modin he also finished his career by capturing the Pac-12 Championship in the decathlon. Modin was also a Pac-12 Champion at the 2014 and 2017 Indoor Championships while scoring in the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships from 2014 to 2017. Following his career with the Ducks, Modin went on to make several international teams for the United States in the decathlon. He placed second at the Pan-American Cup and finished seventh at the 2016 Olympic Trials. Before becoming a Gaucho, Modin coached at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix, working with groups of 30 student-athletes to prepare them for meets. He also became the school’s strength and conditioning coach, creating workouts for all of the athletic programs at the school. Modin graduated with a bachelors degree in general social science with an emphasis in applied economics and business from the University of Oregon in March 2017. 

Vijay Saxena was named the Director of Track & Field / Cross Country on January 16, 2024. Saxena coaches the Sprints. 800 meter and horizontal jumps. In his first two seasons Saxena oversaw multiple school records including four during the Women’s Indoor Track season: 500m, 1000m, 4x400m Relay, Triple Jump. During the Outdoor Track season Coach Vijay Saxena and the staff coached athletes to school record performances in the Women’s Triple Jump, Men’s Pole Vault, Women’s Javelin, Men’s 100m (the three fastest men in school history), and Men’s 4x100m Relay. Coach Saxena comes from Army West Point where he was coaching the Sprints/Jumps/Hurdles and the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Track & Field Team. He was directly coaching athletes who broke school records for Indoor & Outdoor Women’s 4x400m Relay, Men’s Indoor High Jump, Women’s 60mH, and Women’s 100mH.  Before coaching at Army, Coach Vijay spent seven years coaching at McNeese State University winning 3 conference titles including the first Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Titles in the schools history in 2022 while scoring 156 points as a team. While coaching the Sprints/800m/Jumps/Hurdles, he was nominated by the conference as the USTFCCCA South Central Region Assistant Women’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. He coached athletes who broke school records for the Indoor Women’s 60m, Men’s & Women’s 200m, Men’s 400m, Men’s 60mH, Men’s DMR, Men’s & Women’s 4x400m Relay, Women’s Triple Jump, Women’s High Jump, and Outdoor Men’s & Women’s Triple Jump. Coach Saxena coached 20 NCAA East Preliminary Round Qualifiers (eight qualifiers in 2022) including John Lemke ranked as high as sixth in the NCAA, 16th in the US, and 74th in the world 2018 (finished top 15 at USATF Outdoor Championships 2018 in Des Moines, Iowa). In the High Jump Sakari Famous jumped 1.84m and broke the Bermuda National Record while qualifying for 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships). Coach Vijay also coached Jalon White who as a Sophomore went on to run for Team Canada in the 400m (splitting 44.6 on a school record 3:07.77 4x400m Relay). In 2017 broke the school record for most points scored for Men (120) at the Indoor Conference meet and had the most first place finishes (eight), and highest finish (Second out of 13) at the conference meet. Track team was named Academic All-American in 2018 Men 3.0, Women 2015-2019 with team GPA as high as 3.60 and Men as high as 3.17. Highest APR & GPA in the Southland Conference five out of the seven years. Coach Vijay started his College coaching career right out of college at Division III Westfield State University. Coach Vijay Saxena served as the NCAA D3 Ethnic Minority Intern and Assistant to the AD all while coaching football and track & field for the Owls. In 2015, Coach Vijay helped the team win the conference title and finish top 25 at NCAA D3 Nationals.