SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Cal State San Marcos Director of Athletics Jennifer Milo announced the hiring of Torrey Olson as Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field coach on Friday. Olson takes over for Steve Scott, who retired upon the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.
“Coach Olson will come in and quickly get to work to build on the history of success our cross country and track & field teams have experienced,” Milo said. “Coach Olson demonstrates our department’s values and culture and is an excellent fit to our University.”
Olson comes to CSUSM after spending the last three seasons as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the Academy of Art University. He managed all aspects of the Urban Knights program including operating budgets, hiring and management of assistant coaches, travel planning and administration, recruiting efforts across all events areas, equipment management and academic support. In those three season, the Urban Knights earned 50 All-American honors collectively.
“I can’t thank Jennifer Milo and (Associate Director of Athletics) Todd Snedden enough for giving me the opportunity to guide the men’s and women’s cross country and track & field programs as they move forward into year two of NCAA Division II eligibility,” Olson said. “The vision is to have the four programs competing on the national stage and excelling within the CCAA, building on the legacy Steve Scott has established in San Marcos. CSUSM is in such an excellent spot–with a new, modern, beautiful and still growing campus, excellent facilities, a stunning area with miles of surrounding trails for our distance runners, and an administration that is really supportive of growth and building success. I think we are going to be able to offer our student-athletes a very compelling experience, and I can’t wait to get to work.
Olson mentored three individual PacWest cross country champions as the both the men’s and women’s teams finished a program-best second in 2017. He also was instrumental in the guidance of 45 individual PacWest track & field champions in the two years (2016-18) since the PacWest reinstated a conference championship in track & field.
In his time with the Dons over two season beginning in 2010, Olson assisted with record-keeping, meet management, travel, and hands on training, in addition to his recruiting duties. This past season, Olson helped guide a USF team which qualified six athletes to NCAA Preliminaries and three to NCAA Championships. The 2011 women’s cross country team highlighted Olson’s time there by earning a 25th place finish at NCAA DI Nationals in its first-ever appearance, which came just weeks after the team captured its third consecutive WCC Championship.
Across Olson’s two seasons at USF, two athletes earned All-American honors, while the team broke school records in both the men’s and women’s 800, Mile, 3000, 5,000, and 10,000.
Prior to working with the Dons, Olson served as the distance coach at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for the 2009-10 seasons, where three athletes qualified to NCAAs, and two earned All-American honors. Olson also works with a number of post-collegiate athletes, including one of San Francisco’s own Olympic Trials qualifiers, Crosby Freeman. Olson also bolstered his coaching career in 2009 when he spent five weeks in Morocco interviewing and observing the country’s best distance and middle-distance runners and coaches.
A graduate of Pomona College, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary’s College. He is a USATF Level I certified coach. Olson was a decorated student-athlete himself as well. He served as team captain for the Sagehens two years in cross country and one in track & field. Olson captured All-Academic honors in both sports while also becoming an individual NCAA qualifier in cross country during the 2008 season.
