Greg Metcalf Hometown: Ephrata, Wash. High School: Ephrata HS Position: Head Coach, Track & Field/Cross Country Experience: 7th Year, 12th Overall

Highlights

• Led the women's cross country team to its first National Championship in school history in 2008, and its first Pac-10 Championship since 1989, winning with the first perfect score in conference history. Named 2008 National Coach of the Year at season's end.

• Washington was one of six programs to place both its men's and women's teams in the 2008-09 USTFCCCA Program of the Year Top-10 standings, which measures combined NCAA Championship results across cross country, indoor, and outdoor track.

• Men's track and field has finished in the Top-20 at the past four NCAA Championships, and in 2008 the Huskies scored their most points at NCAA's in 25 years.

• The 2008 men's track and field team, and the 2008 women's cross country team were both named National Scholar Team of the Year by the USTFCCCA for having the highest combination of athletic and academic success.

• Metcalf's distance runners have combined for three individual NCAA track titles, 12 Pac-10 titles, 51 All-America awards, 126 NCAA Championship bids and 26 school records in 12 years with the program.

• Two-Time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year.

Over the past 19 years, Greg Metcalf has come to epitomize Washington cross country and track. A product of Ephrata, Wash. near the center of the state, Metcalf made his mark as a Husky All-American distance runner from 1990-93. His boundless passion for the sport led him into coaching, and soon he was back at his alma mater working with the distance program.

On Aug. 13, 2002, having served five years as assistant coach, Metcalf was named Washington's 12th head track and field coach, and just the fifth since Clarence "Hec" Edmundson took the helm in 1919.

An energetic presence, Metcalf immediately installed a new set of expectations that the team has already taken steps towards reaching. NCAA championships are the goal, and Metcalf's successes thus far have been nothing short of remarkable.

Metcalf's work with the men's and women's cross country teams have developed each into national contenders in recent years, with historic finishes for each team over the past three seasons, capped off by an undefeated season for the 2008 women's team and the program's first NCAA title.

The 2008 Husky women's cross country team rewrote the history books, racing to the school's first National Championship in dominating fashion. The Huskies moved up to the No. 1 ranking for the first time ever one race into the season, and held it throughout the year. The women stunned the cross country world with a sweep of the top six spots at the 2008 Pac-10 Championships, recording the first perfect score in conference history while going against No. 2 ranked Oregon on its home course, no less. Washington went on to win Regionals and NCAA's by 52 points.

Metcalf and his team racked up the awards and accolades during the 2008 season, starting with a staggering five All-America awards for senior Amanda Miller, junior Katie Follett, sophomore Mel Lawrence, and freshmen Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf. Schaaf was the Pac-10 individual champion, UW's first in 26 years, and was named Pac-10 Athlete of the Year, while Babcock was Newcomer of the Year, and Washington monopolized six of the seven spots on the All-Pac-10 First Team. Metcalf was named the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year as well as Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

The women's cross country squad has now reached the NCAA Championships in 10 of Metcalf's 12 seasons, including seven top-20 finishes. The UW men, meanwhile, have competed for national titles four times in the past six years, including a 12th-place national finish in 2006 and an 18th-place effort last year. The 2008 men's team was one of just three squads unranked in the preseason that wound up reaching nationals. Ranked 21st heading into the meet, the men overcame the loss of All-Pac-10 No. 1 runner Jeremy Mineau to take 18th.

Metcalf also continues to direct a renaissance of the track and field program, with the past four seasons ranking among the greatest in Washington's storied history. In 2009, the USTFCCCA began new Program of the Year standings to measure combined success at the cross country, indoor, and outdoor NCAA meets, and Washington was one of just six programs to have both its men and women place in the Top-10. The women were ninth overall and the men placed 10th. Between the indoor and outdoor meets, the Huskies had All-Americans in the sprints, mid-distances, long distances, throws, vault, and multis. At NCAA Outdoors, the men earned their fourth-straight Top-25 finish, placing 20th, and the women's 19th-place finish was their fourth time in the Top-25 in six seasons.

Lawrence broke the Pac-10 record in the steeplechase, finishing third at NCAA's, and Campbell also placed third at nationals in the 10k. Senior Austin Abbott broke longstanding school records in the mile and 1500-meters, and earned his sixth career All-America award with a seventh-place finish at NCAA's in the 1500m. The Dawgs also took home an impressive five individual Pac-10 titles for the first time since 1998. Follett repeated her 1500m title, becoming the first Husky woman ever to win back-to-back Pac-10 titles.

In 2008, the men's team scored its most points at the NCAA Outdoor meet since 1983, finishing 16th. That marked the fourth-consecutive NCAA meet where the UW men placed in the Top-20, something that had not happened since 1978-79. The men racked up eight All-American honors indoors and out.

The Husky women's distance runners carried their fall success over to the track as well. Follett, Amanda Miller, and Michelle Turner all finished in the Top-10 in the mile run at 2008 NCAA Indoors, all earning All-America honors. Washington was the only school to have three All-Americans in one event. Follett then proceeded to win the Pac-10 1500-meter title, the first by a UW woman on the track since 2001. Turner followed that up by winning the NCAA West Region title at 1500-meters, and Miller capped off her track career with her fourth All-American award, placing 11th in the 1500m at NCAA Outdoors.

In 2007, Washington's men earned all-time best finishes at both the NCAA Indoor (7th) and NCAA Outdoor (15th) Track and Field Championships, while half-miler Ryan Brown captured his second NCAA 800-meter title and led 10 total Huskies to top-10 NCAA Championships finishes. Washington's men also earned their second-straight MPSF Indoor conference title, placed among the top-four teams at the NCAA West Regional for the second-straight year and handed cross-state rival Washington State its worst Husky Stadium defeat in 85 years.

Metcalf was recognized for his coaching excellence in 2007 with his second-straight MPSF's Men's Coach of the Year honor, and was honored by his coaching peers as the 2007 West Region Indoor Men's Coach of the Year.

All that came on the heels of a 2006 season in which two UW distance runners won NCAA track titles, while an additional 17 Huskies earned All-America honors. That total of 19 All-Americans was a UW record -- in fact, the past four seasons rank as the four most prolific in UW history in terms of All-America honors earned, with a combined 81 All-America honors since 2005. Husky track stars have combined for six NCAA individual titles in Metcalf's tenure.

The wins by Ryan Brown (800m) and Amy Lia (1,500m) at the 2006 NCAA Championships were truly representative of Metcalf's coaching prowess. A former walk-on who competed just one year of high school track, Brown blossomed under Metcalf's tutelage into a two-time Pac-10, two-time Regional and two-time NCAA Champion, and won nine-career All-America honors.

Lia, meanwhile, developed into one of the nation's premier distance runners, placing 55th at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships and earning back-to-back All-America honors in the 1,500 meters in 2005 and 2006. Her time of 4:14.63 in the 2006 NCAA final was seventh-best in Pac-10 history, and the fastest in the nation during the 2006 college season.

In all, Metcalf's distance runners have earned three NCAA track titles, 12 Pac-10 titles, 51 All-America awards, 126 NCAA Championships bids and 26 school records in his 12-plus years with the program.

Another indication of Metcalf's success lies in how his athletes have performed in the professional and international ranks.

The 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials featured several Husky distance runners in action, including the trio of Follett, Miller, and Turner, who all competed in the 1500-meters alongside new freshman Christine Babcock. Ryan Brown advanced into the semifinals of the 800-meter run, and current Husky assistant coach Kelly Strong ran in the steeplechase. 2007 graduate Mike Sayenko bettered the Olympic "A" qualifying standard in his first-ever marathon race in 2006, then placed 29th at the Olympic Marathon trials in 2007. In all, nine Washington track athletes from Metcalf's tenure competed at the U.S. Trials.

Brown took his career to another level in the summer of 2009, as he placed third at the USATF National Championships at 800-meters to make Team USA and compete at his first ever World Championships. Brown ran in the qualifying rounds in Berlin and continues to train with Metcalf and the rest of the current Huskies.

In addition to their athletic prowess, Metcalf's teams have been among the brightest at a school renowned for its high academic standards. His teams are eight-time recipients of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honor, including the men's track team being named the 2008 Outdoor Scholar Team of the Year, and the 2008 women's cross country national champs also earning USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year. Six UW individuals have earned Academic All-America.

Washington is the second head coaching position for Metcalf, who served in 1996-97 as the head cross country and assistant track coach at Auburn University. His Tiger athletes accumulated four All-America awards and seven NCAA Championship berths. Additionally, he coached the Auburn men to second at the 1997 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Metcalf received a bachelor's degree in geography from UW in 1993 and completed necessary coursework for a master's of science in exercise physiology at Auburn.

A four-time Academic All-Pac-10 honoree at Washington, Metcalf earned All-American honors at the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Championships. His best collegiate mark of 8:41.17 ranks fourth all-time among Husky steeplers. He also was a steeple finalist in the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Metcalf was also a memorable figure at the state prep level, winning state titles in both cross country (1987) and track (1,600m, 1988) as a senior at Ephrata (Wash.) High School.

Metcalf, 37, resides in Seattle with his wife Kristin, a former Husky distance runner and assistant track coach at Seattle's Bishop Blanchet High School, and their four-year-old daughter, Mackenzie.