2012 CROSS COUNTRY - GoDucks.com

Staff Profiles
8
Associate Head Coach
8th Year
Andy Powell Has Guided UO Athletes to:
11 NCAA Titles
Cross Country
2006 (M)
800 Meters 2009 (M), 2010 (M)
1,500 Meters 2010 (M), 2011 (M)
3,000 Meters 2009 (M)
5,000 Meters 2009i (M), 2009 (M)
10,000 Meters 2009 (M)
Distance Medley Relay 2009 (M), 2010 (M)
15 Pac-10 Titles
Cross Country
2006 (M), 2007 (M)
2008 (M)
800 Meters 2008 (M), 2009 (M), 2010 (M)
1,500 Meters 2009 (M), 2010 (M)
5,000 Meters 2007 (M)
10,000 Meters 2007 (M), 2008 (M),
2009 (M)
Steeplechase
2009 (M)
71 All-America Awards
Cross Country 2006 (2xM), 2007 (5xM),
2008 (5xM), 2009 (4xM),
2010 (2xM), 2011 (M)
800 Meters 2008 (M), 2009i (M), 2009 (M)
2010i (2xM), 2010 (2xM),
2011i (M), 2011 (M), 2012 (2xM)
1,500 Meters 2008 (M), 2010 (3xM),
2011 (2xM)
Mile
2007 (M), 2008 (M),
2009 (M), 2010 (2xM), 2011 (M)
3,000 Meters 2006 (M), 2007 (M),
2009 (M), 2011 (M), 2012 (M)
5,000 Meters 2006i (M), 2007i (M),
2009i (3xM), 2009 (3xM),
2010i (M), 2010 (M), 2011i (M),
2012 (2xM), 2012i (M)
10,000 Meters 2007 (M), 2009 (2xM),
2010 (M), 2011 (M), 2012 (M)
3,000 Meter Steeplechase 2011 (M)
Distance Medley Relay 2009 (M), 2010 (M),
2011 (M)
Andy Powell
Responsible for Oregon’s cross country, middle distance and distance runners, associate head coach for
track and field and cross country Andy Powell is in his eighth year with the University.
Powell, working in conjunction with the staff in the training of the men’s and women’s distance runners,
ensures that all student-athletes receive extensive individual attention, assists in recruiting all middle
distance/distance runners, and oversees administrative functions related to the conduct of a successful cross
country program — including team travel, equipment and assisting with the Bill Dellinger Invitational.
He has coached some of the most successful runners in recent Oregon history, like Matthew Centrowitz,
Galen Rupp and Andrew Wheating. Centrowitz ran to a third-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the 2011
IAAF World Championships, and a year later, placed fourth in a thrilling London Olympics 1,500 meter final.
Powell has helped Oregon capture back-to-back NCAA Men’s Cross Country championships in 2007-08 plus
the runner-up trophy in 2009, its first-ever NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship in 2009 followed
by a second-place showing in 2010, and a second-place trophy at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships
and a third-place finish in 2010. Oregon has also captured six straight men’s Pac-10 titles.
The 2012 season marked the final year of seven-time All-American Luke Puskedra’s brilliant career, but also
the beginning of sophomores Trevor Dunbar and Parker Stinson, both of who claimed All-America honors.
The 2011 season saw Centrowitz win both the NCAA Outdoor and USA Championships title at 1,500
meters and also saw All-American performances from Elijah Greer (800 meters), Puskedra (10,000 meters),
Steve Finley (3,000 meter steeplechase) and A.J. Acosta (1,500 meters). Centrowitz also captured his third
straight Pac-10 title at 1,500 meters, while Finley took the steeplechase crown. In the fall, Puskedra was the
third place finisher at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
In 2010, Powell helped guide Andrew Wheating’s remarkable double at the NCAA Championships, where
the 2008 Olympian became the first man in 25 years to win both the 800 and 1,500 meters. Wheating also
anchored the Ducks’ indoor distance medley relay national title, and was also part of Oregon’s dramatic 1-2-
3 sweep in the NCAA Outdoor 1,500 meters. Wheating captured his third straight Pac-10 800 title, while
Centrowitz took his second consecutive league 1,500 meter title as the Ducks won an unprecedented fourth
straight league championship.
A year earlier, Powell played an important role in mentoring perhaps the best individual season in the
history of men’s collegiate distance running. Rupp became the first person ever to win six distance races
during the same academic year. Rupp was the 2008 NCAA individual cross country champion, the 2009
NCAA Indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meter champion, the 2009 NCAA Outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 meter
champion, and anchored Oregon’s winning Indoor distance medley relay team. He was also the Pac-10 cross
country medalist and won the league’s 10,000 meter title and capped his collegiate career by winning the title
at the USA Track and Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field. He was named the USTFCCCA and
Pac-10 Division I men’s track athlete of the year and was also honored as the NCAA Division I Academic
All-American of the Year for all sports.
On the track, the Oregon men continued to amass honors on the individual and team fronts. Wheating won
his NCAA first title at 800 meters in 2009 to go along with Rupp’s six distance wins, while the distance crew
counted Pac-10 wins from Wheating (800), Rupp (10,000), Chris Winter (Steeplechase) and a 1-2-3 sweep
in the 1,500 meters led by Centrowitz, Rupp and Wheating. In all the distance runners tallied 79 points
towards Oregon’s school-record 158 point total and third straight Pac-10 crown.
The 2009 season also saw Oregon garner All-America honors at 800, 5,000 and 10,000 meters outdoors, and
in the indoor 800 meters, mile, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and distance medley relay. Rupp set the American
indoor record at 5,000 meters (13:18.12) and the American indoor collegiate record at 3,000 meters (7:44.69)
as the team men broke every school indoor mark between 800 and 5,000 meters, plus the distance medley
record. Not surprisingly, Oregon was named the USTFCCCA’s Division I program of the year for 2009.
The year before served as a precursor to the remarkable 2008-09 season. Wheating won 11 consecutive
races before finishing second by .01 in the men’s 800 meters final of the most exciting race of the entire 2008
NCAA Track and Field Championships. Rupp meanwhile finished second in the 10,000 meters at the U.S.
Olympic Trials to qualify for his first Olympic Games. In 2007, Rupp earned a World Championships 10,000
meters invitation after he placed second in the USA and NCAA Championships — an event he raced to an
American collegiate record during the season (27:33.48).
Postseason success is nothing new to Powell who served as a volunteer coach at Columbia University during
the 2004-05 season and worked with distance coach and director of track and field Willie Wood.
While Powell was at Columbia, Karl Dusen improved his personal best by more than a minute in the 10,000
meters en route to a school record (29:00.45) and later placed 21st in his NCAA debut. In the 1,500 meters,
Gerry Groothuis ran a school record during the season (3:44.01).
As a Stanford athlete, Powell stood out as one of the nation’s top middle distance runners. He still ranks
among the school’s all-time best in the 1,500 meters (3:40.65) and just missed an Olympic Trials bid with
the nation’s top freshman mark that season. That same campaign, he competed on the Cardinal’s NCAA
champion track and field squad and added eighth in the Pac-10 Championships 5,000 meters (14:18.75) as
Stanford took second as a team. In cross country, he ran on the Cardinal team that finished fourth in the
NCAA Championships in 2000 and won the Pac-10 title.
As a prep at Oliver Ames High School in North Easton, Mass., near Boston, he won U.S. junior titles as a
senior in the 1,500 meters (3:49.81) and 5,000 meters (14:51.81) after he ran a state mile record of 4:02.7.
The Foot Locker Cross Country qualifier also won titles as a high school athlete in the Pan American Junior
Championships, Golden West Invitational, and Millrose Games.
His wife Maurica Powell is an assistant coach for the Ducks and was a decorated Stanford middle distance
runner and All-American. The couple have two sons.
2013 NCAA Championships, June 5-8, Historic Hayward Field