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Oregon Track and Field Coaching Staff Adds Chris Solinsky

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jan 7th 2023, 12:40am
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Jerry Schumacher Adds Chris Solinsky to UO Staff

University of Oregon Release/University of Oregon photo

EUGENE, Ore. – Chris Solinsky, former American record holder at 10,000 meters, joins the Oregon cross country and track and field program as an assistant coach for the Ducks’ distance crew as announced by head coach Jerry Schumacher. Solinsky comes to Eugene after five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Florida. 

Solinsky was a five-time NCAA champion under Schumacher at Wisconsin (2003-07) and went on to a record-breaking professional career with Schumacher and the Bowerman Track Club before becoming an assistant coach at William & Mary in 2014. 

“I’m incredibly excited to have Chris join our team,” Schumacher said. “Having coached him for over a decade, I know him to be one of the most driven and passionate athletes I’ve worked with and his work ethic is second to none. Chris has brought those attributes to coaching and has had tremendous success working with student-athletes at the University of Florida. He will be an awesome addition to our staff.” 

During the recently completed 2022 cross country season, Solinsky coached Florida’s Parker Valby to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla. She was also the South Region and SEC cross country champion during the campaign, and the NCAA runner-up at 5,000 meters during the 2022 outdoor season. 

The Florida women finished fifth at the 2022 SEC Cross Country Championships, their highest finish since a second-place finish in 2018 also under Solinsky. Valby and Jessica Pascoe (2018) both won SEC XC titles during Solinsky’s time in Gainesville; Pascoe was the Gators’ first individual champion since 2009. The UF men had a best finish of sixth place in 2019 for their highest finish since 2013. 

In addition to Valby’s runner-up performance at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Solinsky saw two of his student-athletes—Imogen Barrett and Gabrielle Wilkinson—advance to the final of the 800 meters with Barrett (2:02.05) coming away with fourth place. She was also the SEC champion over 800 meters last spring. 

As a freshman, Barrett won the SEC title in the 1500 meters and was the only freshman qualifier in the event at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. 

Solinsky coached both Pascoe and Valby to current Florida school records. In 2018, Pascoe established an indoor 5K best of 15:34.76 at the BU Opener to erase a nine-year-old Gators’ record. Valby, in her standout freshman campaign on the track, set new UF marks of 8:53.89 in the indoor 3,000 meters and 15:20.10 in her NCAA runner-up effort over 5,000 meters. 

Valby was also the 2021 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year and ran to 27th place in her debut at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2021. With her 32nd-place NCAA finish in 2018, Pascoe was Florida’s first cross country All-American since 2013 and highest-placing runner since 2009. 

Prior to his time with Florida, Solinsky spent three seasons at William & Mary (2014-17) where he was the 2016 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. He was the men’s and women’s assistant coach during his first two seasons at William & Mary before being promoted to head coach of the men’s cross country team in 2016.

 At the 2017 CAA Outdoor Championships, the Tribe swept the men’s and women’s titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, along with victories by the men in the 1500 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase. 

Over the final three years of his professional running career, Solinsky served as a volunteer assistant at Portland (2012-14). 

Solinsky, a 2009 and 2011 IAAF World Championships qualifier at 5,000 meters, posted a historic effort on May 1, 2010, at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational when he clocked a time of 26:59.60 to break the American record over 10,000 meters. With the performance, he became the first non-African runner to break 27 minutes in the event. That time now ranks third in American history behind Grant Fisher and Galen Rupp, respectively. 

The Stevens Point, Wis., native also owns a career best of 12:55.53 at 5,000 meters, also third in U.S. history. 

Under Schumacher’s watch during his collegiate career at Wisconsin, Solinsky was a four-time Big Ten champion, won five NCAA titles, collected 14 All-America certificates and helped lead the Badgers to the 2005 NCAA cross country and 2007 NCAA indoor team titles. Solinsky was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. 

He and wife Amy Dahlin, a former pole vaulter at Wisconsin, have three children—daughter Ayla and sons Archer and Easton.



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