Jason Dunn begins his third season as the head cross country coach. Having already completed a second-consecutive outstanding season, Dunn will look to repeat his success look to lead Stanford to a national title for the first time under his guidance.
The 2010 track season saw Stanford dominate the distance events like no other team in the country. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Cardinal men earned five All-America honors, while the women earned two. The Cardinal men earned three more during the indoor season to give Dunn a total of 10 for the season. Jake Riley earned three over the course of the two seasons, including placing third in the outdoor 10K. Chris Derrick matched Riley with a third in the 5K, while J.T. Sullivan was fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. On the women's side, Kathy Kroeger led the way with a fifth in the 5K.
The 2009 cross country season included a year where Dunn coached the men's team to a No.1 ranking for nearly the entire season. The Cardinal won both the Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional titles with Chris Derrick capturing the individual title at each. Derrick and Elliott Heath followed that up with All-America honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including a third-place overall finish for Derrick. In addition, a young women's team placed third in the Pac-10 and West Region, and advanced to the NCAA Championships for the seventeenth straight year. In his short time at Stanford Dunn has already coached athletes to 27 All-America honors and helped the Cardinal to conference titles in men's cross country and women's indoor track and field.
"Jason is a young, committed, and accomplished men's and women's coach who embodies the academic and athletic excellence we hold here at Stanford," said Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field Edrick Floreal. "I think Jason's results speak volumes of his ability to coach. His ability to develop an atmosphere and an energy is beyond anything we ever dreamed. He is a young coach, but his ability is far beyond his age."
Dunn is proud of the opportunity to coach at Stanford and has made the most of it in his short time on The Farm.
"I am truly honored by the opportunity to work with such talented student-athletes at one of the finest academic institutions in the world," he said. "I am also looking forward to continuing to build upon, and adding to, the rich tradition of Stanford cross country."
In his first season at Stanford, Dunn was named West Regional assistant coach of the year for both men's and women's indoor track and field. He coached a total of four men to nine All-America honors and four women to six All-America honors during the 2008-09 cross country and track seasons. This includes a national runner-up finish by Garrett Heath in the outdoor 1,500 meters, as well as third-place finishes by Lauren Centrowitz in the indoor 3,000 meters and outdoor 1,500 meters, Chris Derrick in the outdoor 5,000 meters and Elliott Heath in the indoor 3,000 meters. Dunn's first year on the Farm also saw school records established in the women's distance medley relay (10:58.49) and the women's 1500 meters (4:10.23 - Lauren Centrowitz).
In his initial season of cross country at Stanford, Dunn led the men's team to a third-place trophy at the 2008 NCAA Championships. He coached freshman Chris Derrick to a seventh overall finish and an All-America honor. In addition, middle-distance star Garrett Heath earned his first cross country All-America honor after his 33rd-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Other highlights of the men's season included a race win at the NCAA Pre-nationals and being ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation by the USTFCCCA.
On the women's side, Dunn led the young Cardinal to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. At the NCAA West Regional four runners earned all-region honors, led by freshman Laurynne Chetelat, who also earned All-Pac-10 honors. At the NCAA's, Stanford ran closely together and had a split of just 14 seconds between its No. 1-5 runners to claim eighth place.
Dunn's student-athletes have also been successful in the classroom at Stanford. This past cross country season, seven athletes were named national All-Academic honorees by the USTFCCCA with Kate Niehaus winning the NCAA Elite 88 Award for having the top GPA at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. His athletes have also earned numerous Pac-10 and MPSF academic awards and the 2008 men's cross country team was honored as the NCAA academic team of the year by the USTFCCCA.
Prior to Stanford, Dunn was the head cross country and assistant track and field coach at Virginia. Dunn coached teams to the NCAA Championships on eight occasions (four men, four women). He also led the 2005 and 2007 men's squads to ACC titles, and in 2005 saw both the men's and women's teams advance to the NCAA Championships, marking the first time in school history both qualified for the championships in the same season. For his efforts, Dunn was honored as the 2005 and 2007 ACC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
In all, Dunn brought 28 All-ACC honors to 17 cross-country runners during his time at Virginia. This tally was highlighted when seven Cavaliers earned conference honors in 2005, with the men's team winning the league championship for the first time since 1984. Dunn led 23 runners to 40 all-region honors and five to All-America status.
On the track, Dunn coached 41 All-ACC performances among 20 athletes. He led eight Cavaliers to nine individual ACC Championships and coached six All-Americans. Virginia distance runners recorded 18 NCAA qualifying times during Dunn's tenure, and three school records fell under his guidance.
Dunn's athletes at Virginia also excelled in the classroom as both the men's and women's cross country squads were named All-Academic teams for five years in a row. In 2004, the cross country team earned the highest team cumulative GPA for a men's team at Virginia. Additionally, Dunn's athletes have achieved All-Academic status as individuals in cross country and track and field on 22 occasions.
Before coming to Virginia, Dunn served as an assistant coach for Arizona State's men's and women's cross country and track and field teams. While at ASU, Dunn was part of a staff that built the distance program from the ground up. During his tenure, the cross country teams went from having never qualified for the NCAA Championships to finishing 14th and 12th, respectively, in 1999. Additionally, athletes Dunn tutored in his years with the Sun Devils earned three All-American certificates in cross country, and seven more on the track.
Prior to his stint in Tempe, Dunn served as an assistant cross country coach at William and Mary, his alma mater, for the 1996 season. He shared duties in an interim position for a team that ranked in the top 20 nationally and won a Colonial Athletic Conference title.
Dunn served as team captain and belonged to two NCAA-qualifying cross country teams for the Tribe. He also earned all-conference honors in cross country and on the track, where he was the 1996 CAA champion in the steeplechase. Dunn also received All-East honors in the steeplechase and went on to qualify provisionally for the NCAA Championships and the Olympic Trials. Dunn received his B.A. in government from William and Mary in 1996 and a master's in curriculum and instruction with a physical education emphasis from Arizona State in 1999.