University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Men's Track & Field

The 2025-26 season will mark Keith Vance's seventh season as a member of the Mountain Lion coaching staff and his fourth season serving in a full-time role as the assistant coach in charge of the throwing events.  In the past six seasons as the primary coach of the UCCS throwers, Vance has coached his student-athletes to 29 All-RMAC First Team honors and has mentored five student-athletes to a combined seven RMAC individual championships, including Justyn Loper in the men's weight throw at the 2019-20 RMAC Indoor Championships, Sawyer Christopher in the men's javelin at the 2022 & 2024 RMAC Outdoor Championships, Victoria Malaki in the women’s discus throw at the 2024 RMAC Outdoor Championships, Luke Hard in the men's weight throw at the 2024-25 RMAC Indoor Championships and in the hammer throw at the 2025 RMAC Outdoor Championships, and Kyle Demos in the disucs throw at the 2025 RMAC Outdoor Championships. Vance has also guided seven student-athletes to national championship appearances, with Emily Arseneau qualifying for the 2021-22 NCAA Indoor Championships in the women's shot put, Christopher qualifying for the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the men's javelin throw, Anna Holland qualifying for the 2023-24 NCAA Indoor Championships in the women’s weight throw, Hard qualifying for the 2024-25 NCAA Indoor Championships in the weight throw and the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw, Demos qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put and discus throw, Jorgens qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw, and Malaki qualifying for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the discus throw. In 2024-25, Vance coached three UCCS student-athletes to All-America accolades with Jorgens collecting First Team honors in the outdoor hammer throw, Hard earning Second Team accolades in the indoor weight throw, and Malaki securing Second Team accolades in the outdoor discus throw. The Mountain Lion throwers have also reached new heights with Vance as their coach, breaking 11 of the 12 possible men's and women's indoor and outdoor school records since he joined the staff before the 2019-20 season.   Prior to UCCS, Coach Vance was the throws coach at the United States Air Force Academy.  Vance coached athletes who broke five of the men’s six Air Force throwing records (Grant Hamilton: indoor shot put, outdoor shot put, discus throw; Malachi Sparling: weight throw; Taylor Hulslander: javelin throw) and made 25 improvements to the program’s all-time standings in those events for the men’s and women’s program.   Under his watch, Hamilton claimed three Mountain West titles as a senior, including the program’s first-ever conference titles in the discus and outdoor shot put, and Sparling led the Falcons’ to a 1-2-3 finish on the weight throw podium at the 2017 MW Indoor Championships. They also accounted for 25 medals at the conference championships and 59 scoring finishes, including half of the top-eight places in the 2016 javelin throw and the 2017 weight throw. His throwers, who have helped Air Force to five conference team titles, have combined for 13 appearances at the opening round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships   He joined the Falcons’ program after spending four years at Boise State, where he guided the Broncos’ throwers to three All-American awards, 10 conference titles and two school records. In addition, 12 of his athletes combined for 20 appearances in the first-round of the NCAA Championships.   Under his guidance, four Boise State throwers advanced to the NCAA National Championships, including Matt Post (2013 participant in the hammer throw), Mele Vaisima (2012 first-team All-American in the weight throw), Alex Nelson (2011 second-team All-American in the hammer) and Pontus Thomee (2010 NCAA runner-up and first-team All-American in the javelin).   Vance’s athletes accounted for 10 Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference titles, including a span of three straight championships in the weight throw by Trevor Kraychir. In addition, Thomee and Vaisima claimed two titles apiece in the javelin and weight throw, respectively, while Vaisima received the women’s Outstanding Performer award at the 2012 MW Indoor Championships. During his four-year tenure, Boise State throwers accounted for nine all-MW (top-three) awards, 19 all-WAC First-Team and 10 all-WAC Second-Team honors.   His athletes also impacted the Boise State record books, with Vaisima (weight throw) and Alyssa Osai (discus throw) setting school records in their respective events. Vance also helped the Broncos’ multi-event athletes in the throwing events, accounting for a part of Kurt Felix’s records in the heptathlon and decathlon, as well as Alexi Morton’s school record in the pentathlon.   Prior to his time in Boise, Vance spent four years as the throws coach at Tiffin University in Ohio. As the event coach for the Dragons’ throwing team, his athletes accounted for seven conference outdoor championship titles and 35 all-conference (top-three) selections, as well as two American Mideast Conference Athlete of the Year recipients, five NCAA Academic All-Americans, 16 NAIA National Qualifiers and six NCAA National Qualifiers. In addition, his athletes posted 84 marks on Tiffin’s all-time performance list.   Vance earned his undergraduate degree in sociology from The College of Wooster (Ohio) in 2004, while competing on the track and field team. Vance, who holds USATF Level 2 certification in the throwing events, went on to obtain his master’s degree in business administration from Tiffin University.  Vance and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons – Conner and Parker.  

Jessica Withrow enters her fourth season as an assistant coach with the UCCS track & field program in 2025-26. In her role, Withrow coaches the hurdlers, high jumpers, and multi event athletes.  During the 2024-25 academic year, Withrow's event groups continued to excel as she coached her student-athletes to 11 All-RMAC First Team accolades and seven All-RMAC Second Team accolades. In addition, the third year assistant coach mentored KJ McInnis to a pair of individual event championships as he secured the indoor and outdoor titles in the men's high jump. At the national level, Withrow oversaw another exceptional season from combined athlete Thorben Hast, who qualified for the indoor national championship meet in the heptathlon with the eighth-best mark in the country at 5,287 points.  The 2023-24 campaign was another strong one for Withrow as she coached the student-athletes within her event groups to a total of 15 All-RMAC First Team accolades and four event titles over the course of the indoor and outdoor seasons. At the national level, Withrow coached senior Melissa Moreni to First Team All-America finishes in the indoor 60mh and outdoor 100mh while Skye Ciccarelli (indoor high jump) and Thorben Hast (outdoor decathlon) also achieved Second Team All-America accolades under her guidance. In her first season with the Mountain Lions in 2022-23, the student-athletes coached by Withrow saw a great deal of success as they combined for a total of ten All-RMAC First Team honors across the indoor and outdoor seasons, including three that went on to win their individual event titles. Withrow also oversaw a trio of student-athletes that were selected to compete at nationals, with Melissa Moreni qualifying for both the indoor (60mh) and outdoor (100mh) national championship meets, Skye Ciccarelli qualifying for the indoor national meet in the high jump, and Thorben hast being selected for the outdoor national meet in the decathlon.  Across the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Harding University, Withrow coached 13 individual Great American Conference (GAC) champions while helping the women's team earn a GAC conference championship in 2021 and the men's team win the conference title in 2022. In addition, Withrow helped 12 student-athletes reach the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying threshold in their respective event, including four national qualifiers and two All-Americans. A multitude of Bison hurdlers, high jumpers and combined event athletes also saw immense improvement in their marks under the oversight of Withrow as their event coach.   Prior to her stint at Harding, Withrow spent eight years as a high school coach and teacher. She began her career at Sweetwater High School in 2012, where she was the head girls track & field coach, varsity assistant volleyball coach, and freshman basketball coach along with serving as the eighth-grade career investigations teacher. In 2014, Withrow moved on to Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, to serve as the varsity assistant coach for the volleyball and track & field teams as well as a 9th-12th grade physical education teacher. After her time at Coronado High School, she joined Marble Falls High School in 2016 to become the head coach of the volleyball team and assistant coach for the track & field program while continuing to teach 9th-12th grade P.E. In her most recent high school position before making the move to the collegiate ranks, Withrow spent one season (2018-19) at Brownwood High School where she was the head track & field and volleyball coach and taught 9th-12th grade health. At the head of the Brownwood track & field program in 2019, she led the Lions to a district championship with a program-record 272 points, an area team championship, and a runner-up finish at the regional team championship while qualifying 11 student-athletes for the UIL Texas State meet.   Withrow completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Abilene Christian University and spent five years as a member of the Wildcats' track & field team. Throughout her collegiate career, she was a highly decorated combined event athlete as she earned an individual heptathlon national championship along with two individual runner-up finishes in the heptathlon and one individual runner-up finish in the women's high jump. At the conclusion of her career at ACU, the nine-time All-American went on to earn her Masters in Sport Administration and Kinesiology from Harding University. Withrow will begin her role with the UCCS men's and women's track & field program on August 1.