Utah State University Men's Cross Country

Artie Gulden, a former distance runner at Bucknell University, is in his third season as the director of Utah State's track & field/cross country programs, and his eighth season as the head cross country coach. This is his 11th year overall at USU. Through his tenure at Utah State, Gulden's athletes have combined for 25 All-American accolades, 20 conference titles and 120 all-conference honors.   Gulden led the Aggies to two team titles and an individual title during the 2025 cross country season. Natalie Swain earned second-team All-Mountain West honors, placing 13th at the conference championships as the women finished fourth overall while the men finished fifth. At the NCAA Mountain Regional, the men took sixth as a team and the women placed seventh.   During the 2024-2025 track and field campaign, Gulden coached Utah State athletes to three All-American honors, four Mountain West titles, eight school records and 20 All-MW honors. Gulden led 20 Aggies to qualify for the NCAA West First Rounds, the program’s most since 2018.   Logan Hammer earned All-American honors, school records and MW titles in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault, while Shelby Jensen placed seventh and broke the USU record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to lead the women’s team to its best national finish since 2000 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Landon Bott swept the indoor and outdoor 800-meter titles at the conference championships, helping the Aggie men to third-place finishes at both meets.   In the 2024 cross country season, Gulden coached Utah State's men's team to its fifth berth – all coming under his watch – in the NCAA Championships. USU finished in 22nd place with 554 points, defeating three higher-ranked teams. Camren Todd finished in 25th place with a time of 29:17.4 to earn All-American honors, becoming the seventh Aggie runner and first since 2020 to do so. Additionally, Logan Garnica received the Elite 90 Award, given to the top student-athlete competing at a national championship, for the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Championships. Garnica joined Todd, who won the award in 2020 and 2022, as the only Utah State student-athletes to ever win the Elite 90 Award, which was established in 2009-10. At the NCAA Mountain Regional, the Aggie men finished in fourth place as Todd earned all-region honors with a 14th-place finish. On the women's side, Emma Thornley took 22nd place to earn all-region honors for the second-straight season. Garnica started off the cross country postseason with a 13th-place finish at the Mountain West Championships, earning second-team all-conference honors. Each of the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country programs earned all-academic team awards from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in 2024-25, a distinction that every one of Gulden’s teams has earned during his tenure. Individually, 26 athletes, including a school-record 24 athletes from track and field, earned USTFCCCA all-academic honors.   In 2023-2024, his first season leading the track and field program, Gulden coached Utah State’s first All-American since 2019 in Hammer, who earned second-team honors in the pole vault at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. During the indoor and outdoor seasons, Gulden helped the Aggies to six individual conference titles, including the Aggie women’s first gold since 2019, five school records and 23 all-conference selections. Nineteen Aggies qualified for the NCAA West First Rounds, with Hammer advancing to the NCAA Championships with an eighth-place finish.   During the 2023 cross country campaign, Gulden helped the Aggies to seven team titles and two individual victories. The Aggie women finished eighth at the NCAA Mountain Regionals with Thornley being selected all-region as she finished 23rd, and the Aggie men took 10th. Both programs also placed fifth at the Mountain West Championships.   During the 2022 cross country season, Gulden led Utah State's men's team to its fourth-ever trip to the NCAA Championships where the Aggies beat five ranked teams and placed 26th with 618 points. Two members of the women's cross country team also competed at the NCAA Championships in Ana Weaver and Mica Rivera, who placed 53rd and 201st, respectively. Yonas Mogos led the Aggies on the men's side, as the junior was the 85th runner to cross the finish line. Prior to the NCAA Championships, Mogos, Rivera and Weaver earned all-region honors at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Gulden coached Weaver, Todd and Darren Harman to second-team all-conference honors at the Mountain West Cross Country Championships, where both the Aggie men and women finished third. Weaver earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and finishing in the top 25 (or 10 percent) at the NCAA Regional Championships. Nine of Gulden's distance runners qualified for the 2023 NCAA West Preliminary Championships, where Rivera placed 23rd in the 5,000 meters with a school-record time of 16:07.73 and Brennan Benson broke the school record in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:40.96 as he placed eighth in what proved to be a stacked heat. Benson earned first-team All-MW honors for the outdoor season after he captured the 800-meter title with a personal-best time of 1:48.94, which ranks fifth all-time in school history, at the conference championships. Max Wehrli was named All-MW in the steeplechase for the second-consecutive year, finishing third with a time of 8:46.79. At the MW Indoor Championships, Gulden coached the women's DMR team to a second-place finish with a time of 11:33.21, which ranks second all-time in school history. The men's DMR team also made the podium by placing third with a time of 9:44.03, which ranks third all-time. Benson, who ran a leg on the DMR team, also garnered All-MW honors in the mile as he crossed the finish line in 4:06.51. The Aggie distance runners set five school records – two on the men's side and three on the women's side – during the 2023 outdoor and track & field season. Furthermore, eight of Gulden's student-athletes garnered USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades. In the 2021-22 season, the women’s cross country team qualified for the NCAA Championships for only its second time in program history, placing 28th out of 31 teams. Katie Haviland was the first Aggie across the line at the NCAA Championships, finishing 81st out of more than 250 runners with a time of 20:23.9. The Aggies received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after placing seventh at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships in Provo, Utah. The women also recorded the program’s best-ever finish at the Mountain West Cross Country Championships, placing second with a team score of 73 points. The Aggies were paced by Haviland and Rivera, finishing 10th and 12th, respectively, with times of 20:05.1 and 20:07.7. Both Haviland and Rivera were subsequently named to the All-MW second team. The Aggie men placed third at the Mountain West Championships with a team score of 79 points. Chase Leach earned MW Freshman of the Year honors at the MW Cross Country Championships as the first freshman across the line, placing 12th with a time of 23:50.2 and earning All-MW second-team honors in the process. Caleb Garnica also made the All-MW second team, finishing 14th with a time of 23:54.1. At the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, USU narrowly missed out on a bid to the NCAA Championships as it finished eighth with 177 team points. During the 2022 indoor and outdoor track & field seasons, Gulden helped the team earn five all-conference selections in distance events and sent eight distance runners to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminaries. Rivera highlighted the distance team's efforts at the Prelims, finishing 14th in the 5,000 meters, the highest finish by an Aggie at the event since 2019. Under Gulden’s guidance in 2020-21, the Aggies excelled both athletically and academically. The men’s cross country team earned its best-ever finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships as the 21st-ranked Aggies scored 351 points to place 11th overall, surpassing their previous best championship finish of 16th in 2019. Utah State beat 15 ranked teams, including 10 that were ranked ahead of them. Garnica crossed the finish line in 30:31.2 to place 28th in the men’s 10K race and earn All-American honors (given to the top 40 finishers). Prior to earning All-America honors, Garnica captured the men’s 8K race at the 2020 Mountain West Cross Country Championships. For his efforts, he was tabbed the MW Men’s Student-Athlete of the Year, to go along with earning first-team All-MW honors. Todd and Haydon Cooper also garnered first-team all-league honors, while Bridger Altice earned a second-team citation. On the women’s side, Haviland earned second-team All-MW accolades by placing eighth in the 6K race with a time of 20:22.1. Haviland went on to earn an at-large selection to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where she placed 43rd in the 6K race with a time of 21:01.6, narrowly missing out on garnering an All-American citation. Todd was named the USTFCCCA Division I Men’s National Athlete of the Week in late January to become the first Aggie to earn National Athlete of the Week honors in cross country since Dillon Maggard in 2017. Eight Aggies from the men’s and women’s cross country teams were honored by the USTFCCCA for their performance both athletically and academically during the 2020-21 season. Individually, Haviland earned USTFCCCA accolades on the women’s side for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and qualifying for the national championship meet. On the men’s side, seven Aggies were recognized for their excellence in the classroom as Altice, Cooper, Mark Crandall, Garnica, Harman, Spencer Nelson and Todd garnered all-academic accolades. During the outdoor track & field season, Gulden coached two Aggies that earned first-team All-MW accolades. Luke Beattie placed third in the 5,000 meters at the outdoor championships, while Todd finished second in the 10,000 meters. Beattie, Garnica, Todd and Haviland all qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. Beattie broke the school record previously held by Maggard in the 10,000 meters as he placed fifth in the event with a time of 28:33.45 at the Stanford Invitational. The 2019-20 campaign proved to be a tremendous season for Gulden and his distance runners. The year started off with a bang as he coached Utah State’s men’s cross country team to its first-ever Mountain West title and its second appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where the 19th-ranked Aggies scored 428 points to place 16th overall, surpassing their previous best championship finish of 27th in 2017. Utah State, which was led by Beattie, who capped off a decorated Aggie career by placing 49th with a time of 31:33.9 at the NCAA Championships, finished ahead of five teams that entered the race ranked above it (No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 11 Washington, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 13 Middle Tennessee State). The Aggie men earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after the team finished fourth, their best-ever regional finish, and had a school-record five runners earn all-region honors at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships. In a loaded region, which included the top three teams in the nation, USU finished first among Mountain West teams with 106 points. On the women’s side, Utah State placed ninth out of 19 teams with 269 points. Hosting the 2019 MW Cross Country Championships, the Aggie men did not disappoint on their home course as they captured their first-ever MW title, while the Aggie women placed fifth. The men won the team title with 42 points, led by Dallin Farnsworth, who became the first Aggie to ever win an MW Championship race. Farnsworth’s time of 21:14.2 broke the previous meet record by 20 seconds. Farnsworth, a native of Pocatello, Idaho, also earned MW Men’s Student-Athlete of the Year honors. Three of the top six runners in the men’s 8K race were Aggies as Beattie (23:23.8) and Withers (23:24.9) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Withers and Beattie, along with Farnsworth, earned first-team All-MW honors. Garnica was named to the All-MW second team after finishing 14th with a time of 23:40.7. Furthermore, Gulden was named the MW Coach of the Year, the first Aggie coach to ever earn that honor. Individually on the men’s side, Farnsworth, Garnica, Hendrickson and Withers earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and finishing in the top 25 (or 10 percent) at the NCAA Regional Championships. Additionally, the men’s program was recognized by the NCAA for its latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR), as it ranked in the top-10 percent in the nation with a perfect 1,000, marking the third year in a row it has had an APR of 1,000. The Aggies had a total of 19 runners – 12 on the women’s side and seven on the men’s side – earn academic All-MW honors in 2019. Gulden coached one All-MW honoree during the 2020 indoor track & field season as Farnsworth placed third in the 5,000 meters (14:33.13) at the Indoor Championships. During the 2018 cross country season, Utah State had two runners earn all-conference honors at the conference championships. Alyssa Snyder recorded the best finish for an Aggie at the meet as she earned second-team All-MW honors after placing 13th in the women’s 6K race with a time of 21:14.1. On the men’s side, Beattie also garnered second-team All-MW honors after placing 14th in the 8K race with a time of 25:07.2. The women’s team placed fourth overall, while the men finished fifth. Cierra Simmons-Mecham capped her stellar cross country career by placing 133rd with a time of 21:21.7 in the six-kilometer race at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships. She was one of 38 individual qualifiers for the championships after she garnered all-region honors by placing 17th in the 6K race with a time of 20:25.0 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Under Gulden’s watch during the 2019 indoor and outdoor track seasons, three school records were set – all on the women’s side, including the DMR team comprising of Simmons-Mecham, Megan Ryan, Shannon Maloney and Kasia Lawrynowicz. That quartet earned first-team All-MW honors by placing third at the Indoor Championships with a school-record time of 11:31.69. Simmons-Mecham (steeplechase), Snyder (10,000 meters) and Stokton Smith (steeplechase) each garnered All-MW accolades during the outdoor season. That trio advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in their respective events, as did Beattie (10,000 meters) and Hendrickson (steeplechase). Simmons-Mecham went on to place 20th in the semifinals of the steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The native of Soda Springs, Idaho, crossed the finish line in 10:23.90, and earned honorable mention All-American honors by doing so. Simmons-Mecham earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades in both cross country and track and field. In total, the Aggies had a total of 19 runners earn academic All-MW honors in 2018, while 21 runners were named MW Scholar-Athletes. Gulden coached the Aggies’ cross country and distance groups to their most successful season in school history during the 2017-18 campaign. Utah State’s men’s and women’s cross country teams both made their first-ever appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2017. Ranked 19th in the nation going into the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Aggie women finished 14th with 395 points in the 6K race. On the men’s side, No. 27 Utah State, despite having three runners go down early in the 10K race, took 27th with 603 points. Snyder led the way for the Aggie women, as she placed 25th with a time of 20:03.39 to earn All-American honors. She became just the second Utah State runner on the women’s side to garner All-American honors, joining Alisa Nicodemus, who placed 14th at the 1992 national championships. Maggard capped his stellar cross country career by placing sixth with a personal-best 10K time of 29:16.20 to earn All-American accolades. He became the first two-time All-American in Utah State cross country history, as he placed 12th with a time of 30:03.09 at the 2016 national championships. Additionally, Maggard, Snyder, Kashley Carter and Tylee Skinner earned all-region honors by placing in the top 25 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Overall, the women finished fourth in the region with 125 points, while the men finished seventh with 197 points. At the Mountain West Championships, USU’s all-region honorees also earned all-league accolades as the women finished third with 73 points and the men finished fourth with 93 points. Gulden coached six athletes to a combined 11 All-America honors in track & field in 2017-18.  With his two top-eight placings at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Finals, Maggard scored nine team points, helping Utah State tie for 18th with a total of 15 points, the Aggies’ best finish since 2001, when they also tied for 18th. Simmons-Mecham earned one team point by finishing in eighth place and making the podium. As a result, the USU women tied for 63rd, marking the first time since 2000 that the Aggies have scored team points at the Outdoor Finals. Simmons-Mecham was just the 13th female in school history to earn All-American accolades, and the first distance runner to do so during the outdoor season. Before joining Utah State’s program, Gulden spent two seasons at Idaho State, where he worked with the Bengals’ distance runners. While at ISU, Gulden coached Kylie Hutchison, who earned All-Big Sky Conference and All-Mountain Region honors in 2015. He also coached Hutchison’s younger sister, Presli, who qualified for the USATF Junior Championships in the 5,000 meters and later joined the USU cross country/track & field programs. Gulden coached at Highland High School in Pocatello, Idaho, during the 2012-13 season. He also coached at the Montgomery Academy in Montgomery, Ala., during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. Gulden is the son of legendary Bucknell cross country and track & field head coach Art Gulden, who coached the Bison for 31 years. Bucknell captured 68 conference titles under Art Gulden.  Gulden earned his bachelor’s degree from Bucknell in 2003. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in urban and historical geography from Wisconsin (2005), and a second master’s degree in business administration from BYU (2008). The native of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Utah, where he served three months on the campus of Utah State in 1999. He and his wife, Andrea, have one son, AJ, and two daughters, Allie and Anna.

Erik Rasmussen is in his 10th year as the jumps and combined-events coach at Utah State. He has a Level III USATF and a Level V IAAF coaching certification in the jumps.   During Rasmussen’s tenure, USU’s jumpers and multi-event athletes have combined for five All-America honors, 15 conference titles and 45 all-conference accolades.   With Rasmussen’s guidance in 2024-25, pole vaulter Logan Hammer earned two All-American honors and Mountain West titles, broke both pole vault school records, set the Nelson Fieldhouse indoor facility record and surpassed his own MW conference and Outdoor Championships records. His top outdoor mark of 5.70 meters (18-8.25) ranked third in the country and qualified him for a second-straight berth to the USATF Outdoor Championships.   Overall, Rasmussen’s athletes collected eight All-MW honors — including a podium sweep in the men’s outdoor pole vault — and 19 marks that rank in the top 10 in USU history. Four Aggie jumpers qualified for the NCAA West First Rounds.   In 2023-24, Rasmussen coached Utah State’s first All-American since 2019 in Hammer, who earned second-team honors at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In jumps and multi-events, USU earned eight All-MW selections and totaled 12 marks in the top 10 of USU’s record book during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Hammer set the school record in the pole vault with a mark of 5.62 meters (18-5.25), which also broke the MW record and the MW Outdoor Championships meet record. Godwin Charles set both school records in the triple jump with a mark of 15.74 meters (51-7.75) in the indoor season and 15.88 meters (52-1.25) in the outdoor season.   The 2022-23 season was highlighted by Hammer's first Mountain West title in the outdoor pole vault and Kelton Chenworth's pair of all-conference honors in the indoor and outdoor high jump. Aggie jumpers set eight top-10 all-time marks, including indoor and outdoor performances from Chenworth in the men's high jump, Hammer in the men's pole vault, and Emma Shippen in the women's pole vault.   During the 2021-22 campaign, Caden Dupee led the way at the MW Indoor Championships, earning all-conference honors as he placed third in the heptathlon with 5,192 points. At the MW Outdoor Championships, Chenworth earned all-conference honors by placing second in the high jump with a mark of 2.06 meters (6-9). Additionally, the Aggies recorded nine marks in the top 10 all-time at USU in events coached by Rasmussen, including Maren Garnett moving to fourth all-time in both the indoor and outdoor pole vaults.   While the 2020-21 campaign saw the cancelation of the indoor track & field season due to COVID-19, the Aggies still enjoyed a wealth of success, both academically and athletically. Under Rasmussen’s tutelage, Audrey Garrett highlighted Utah State’s performance on the women’s side at the MW Outdoor Championships as she earned first-team all-league honors after placing second in the high jump with a career-best mark of 1.80 meters (5-10.75), which ranks second all-time in school history. Garrett also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships.   Joining Garrett at the NCAA West Prelims was Kyle Brost in the triple jump. At the MW Outdoor Championships, he garnered his fifth All-MW citation – all in the triple jump – after placing third in the event with a mark of 14.69 meters (48-2.50).   Brost broke his own school record in the outdoor triple jump when he placed third with a mark of 15.63 meters (51-3.50) at the season-opening UNLV Spring Invitational & Sheila Tarr-Smith Multis.   Academically, Garrett garnered academic All-MW and MW Scholar-Athlete accolades and earned the USU Joe E. Whitesides Scholar-Athlete Award.   During the 2020 campaign, which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rasmussen coached a trio of athletes who garnered first-team All-MW honors, including two that qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships.   Chandler Obray earned all-conference high jump honors for the second-straight season as he won the event with a leap of 2.06 meters (6-9.00) at the Indoor Championships. Hunter Simonsen also garnered All-MW honors as he placed third in the high jump with a mark of J2.06 meters (6-9.00). In the men’s triple jump, Brost finished third to earn All-MW honors after breaking his own school record with a jump of 15.22 meters (49-11.25). On the women’s side, Rasmussen coached Garrett to a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a mark of 1.75 meters (5-8.75) at the MW Indoor Championships.   In 2019, Rasmussen coached a trio of athletes who captured conference titles. Simonsen won the indoor high jump title with a height of 2.18 meters (7-1.75), while Leaugen Fray was the outdoor champion in the event with a mark of 2.12 meters (6-11.5). Brost placed first in the outdoor triple jump with a school-record mark of 15.47 meters (50-9.25).   Garnering first-team All-MW honors during the 2019 indoor season included Talie Bonds (third, pentathlon, 3,762 points) on the women’s side. Simonsen, Obray (second, high jump, 2.14 meters/7-0.25), Fray (third, high jump, 2.10 meters/6-10.75; third, long jump, 7.19 meters/23-7.25), Nelson (third, pole vault, 5.10 meters/16-8.75), Brost (third, triple jump, 14.81 meters/48-7.25) and Roman Ruiz (third, heptathlon, 5,078 points) were honored on the men’s side.   Brost also set the then-school record in the indoor triple jump with a leap of 15.07 meters (49-5.50) at the New Mexico-hosted Don Kirby Invitational. Following that feat, he was named the MW Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week. Brost garnered MW Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week honors one time during the 2019 outdoor campaign, as well.   For the outdoor season, Garrett earned first-team All-MW honors on the women’s side as she placed third in the high jump with a mark of 1.71 meters (5-7.25). The men were represented by Fray, Brost and Simonsen (second, high jump, 2.06 meters/6-9).   Brost (triple jump), Fray (high jump), Obray (high jump), Simonsen (high jump) and Jennifer Christensen (high jump) all participated in the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. Christensen and Brost both placed 16th in their respective events, just four places away from advancing to the NCAA Finals held in Austin, Texas.   During the 2018 season, Rasmussen coached a pair of athletes who combined to win four Mountain West titles between the indoor and outdoor seasons.   Fray earned a pair of first-team All-MW honors by winning both the long jump (7.38 meters/24-2.50) and high jump (2.18 meters/7-1.50) titles at the Indoor Championships.   Not to be outdone, Sam Nelson swept the indoor and outdoor MW titles in the pole vault. He captured the indoor crown with a season-best mark of 5.15 meters (16-10.75). He then went on to win the outdoor title with a mark of 5.00 meters (16-4.75).   Fray and Nelson both participated in the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, where Nelson tied for 17th in the first round of the pole vault (5.00 meters/16-4.75) and Fray tied for 25th in the high jump with a career-best-tying 2.11 meters (6-11).   Utah State’s jumpers and combined-event athletes set 11 top-10 marks under Rasmussen’s tutelage in 2018.   In his first year at Utah State, Rasmussen coached Fray to an indoor MW title in the long jump (7.52 meters/24-8.25) and a second-place finish in the high jump (2.12 meters/6-11.50). Under his direction, the Aggie jumpers and combined-event athletes set eight top-10 marks in 2017.   Rasmussen arrived at Utah State after four successful years at Eastern Washington, where he coached the jumpers and combined-event athletes to seven school records, 42 top-10 performances, nine individual conference championships, 24 all-conference finishers, and eight qualifiers to the NCAA Preliminary Championships.   Rasmussen was the pole vault coach at BYU from 2008-2012. During his time there, he coached seven All-Americans to 15 appearances at the NCAA National Championship Finals, and 12 pole vaulters to the NCAA Preliminary Championships. At the NCAA Finals, Rasmussen coached two third-place finishers (Bobby Low and Chris Little), and Victor Weirich, who notched fourth-, fifth-and 10th-place finishes.   From 1998-2003, Rasmussen competed for BYU and finished with a personal best of 17-feet, 4.75 inches in the pole vault. His other personal bests include 6,319 points in the decathlon, 5,244 points in the indoor heptathlon, and 23-2.5 in the long jump.   Rasmussen grew up in Modesto, California, where he excelled in the pole vault, jumping 17-feet as a senior. He served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Rome, Italy. He graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Rasmussen’s wife, Nicole, also competed for the BYU track team. They have three children, Tate, Bo and Guy.