COACHING STAFF

KELLy HART | HEAD CROSS COUNTRY COACH - Director of Operations

Kelly Hart joined Colorado State prior to the 2022 season as an assistant coach before getting elevated to head coach before the 2023 season.

In just her second season at the helm, Hart led the Ram women to the Mountain West Championship and advanced all the way to the 2023 NCAA Championships. Between the men's and women's programs, Hart mentored a total of five all-conference honorees. This included graduate student Sarah Carter, who captured the MW individual title with a time of 19:48.5. For her efforts, the Ram leader was selected as the 2023 Mountain West Cross Country Coach of the Year.

During her first season in Fort Collins she helped both cross country squads return to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2004, both earning at-large bids. Both squads were also nationally ranked heading into the Mountain Regional for just the second time in school history. At the Mountain West Championship, she helped set eight personal records on the women's side and three on the men as both squads finished second. Both squads combined earned nine All-Mountain West honors.

Pior to Colorado State, Hart spent the 2021 season on staff at Tulsa for her first post-collegiate position. The two-time All-American at Notre Dame joined the Hurricane in August of 2021 and immediately helped Tulsa with championship results. The Hurricane men and women swept the American Athletic Conference in cross country titles, while Hart and Co. were named the AAC Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year. In her one season, Hart learned under the tutelage of Steve Gulley, who has been at the helm of Tulsa's track and field and cross country program for 21 seasons. Also on staff, aiding in Hart's development was Taylor Gulley and Brian Biekert. The foursome made for one of the most extensive distance coaching staffs in the country.

While in Tulsa, Hart was the event coach for the women's 800-meter group, however she assisted in all other middle to long distances. She was pinned as the head of recruiting for the women's distance and middle-distance groups along with overseeing the weight training regimen.

The success in cross translated to the track season with two indoor conference champions in the 3,000 and 5,000 plus three outdoor conference champions in the 5,000, 10,000 and 3,000 steeplechase. In all, the women's distance crew tallied 11 All-AAC indoor awards and 14 All-AAC outdoor awards. As a team, the women finished third at indoors, tying for the highest conference finish in program history.

Due to COVID and redshirt seasons, Hart had a six-year career at Notre Dame. She obtained a bachelors in sociology with a minor in education, schooling and society in 2019, however she continued to take non-degree-seeking graduate level classes until she exhausted her athletic eligibility in spring of 2021. During her time with the Irish, she earned two USTFCCCA All-America honors for the distance medley relay and was a five-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer in the 800.

Outside of athletics, Hart excelled in the community and scholastically. She was awarded the Byron V. Kanaley Award for exemplary leadership – the most prestigious award bestowed on a Notre Dame student-athlete. Additionally, she served as the community service coordinator and earned Notre Dame Community Champion award for her outstanding service. Hart exemplified leadership as the Student Athlete Athletic Council team representative in addition to being the cross country team captain. In the classroom, she was a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree.

Hart, of Arlington, Va., attended Yorktown High School, located 20 minutes from Washington D.C. The four-year letterman was named the Female Track Athlete of the Year by Better Sports Club of Arlington. Her accolades in her final two years consisted of the 2014 Arlington County Cross Country title, a conference champion in the 800 and the 1,000. Again, she excelled in school, earning the Central Intelligence Agency Award for an Outstanding Young Scientist.

J.J. Riese | Sprints, Hurdles & Relays

J.J. Riese Riese was formally introduced in his role as an assistant coach on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. Riese is responsible for coaching the Rams in the sprints, hurdles and relays.

In his time with the Rams, Riese has guided his student-athletes to 21 individual conference championships (6 WITF, 5 MITF, 7 WOTF, 3 MOTF) on the way to helping both the men's and women's programs capture 12 combined team championships across indoor and outdoor seasons. Riese has mentored the Rams to three All-America honors (First or Second team) in his areas and has 12 atop the Ram record book in their respective events.

Prior to joining Colorado State track & field, Riese served as an assistant coach for six seasons at Brown. While at Brown, Riese mentored Ivy League champions in multiple events, including the 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4x400-meter relay. Nine school records were set under his watch, as were 62 of Brown's all-time top-10 performances in the sprints and hurdles.

Before his six-year stop at Brown, Riese worked with sprinters, hurdlers and the relays at Syracuse. Among his accomplishments with the Orange was the development of Jarret Eaton, who ran the second-fastest 60-meter hurdles time in NCAA history (7.49) and won SU's first-ever individual NCAA title. Riese also coached Michael LeBlanc, a top-10 finisher in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.

Riese holds certifications from the USATF Coaching Association as well as the National Strength and Condition Association, and is experienced in teaching at various camps and clinics. He holds a bachelor's degree in educations and history from SUNY Cortland ('09), where he was a four-year letterwinner in track & field, and added a master's degree in exercise science from the California University of Pennsylvania.

MARIA CREECH | JUMPS, MULTIS AND RECRUITING COORDINATOR

Maria Creech joined the Rams for the 2021-22 season as a volunteer assistant coach aiding in the jumps group and transitioned to a full-time position at the conclusion of the season.

In her first year with the Rams, she helped assistant coach Ryan Baily with the mentoring of the jump groups and the combined athletes, including Lexie Keller who earned All-American status in the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Creech's coaching experience ranges from several Colorado high schools, the club level and one other collegiate stop - Fort Lewis College.

Prior to CSU, Creech was an assistant coach at Poudre High School aiding the entire jumps section. She coached Rhys Travis who won two state titles at the 2021 CHSAA 5A meet in the high jump and triple jump. Travis was a 6-foot high jumper and 40-foot triple jumper that Creech helped coach to reach PRs of 6'7'' and 47', respectively. Additionally, she coached Jayden Luna, a five-foot high jumper, to a 5-foot-6 personal record and runner-up finish at the 2021 CHSAA 5A State meet. At PHS, Creech also served as the strength and conditioning coach and the assistant volleyball coach.

Before PHS, Creech was the head track and field coach at Bayfield HS where she worked closely with current Ram Jordan Lanning, At BHS, Lanning was a three-event high school state champion. Since, Lanning finds herself on eight top-20 lists at Colorado State.

Her first collegiate coaching experience came at Fort Lewis College in 2018, operating as the assistant coach for jumps and sprints. In her first season with the Skyhawks, 11 of her competing female student-athletes qualified for the RMAC Conference Championships.

A native of Durango, Colo. and a 2007 graduate of DHS, Creech competed in the high jump at Washington State University for three seasons, where she qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and the PAC-10 Championships. Her PR’s include: High Jump: 1.80m; Triple Jump: 11.12; and 200m: 25:77. After WSU, Creech attended Fort Lewis College and competed on the women’s cross country team in 2011.

After school, Creech returned to her high school alma mater, Durango HS, and served as an assistant coach for track and field and volleyball, but also was the head indoor club track coach.

Creech received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition and Food Science from Colorado State University in 2014 and added a Master's in Kinesiology at Concordia University in the spring of 2020. She owns several certifications including NCSF Strength and Conditioning, ACSM Personal Trainer, First Aid/CPR, USATF Level 1, and CHSAA coaching.

JOHN ELDERS | Assistant Coach - CROSS COUNTRY

Head Coaches Kelly Hart and Brian Bedard announced the addition of John Elders to the Colorado State cross country and track and field coaching staff in July 2023. Elders joins the Rams after spending 33 years as the Head Track & Field and Cross Country Coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Elders retired from coaching in 2021 and moved to Fort Collins after more than three decades at Cal State Fullerton. When he retired, Elders was the longest tenured head coach in the history of CSF Athletics at 33 years, 3 months. He was the only coach in the history of CSF to be granted Emeritus status.

He finished his career at Cal State Fullerton winning five Big West Conference team titles since 2017, three men’s track titles, one women’s track title and one cross country title. During his tenure, he was named the Big West Coach of the Year on five separate occasions.

During his head coaching career, 24 student-athletes have earned All-American honors with 74 individual Big West Track and Field titles being claimed.

John and his wife Nicole have two daughters Carlee and Gracie.

JIM NAGEL | Volunteer Assistant Coach

Jim Nagel joined Brian Bedard’s Colorado State track and field coaching staff as a volunteer coach in December of 2022. His focus will be with the distance runners.

Nagel graduated from Colorado State in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree. During his time at Colorado State, he was a standout athlete on the track and field team earning himself varsity letterman awards from 1980-1982. Nagel also was named the Western Athletic Conference scholar athlete during the 1981-1982 season. Nagel’s presence is still felt at Colorado State as he still holds the sixth fastest time in the indoor 1,000 meters (2:29.33).

After his tenure at Colorado State, Nagel became an ASICS sponsored runner from 1985-1991; during this time, he was named to the ASICS National cross-country team. In 2017 Nagel began his coaching career at Poudre High School and earned the Brooks Inspiring Coach of the Year Award in 2021.

MATTIAS BORRMAN | Volunteer Assistant Coach

Mattias Borrman, a native of Sweden, competed in the throwing events for Colorado State University from 1993-1996, setting 13 school records in the javelin, shot put, hammer, and 35lb weight. During his time at CSU, Borrman hit qualifying standards for the NCAA championships in all five throwing events and represented the Rams five times at this level, including a ninth place finish in the men's discus in Eugene, Oregon in 1996 as his career best performance in a meet where he also placed tenth in the hammer throw, narrowly missing out on the historically tougher standards for All-American honors. The prestigious Nye Trophy was awarded to Borrman in 1994 as the most outstanding male athlete at Colorado State University, and in 2005 he received the great honor of being inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Borrman married former teammate and 2004 CSU Hall of Fame inductee Shelly Greathouse, while his throwing career continued under Coach Bedard’s guidance, which lead to gold medals at the Swedish National Championships in the discus in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2003, and a stint as captain of the Swedish National Track and Field team from 1997 through his retirement in 2003. The crowning achievements of his career were winning the discus competition in the historical Sweden-Finland dual meet in 1997, representing Sweden in the 1998 European Championships, and winning the discus competition at the 1999 European Cup First League.

Borrman served as a volunteer coach for CSU track and field during portions of his post-collegiate athletic career, and now returns in that capacity after coaching at the high school level for several years and, more recently, having resumed throwing activities as a Masters athlete.

MARSHALL ACKLEY | ASSOCIATE HEAD Coach - MULTIS, POLE VAULT

The Colorado State track and field team and head coach Brian Bedard announce Thursday the addition of Marshall Ackley as Associate Head Coach to the Rams’ coaching staff ahead of the 2024-25 season.

“We feel very fortunate to have Marshall joining our staff,” Bedard said. “He is an outstanding coach and recruiter with experience deserving of the Associate Head Coach position. His primary coaching duties will be with our multi-event athletes and pole vault crew. Marshall will also serve as track’s budget manager, facilities oversite and equipment management. He will also be or academics liaison and student-athlete Life Coach coordinator. He has a servant leader mentality and shares in our philosophy of supporting and “Life Coaching” our student athletes while helping them reach their full potential. He has a start date of August 1st and I look forward to putting Marshall to work!”

“It is an honor to join the CSU staff under Coach Bedard's leadership. I am excited to contribute to our track and field program’s storied success at the conference and national levels,” Ackley said. “My goal is to further the tradition of excellence established by Coach Bedard by inspiring and developing our athletes to reach their full potential. I am dedicated to supporting our student-athletes both on and off the track, and to upholding the rich tradition of athletic and academic achievement at Colorado State.”