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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track and Field
Vanhoy, Ryan
Ryan Vanhoy
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Distance
- Year at Ole Miss:
- Ninth
- E-mail:
- rvanhoy@olemiss.edu
- Phone:
- 662-915-7538
- Alma Mater:
- North Carolina (2009)
Ryan Vanhoy is in his ninth season at Ole Miss in 2021-22, his seventh as the associate head coach for both the men's and women's cross country teams and as the assistant track & field coach for the distance squad after coaching the Rebel men his first two years in Oxford.
To say Vanhoy has led a resurgence in Rebel cross country and distance running would be misleading. Rather, Vanhoy has rapidly turned Ole Miss into a running powerhouse, taking the program to heights never imagined in generations prior.
Vanhoy has been responsible for all 12 team berths to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in program history, including seven straight for the men from 2014-20 and the first five in women’s history from 2016-20. Under his leadership, Ole Miss stands as one of just four programs in the nation to have placed both its men's and women's programs within the top-25 in each of the last five seasons alongside BYU, Colorado and Stanford. The 2016 season stands as a banner year on the national stage, with the men finishing on the podium in fourth place and the women notching their first NCAA berth in program history In cross country, Vanhoy has coached seven All-Americans, 49 NCAA All-South Region honorees, 30 All-SEC runners and 15 SEC All-Freshman members, while also claiming five South Region team titles – the first five in program history.
His Rebel men's cross country teams currently stand as the class of the SEC after winning two of the last three SEC team titles in 2018 and 2019. The Rebel men narrowly fell in 2020, but made up for it with a bombastic 1-2-3 podium sweep -- the first in school history -- that was led by All-American and SEC Champion, Mario Garcia Romo.
Ole Miss broke through to make history in 2018, winning the first SEC title in Ole Miss men's or women's program history across track and field and cross country -- snapping Arkansas' eight-year streak and making Ole Miss the first school not named Arkansas or Alabama to win since Tennessee did so in 1990. Ole Miss rose to the occasion with targets on their backs in 2019, repeating as SEC men's champions in cross country in dominant fashion with a superb 55-point victory over Alabama for the win, the largest margin of victory in the SEC since 2015.
Vanhoy’s squad has been equally as impressive on the track, where he has nearly rewritten the entire Ole Miss record book with eight out of 10 on the women's side and seven out of 10 on the men's side across both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
At the national meet, Vanhoy’s distance runners have excelled with 49 First or Second-Team All-American finishes and an NCAA title indoors in 2017 in the distance medley relay. In addition, his group has scored 77 NCAA points under his supervision, and his men’s runners have accounted for 67 percent of all Ole Miss men’s scoring at the NCAA meet since 2014. Vanhoy has been no slouch at the conference level, either, coaching 46 SEC Champions and 18 SEC runners-up.
The 2020-21 season proved to be a spectacular one for Vanhoy and his distance runners, who had to navigate a dense, overlapping schedule of cross country, indoor and outdoor track due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The year started off with a slight delay to the cross country season, but the Rebels were still as sharp as ever, running away with the aforementioned 1-2-3 SEC podium sweep from Garcia Romo and fellow All-Americans Cole Bullock and Waleed Suliman. That was the beginning of a superb farewell tour for Suliman, who strung together three excellent final campaigns prior to signing a pro contract following the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June 2021.
The Rebel men put together a near total sweep of the distance events at the SEC Indoor Championships, winning the mile (Suliman), 3K (Garcia Romo), 5K (Bullock) and distance medley relay (Suliman, Marcus Dropik, Everett Smulders, Garcia Romo) -- with the wins in the mile (3:55.28) and DMR (9:29.35) establishing new SEC meet records. The lone silver in the men's distance events came in the men's 800-meter, where John Rivera Jr. narrowly lost down the final stretch. Bullock was named indoor SEC Freshman of the Year his efforts. Earlier in the indoor season, Ole Miss notched an incredible four sub-four minute milers in one race at Vanderbilt: Suliman, Garcia Romo, Smulders and Baylor Franklin.
What followed was a historically unique situation in the NCAA cross country and track & field calendars. The NCAA Indoor Championships were held March 11-12 at Arkansas, and the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15 at Oklahoma State. And, Ole Miss excelled at both.
The Rebel men scored their most NCAA Indoor points ever with 20 points -- all from the distance squad -- which helped secure their best national finish since 2001 in 10th place. Ole Miss' DMR team of Smulders, Elijah Dryer, Rivera Jr. and Garcia Romo finished NCAA runner-up at the fourth fastest time in world history at 9:20.75, only falling short of the world record holders, Oregon. Garcia Romo added six more points with a bronze in the 3K, while Suliman followed suit with a third-place finish in the mile.
The Rebel women's distance runners, meanwhile, secured their first-ever NCAA Indoor berth in the DMR, and scored in eighth at 11:07.18. That foursome of Loral Winn, Toni Glatz, Sintayehu Vissa and Maddie King also set the new Ole Miss record of 11:04.27 at the SEC Indoor Championships, which shattered the previous best by 12 seconds.
Just two days later, most of this crew headed to Stillwater, where the Rebels recorded two astounding team finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Both squads finished 12th overall, with that standing as the second-best in men's program history and the best in women's history by a wide margin. For the men, Bullock (18th) and Garcia Romo (30th) were named All-Americans, and three Rebel women each recorded what would have been the best individual finishes in program history: Anna Elkin (49th), Vissa (51st) and Winn (60th).
Outdoors both units continued to impress, helping Ole Miss secure a program record total 16 NCAA Championship entries and another record 43 entries into the NCAA East Regional. Leading the headlines all season, though, were the tag-team duo of Suliman and Garcia Romo, who combined for 10 NCAA points with third and fifth place finishes at the national meet, respectively.
The 2019-20 season was unfortunately cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, but started out with a great cross country season in the fall of 2019. The Rebel men repeated as SEC Champions in dominant fashion, with Waleed Suliman -- who would later become the first Rebel to ever repeat as a cross country All-American with his 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships -- leading the charge in third place overall. The Rebels would go on to repeat as NCAA South Region champions, their fourth title in the last six seasons. It was also a banner year for the Rebel women, who tied program records with a second-place finish at the SEC Championships and a 21st-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
On the track indoors, Ole Miss qualified two distance runners -- Waleed Suliman in the mile and John Rivera Jr. in the 800-meter -- to the NCAA Championships, and were both awarded All-American honors after the meet was cancelled in early March. The Rebel men repeated as SEC distance medley relay champions, notching their sixth DMR win in their last seven tries.
The 2018-19 season was one for the ages for Vanhoy's distance runners. The Rebel men won the aforementioned first SEC title in program history in cross country, thanks to the expert team running with a young but talented squad led by All-American Waleed Suliman and All-Region runners like Farah Abdulkarim and Cade Bethmann. Ole Miss won its third-ever South Region title in dominating fashion, leading to the second-best national finish in program history in 17th place at the NCAA Championships.
The Rebel women had a historic cross country season in 2018 as well, recording the highest national finish in program history (22nd) and the third-consecutive top-three SEC finish after having never finished in the top-three prior to 2016. Clio Ozanne-Jaques recorded the second-highest individual finish at the national meet (65th) in addition to being on of four Rebel women to finish with All-Region honors.
Ole Miss had a great 2019 season on the track as well, led by three SEC titles on the men's side. The Rebel men won the indoor distance medley relay title for the fifth time in the last six years, while sophomore Waleed Suliman swept the indoor mile and the outdoor 1500-meter gold medals, making Ole Miss the first school in SEC history to win five consecutive men's indoor mile titles. Suliman also took down the school record in the mile, running 3:56.78 at the Valentine Invitational in Boston. Derek Gutierrez recorded the highest finish in the mile by a Rebel male at the NCAA Championships, finishing in seventh place for First-Team All-American honors alongside a First-Team effort from the eight-place distance medley relay squad.
Vanhoy had record-setting year in 2017-18 that saw the conclusion to the amazing career of Robert Domanic. During the season, Domanic was part of the fastest NCAA 1500-meter race in history, where he finished third at the ninth-best time ever at 3:36.33 – which put Domanic atop the U.S. leaderboard for a majority of the season. Domanic went on to claim the third-straight SEC 1500-meter title at the conference championship meet, and he ended up fourth at the NCAA Championships to earn First-Team All-American status before earning a spot in the U.S. 1500-meter final as well in June.
Also qualifying for the national meet was Shelby Brown, who earned Second-Team All-American honors and demolished her own school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase at 9:58.98 earlier in the season at the Mt. SAC Relays. She became the first Rebel woman to ever win the SEC title in the steeplechase, leading a 1-2 punch with freshman Lisa Vogelgesang to score 18 points for the Rebel women – who finished a program-high fifth by meet’s end.
In total, Vanhoy had 13 total entries to the NCAA East Regional, and from there it was Domanic, Brown, sophomore Parker Scott (3000-meter steeplechase) and freshman Everett Smulders (1500-meter) who advanced to the national meet. Other outdoor All-SEC honorees included Vogelgesang (steeplechase, Second-Team and All-Freshman), Maddie McHugh (800-meter, Second-Team), Smulders (All-Freshman), Clio Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman) and Ylvi Traxler (All-Freshman).
Indoors, Vanhoy coached Sean Tobin to an SEC win in the indoor mile, making Ole Miss the first school in conference history to win four men’s mile titles in a row. Earlier in the season, Tobin clocked the first sub-4:00 mile in Rebel history at the Millrose Games Invitational Mile, where he finished fourth at 3:58.28. Tobin helped usher along the freshman Smulders in that SEC mile final as well, giving Ole Miss a 1-3 punch in the event and Second-Team All-SEC honors for Smulders.
Other Rebels earning SEC honors indoors were Maddie McHugh (Second-Team All-SEC, 800-meter), Clio Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman) and Lisa Vogelgesang (All-Freshman).
At the national meet, Tobin earned Second-Team All-American honors after a 10th-place finish in the mile, while the DMR squad of Tobin, Domanic, Suliman and Alvin Westbrook also took 10th for Second-Team distinction.
It was another banner cross country season for Vanhoy and the Rebels as well in 2017, with two more team berths to the NCAA Championships. Ole Miss took the runner-up auto bid on the men’s side at the regional meet, but the Rebel women made history after winning their first-ever South Region title to qualify for the national meet for only the second time ever. Ole Miss ended up finishing top-25 in the women’s team standings for the second-straight year in 25th place, and were led by freshman Clio Ozanne-Jaques in 109th place.
The Rebel men, meanwhile, posted their second straight top-20 team finish in 18th place, bolstered by an All-American finish by senior Sean Tobin in his final cross country race as a Rebel. Tobin finished 12th overall, the third-highest individual finish in Ole Miss history.
In total, Vanhoy coached nine more All-South Region finishers (Shelby Brown, Anna Braswell, Hannah Christen, Emily Bean and Ozanne-Jaques for the women, Tobin, Derek Gutierrez, Waleed Suliman and Parker Scott for the men), as well as five All-SEC honorees in Tobin (Second-Team), Gutierrez (Second-Team), Scott (All-Freshman), Suliman (All-Freshman) and Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman).
The 2016-17 season was perhaps his most impressive to date across all three of his seasons coached. The year began with magical run by both his men’s and women’s cross country squads in the fall of 2016, with the Rebel men taking Terre Haute by storm en route to an astounding fourth-place podium team finish that included two All-American runners in MJ Erb (sixth place) and Wesley Gallagher (39th). The finish was the highest nationally by any Ole Miss team since the 2014 Ole Miss baseball team advanced to the College World Series.
Ole Miss won its second NCAA South Region team title thanks to a powerful performance that included five All-Region finishers in Erb (seventh), Wesley Gallagher (eighth), Sean Tobin (ninth), Robert Domanic (10th) and Craig Engels (12th). At the conference meet, Ole Miss recorded just its third runner-up finish ever, placing six on either the First of Second-Team All-SEC squad.
Under Vanhoy, Ole Miss was one of just 12 schools in 2016 to place both its men’s and women’s programs in the top-25 at the national meet. The extraordinary cross country success that year helped propel the men to No. 3 and the women No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, joining national powerhouses Arkansas, Oregon, Stanford, Colorado and Oklahoma State as the only programs nationally to finish ranked in the top-10 on both the women’s and men’s lists.
The Rebel women, meanwhile, made history after punching their first-ever ticket to the national meet after finishing runner-up in the team standings at the NCAA South Regional. In their first NCAA Championship meet, Ole Miss finished 23rd in the women’s standings and were led by Bo Ummels in 71st place.
At the regional meet, Ole Miss rode five All-Region performers toward the auto-bid in Emily Bean (10th), Bo Ummels (11th), Mary Alex England (12th), Britt Ummels (18th) and Shelby Brown (21st). It was an equally historic moment at the SEC Championships for the Rebel women, as they posted the highest finish in program history in second place. England led the way with a seventh-place finish for First-Team All-SEC, by she was also followed by Bo Ummels in eighth for Second-Team honors.
The indoor season in 2017 kept the positive momentum rolling with Vanhoy’s first-ever NCAA title. After rewriting the Ole Miss record book and dominating the SEC in the distance medley relay for four straight seasons, Vanhoy’s 2017 DMR squad of Robert Domanic, Nick DeRay, Sean Tobin and Craig Engels brought home the first relay crown in Ole Miss history at a winning time of 9:31.32.
Engels and Erb were the stars of the 2017 outdoor season, as both earned First-Team All-American status at the NCAA Championships. Engels, with his trademark mustache and mullet, became a nationwide sensation overnight due to the ESPN broadcast, and in the spotlight finished third overall in the 1500-meter final – the highest finish in the event in Ole Miss history. Erb, meanwhile, concluded a strong Rebel career with a fourth-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Both won SEC titles, and Shelby Brown (steeplechase) and Mary Alex England (5K) added in Second-Team All-SEC honors as well.
During his third season in 2015-16, Vanhoy helped the men’s team continue dominance in the SEC and contention at the National level. The Rebels won a program best five SEC titles at the 2016 Indoor Championships, four of which were in distance races. Robert Domanic won the men’s mile, Ryan Walling won the men’s 3K and 5K, and the quartet of Trevor Gilley, Craig Engels, Ryan Manahan, and Robert Domanic won the third straight men’s distance medley relay championship, all of which Vanhoy was a coach for.
Ryan Walling was named co-winner of the Cliff Harper Trophy (most points in SEC meet) and his win in the 3K was the first SEC Championship at the event in school history while the distance medley relay quartet were named All-Americans, another first for the program.
The Rebels finished the meet with a total of six All-Americans (five being distance runners) tying the school record for the Indoor Championships.
Vanhoy’s coaching allowed the Rebels to sweep the men’s distance races at the meet, while finishing 1-2-3 in the men’s mile (Domanic, Sean Tobin, Manahan) and 3K (Walling, Tobin, Wesley Gallagher).
The Rebels also set school records in four women’s distance events. The quartet of Britt Ummels, Jolie Carbo, Shelby Brown and Leanna Zimmer ran a program best 11:28.27 in the women’s distance medley relay. The Ummels twins were able to set school records as well. Britt Ummels added a 3000m school record to her part in the DMR, running a 9:24.09 while her sister, Bo Ummels set a school record in the women’s mile running a 4:47.10. Emily Bean finished off the school records on the women’s side by running a 16:21.96 in the 5000m.
At the 2016 SEC outdoor meet the men finished fifth, the second-best finish all-time at the meet. While the men also turned in five All-Americans, first teamers Domanic and Engels (1500m), MJ Erb (steeplechase), Walling (5000m) and second team member Holland Sherrer (800m).
During the 2015 cross country season, the Rebels were able to earn five All-Region honors; Tobin, Engels, Erb, Robertson, Tobin and Domanic. Robert Domanic also became only the second three-time All-Region runner in program history, the other being Barnabas Kirui (2006, 2009, 2010).
Mary Alex England was named 2nd team All-SEC as well. With Brandon Harvey earning a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team.
At the 2015 NCAA South Region the men’s team was able to finish 2nd earning them a trip to the NCAA Championships. The women finished in a program-best 7th.
During his second season in 2014-15, Vanhoy has helped guide the men's distance program into uncharted territory. The Rebels set a school record with 14 entries at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, including 1500-meter runners Robert Domanic and Trevor Gilley, who were the first Rebels to ever qualify for nationals in the event. Additionally, Craig Engels competed in the 800 during the event.
At the SEC outdoor meet, Ole Miss claimed a remarkable four of the top eight finishers in the men’s 1,500 meters and five of the top 10, led by Engels in third place.
Vanhoy helped the Ole Miss men to their best SEC indoor finish in 31 years as the Rebels came in fourth. Senior Daniel Bulmer upset the field to win the 2015 SEC indoor mile title, and Bulmer was joined by Dameon Morgan, Holland Sherrer and Engels in capturing the Rebels’ second straight SEC distance medley relay championship. Additionally, Engels was runner-up in the mile, and the Rebels had scoring performances by MJ Erb in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
The indoor mile and outdoor 1,500 have seen perhaps the most impressive feats since Vanhoy arrival. On the men’s side, four of the top six outdoor 1,500 runners in school history have been coached by Vanhoy and six of the top eight indoor milers. On the women’s side, it’s been six of the top nine in the outdoor 1,500 and seven of the top 11 in the indoor mile.
The Rebel men won the 2014 NCAA South Region Cross Country Championship and made the first NCAA team appearance in program history. They were runners-up at the SEC cross country meet, matching the best finish in program history with the 1968 squad.
Under Vanhoy’s tutelage, Wesley Gallagher, Sean Tobin and Robert Domanic all finished in the top seven at both the South Region and SEC meets and earned All-Region and All-SEC first team honors. Tobin was voted the SEC Cross Country Co-Freshman Runner of the Year.
On the track in 2014, the distance runners contributed big points to the Ole Miss men's best SEC outdoor finish in 30 years (fifth place) at the SEC Championships. That included Domanic's runner-up in the 1,500 meters and Tobin's bronze medal in the 5,000.
The indoor season was just as productive, as the Rebels won their first ever SEC title in the distance medley relay with the grouping of Domanic, Montez Griffin, Will Spiers and Tobin. A native of Clonmel, Ireland, Tobin was SEC runner-up in the mile and also became the first Ole Miss runner to ever run a sub-4 minute mile (3:59.91). He was tabbed the SEC Indoor Co-Freshman Runner of the Year by the league coaches.
Vanhoy came to Oxford after one year at Northeastern University and the previous three at the University of North Carolina.
At Northeastern, Vanhoy coached NU runners to four Colonial Athletic Association conference titles and helped develop Eric Jenkins into an All-American in the indoor 3K and outdoor 5K. In 2013, Jenkins became the fourth-fastest American collegian ever in the 5K at 13:18.57, and he also ran a sub 4-minute mile (3:58.11).
Vanhoy spent the previous three years with the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he helped produce two ACC champions, five NCAA East Region qualifiers and two Olympic Trails qualifiers. In 2012, he guided Isaac Presson and Ashley Verplank to conference titles in the mile and 1500, respectively.
After two years as an assistant coach at UNC, Vanhoy was promoted to head men's and women's cross country coach in January 2012 and was responsible for recruiting and implementation of training programs for more than 40 student-athletes, in addition to other administrative and operational duties.
During the 2012-13 season, he mentored the men's distance medley relay team, which broke a school record that had stood for 27 years.
Prior to his promotion, Vanhoy worked as an assistant track and field and cross country coach for two seasons. While coaching the men's middle distance runners, he also managed areas of team compliance, travel and recruiting.
Vanhoy, who was a member of the Tar Heels' track team, graduated from North Carolina in 2009 with a Bachelor's of Science in biology. The Asheboro, N.C., native earned his master's degree in exercise physiology from UNC in 2012.
Ryan Vanhoy | Ole Miss Career Notes (2013-Present)
Associate Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach, 2015-Present
Assistant Track & Field Coach, Men's and Women's Distance, 2016-Present
Assistant Track & Field Coach, Men's Distance, 2014-15
Men's Cross Country Coach, 2013-15
- Led Rebel men's cross country to first two SEC team titles in program history in 2018 and 2019
- 7x USTFCCCA South Region XC Coach of the Year (Men: 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021; Women: 2017, 2021)
- 2x SEC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year (2018, '19)
- 4x USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year (2015 Outdoor, 2016 Indoor, 2017 Indoor, 2021 Indoor)
- Owns all 14 national team berths to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in program history (eight men, six women)
- Coached Rebel men to fourth-place podium finish at 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships
- 8 Cross Country All-Americans (seven men, one woman)
- 7 NCAA South Region titles (five men, two women)
- 61 NCAA All-South Region honorees (38 men, 23 women; only 12 total prior to arrival)
- 1 SEC Cross Country Champion (Mario Garcia Romo, 2020)
- 4 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year (Sean Tobin, 2014; Cade Bethmann, 2018; Cole Bullock, 2019; Skylar Boogerd, 2019)
- 35 All-SEC cross country runners (27 men, 8 women)
- 14 SEC All-Freshman cross country members (11 men, 3 women)
- 6 NCAA Track Champions (2017 DMR; Mario Garcia Romo, 2021 Indoor Mile; Sinatyehu Vissa, 2021 Outdoor 1500-meter)
- 65 Track All-Americans (41 First-Team, 24 Second-Team)
- 126 NCAA points scored
- 77 NCAA track qualifiers
- Men's distance runners have accounted for 74.1 percent of Ole Miss men’s NCAA scoring since 2014
- 57 Track SEC Champions, 21 SEC Runners-Up
- 1 SEC Indoor Cliff Harper Trophy Winner (Ryan Walling, 2016, 20 points)
- 4 SEC Track Freshmen of the Year (Sean Tobin, Indoor, 2014; Mario Garcia Romo, Indoor, 2019; Dalton Hengst, Outdoor, 2019; Cole Bullock, Indoor, 2021)
- Has claimed 16 of the possible 20 standard school records (indoor/outdoor)
- Has rewritten 9 of the 10 possible indoor/outdoor women's records (four indoor, five outdoor)
- Has claimed seven of the possible 10 men's school records (four indoor, three outdoor)
- 1 CoSIDA Academic All-American (Craig Engels, 2017)
- 3 CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees
- 41 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic selections
- 10 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic team honors
- 8 top-five finishes in a U.S. final
Men’s Top Indoor Times
800-Meter: 1:46.82 (John Rivera Jr., 2022)
Mile: 3:53.36 (Mario Garcia Romo, 2022)
3K: 7:47.56 (Mario Garcia Romo, 2022)
5K: 13:39.44 (Ryan Walling, 2016)
DMR: 9:20.75 (Smulders, Dryer, Rivera, Garcia Romo; 2021)
Men’s Top Outdoor Times
800-Meter: 1:46.03 (Craig Engels, 2016)
1500-Meter: 3:36.33 (Robert Domanic, 2018)
5K: 13:31.30 (Ryan Walling, 2016)
10K: 29:00.46 (Mark Robertson, 2019)
3K Steeple: 8:26.75 (MJ Erb, 2017)
Women’s Top Indoor Times
800-Meter: 2:05.38 (Maddie McHugh, 2017)
Mile: 4:40.99 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2021)
3K: 9:17.19 (Anna Elkin, 2021)
5K: 16:12.67 (Mary Alex England, 2017)
DMR: 11:04.27 (Winn, Glatz, Vissa, King; 2021)
Women’s Top Outdoor Times
800-Meter: 2:01.06 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2022)
1500-Meter: 4:08.72 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2022)
5K: 15:54.46 (Skylar Boogerd, 2022)
10K: 33:26.86 (Clio Ozanne-Jaques, 2021)
3K Steeple: 9:58.98 (Shelby Brown, 2018)
To say Vanhoy has led a resurgence in Rebel cross country and distance running would be misleading. Rather, Vanhoy has rapidly turned Ole Miss into a running powerhouse, taking the program to heights never imagined in generations prior.
Vanhoy has been responsible for all 12 team berths to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in program history, including seven straight for the men from 2014-20 and the first five in women’s history from 2016-20. Under his leadership, Ole Miss stands as one of just four programs in the nation to have placed both its men's and women's programs within the top-25 in each of the last five seasons alongside BYU, Colorado and Stanford. The 2016 season stands as a banner year on the national stage, with the men finishing on the podium in fourth place and the women notching their first NCAA berth in program history In cross country, Vanhoy has coached seven All-Americans, 49 NCAA All-South Region honorees, 30 All-SEC runners and 15 SEC All-Freshman members, while also claiming five South Region team titles – the first five in program history.
His Rebel men's cross country teams currently stand as the class of the SEC after winning two of the last three SEC team titles in 2018 and 2019. The Rebel men narrowly fell in 2020, but made up for it with a bombastic 1-2-3 podium sweep -- the first in school history -- that was led by All-American and SEC Champion, Mario Garcia Romo.
Ole Miss broke through to make history in 2018, winning the first SEC title in Ole Miss men's or women's program history across track and field and cross country -- snapping Arkansas' eight-year streak and making Ole Miss the first school not named Arkansas or Alabama to win since Tennessee did so in 1990. Ole Miss rose to the occasion with targets on their backs in 2019, repeating as SEC men's champions in cross country in dominant fashion with a superb 55-point victory over Alabama for the win, the largest margin of victory in the SEC since 2015.
Vanhoy’s squad has been equally as impressive on the track, where he has nearly rewritten the entire Ole Miss record book with eight out of 10 on the women's side and seven out of 10 on the men's side across both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
At the national meet, Vanhoy’s distance runners have excelled with 49 First or Second-Team All-American finishes and an NCAA title indoors in 2017 in the distance medley relay. In addition, his group has scored 77 NCAA points under his supervision, and his men’s runners have accounted for 67 percent of all Ole Miss men’s scoring at the NCAA meet since 2014. Vanhoy has been no slouch at the conference level, either, coaching 46 SEC Champions and 18 SEC runners-up.
The 2020-21 season proved to be a spectacular one for Vanhoy and his distance runners, who had to navigate a dense, overlapping schedule of cross country, indoor and outdoor track due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The year started off with a slight delay to the cross country season, but the Rebels were still as sharp as ever, running away with the aforementioned 1-2-3 SEC podium sweep from Garcia Romo and fellow All-Americans Cole Bullock and Waleed Suliman. That was the beginning of a superb farewell tour for Suliman, who strung together three excellent final campaigns prior to signing a pro contract following the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June 2021.
The Rebel men put together a near total sweep of the distance events at the SEC Indoor Championships, winning the mile (Suliman), 3K (Garcia Romo), 5K (Bullock) and distance medley relay (Suliman, Marcus Dropik, Everett Smulders, Garcia Romo) -- with the wins in the mile (3:55.28) and DMR (9:29.35) establishing new SEC meet records. The lone silver in the men's distance events came in the men's 800-meter, where John Rivera Jr. narrowly lost down the final stretch. Bullock was named indoor SEC Freshman of the Year his efforts. Earlier in the indoor season, Ole Miss notched an incredible four sub-four minute milers in one race at Vanderbilt: Suliman, Garcia Romo, Smulders and Baylor Franklin.
What followed was a historically unique situation in the NCAA cross country and track & field calendars. The NCAA Indoor Championships were held March 11-12 at Arkansas, and the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15 at Oklahoma State. And, Ole Miss excelled at both.
The Rebel men scored their most NCAA Indoor points ever with 20 points -- all from the distance squad -- which helped secure their best national finish since 2001 in 10th place. Ole Miss' DMR team of Smulders, Elijah Dryer, Rivera Jr. and Garcia Romo finished NCAA runner-up at the fourth fastest time in world history at 9:20.75, only falling short of the world record holders, Oregon. Garcia Romo added six more points with a bronze in the 3K, while Suliman followed suit with a third-place finish in the mile.
The Rebel women's distance runners, meanwhile, secured their first-ever NCAA Indoor berth in the DMR, and scored in eighth at 11:07.18. That foursome of Loral Winn, Toni Glatz, Sintayehu Vissa and Maddie King also set the new Ole Miss record of 11:04.27 at the SEC Indoor Championships, which shattered the previous best by 12 seconds.
Just two days later, most of this crew headed to Stillwater, where the Rebels recorded two astounding team finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Both squads finished 12th overall, with that standing as the second-best in men's program history and the best in women's history by a wide margin. For the men, Bullock (18th) and Garcia Romo (30th) were named All-Americans, and three Rebel women each recorded what would have been the best individual finishes in program history: Anna Elkin (49th), Vissa (51st) and Winn (60th).
Outdoors both units continued to impress, helping Ole Miss secure a program record total 16 NCAA Championship entries and another record 43 entries into the NCAA East Regional. Leading the headlines all season, though, were the tag-team duo of Suliman and Garcia Romo, who combined for 10 NCAA points with third and fifth place finishes at the national meet, respectively.
The 2019-20 season was unfortunately cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, but started out with a great cross country season in the fall of 2019. The Rebel men repeated as SEC Champions in dominant fashion, with Waleed Suliman -- who would later become the first Rebel to ever repeat as a cross country All-American with his 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships -- leading the charge in third place overall. The Rebels would go on to repeat as NCAA South Region champions, their fourth title in the last six seasons. It was also a banner year for the Rebel women, who tied program records with a second-place finish at the SEC Championships and a 21st-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
On the track indoors, Ole Miss qualified two distance runners -- Waleed Suliman in the mile and John Rivera Jr. in the 800-meter -- to the NCAA Championships, and were both awarded All-American honors after the meet was cancelled in early March. The Rebel men repeated as SEC distance medley relay champions, notching their sixth DMR win in their last seven tries.
The 2018-19 season was one for the ages for Vanhoy's distance runners. The Rebel men won the aforementioned first SEC title in program history in cross country, thanks to the expert team running with a young but talented squad led by All-American Waleed Suliman and All-Region runners like Farah Abdulkarim and Cade Bethmann. Ole Miss won its third-ever South Region title in dominating fashion, leading to the second-best national finish in program history in 17th place at the NCAA Championships.
The Rebel women had a historic cross country season in 2018 as well, recording the highest national finish in program history (22nd) and the third-consecutive top-three SEC finish after having never finished in the top-three prior to 2016. Clio Ozanne-Jaques recorded the second-highest individual finish at the national meet (65th) in addition to being on of four Rebel women to finish with All-Region honors.
Ole Miss had a great 2019 season on the track as well, led by three SEC titles on the men's side. The Rebel men won the indoor distance medley relay title for the fifth time in the last six years, while sophomore Waleed Suliman swept the indoor mile and the outdoor 1500-meter gold medals, making Ole Miss the first school in SEC history to win five consecutive men's indoor mile titles. Suliman also took down the school record in the mile, running 3:56.78 at the Valentine Invitational in Boston. Derek Gutierrez recorded the highest finish in the mile by a Rebel male at the NCAA Championships, finishing in seventh place for First-Team All-American honors alongside a First-Team effort from the eight-place distance medley relay squad.
Vanhoy had record-setting year in 2017-18 that saw the conclusion to the amazing career of Robert Domanic. During the season, Domanic was part of the fastest NCAA 1500-meter race in history, where he finished third at the ninth-best time ever at 3:36.33 – which put Domanic atop the U.S. leaderboard for a majority of the season. Domanic went on to claim the third-straight SEC 1500-meter title at the conference championship meet, and he ended up fourth at the NCAA Championships to earn First-Team All-American status before earning a spot in the U.S. 1500-meter final as well in June.
Also qualifying for the national meet was Shelby Brown, who earned Second-Team All-American honors and demolished her own school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase at 9:58.98 earlier in the season at the Mt. SAC Relays. She became the first Rebel woman to ever win the SEC title in the steeplechase, leading a 1-2 punch with freshman Lisa Vogelgesang to score 18 points for the Rebel women – who finished a program-high fifth by meet’s end.
In total, Vanhoy had 13 total entries to the NCAA East Regional, and from there it was Domanic, Brown, sophomore Parker Scott (3000-meter steeplechase) and freshman Everett Smulders (1500-meter) who advanced to the national meet. Other outdoor All-SEC honorees included Vogelgesang (steeplechase, Second-Team and All-Freshman), Maddie McHugh (800-meter, Second-Team), Smulders (All-Freshman), Clio Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman) and Ylvi Traxler (All-Freshman).
Indoors, Vanhoy coached Sean Tobin to an SEC win in the indoor mile, making Ole Miss the first school in conference history to win four men’s mile titles in a row. Earlier in the season, Tobin clocked the first sub-4:00 mile in Rebel history at the Millrose Games Invitational Mile, where he finished fourth at 3:58.28. Tobin helped usher along the freshman Smulders in that SEC mile final as well, giving Ole Miss a 1-3 punch in the event and Second-Team All-SEC honors for Smulders.
Other Rebels earning SEC honors indoors were Maddie McHugh (Second-Team All-SEC, 800-meter), Clio Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman) and Lisa Vogelgesang (All-Freshman).
At the national meet, Tobin earned Second-Team All-American honors after a 10th-place finish in the mile, while the DMR squad of Tobin, Domanic, Suliman and Alvin Westbrook also took 10th for Second-Team distinction.
It was another banner cross country season for Vanhoy and the Rebels as well in 2017, with two more team berths to the NCAA Championships. Ole Miss took the runner-up auto bid on the men’s side at the regional meet, but the Rebel women made history after winning their first-ever South Region title to qualify for the national meet for only the second time ever. Ole Miss ended up finishing top-25 in the women’s team standings for the second-straight year in 25th place, and were led by freshman Clio Ozanne-Jaques in 109th place.
The Rebel men, meanwhile, posted their second straight top-20 team finish in 18th place, bolstered by an All-American finish by senior Sean Tobin in his final cross country race as a Rebel. Tobin finished 12th overall, the third-highest individual finish in Ole Miss history.
In total, Vanhoy coached nine more All-South Region finishers (Shelby Brown, Anna Braswell, Hannah Christen, Emily Bean and Ozanne-Jaques for the women, Tobin, Derek Gutierrez, Waleed Suliman and Parker Scott for the men), as well as five All-SEC honorees in Tobin (Second-Team), Gutierrez (Second-Team), Scott (All-Freshman), Suliman (All-Freshman) and Ozanne-Jaques (All-Freshman).
The 2016-17 season was perhaps his most impressive to date across all three of his seasons coached. The year began with magical run by both his men’s and women’s cross country squads in the fall of 2016, with the Rebel men taking Terre Haute by storm en route to an astounding fourth-place podium team finish that included two All-American runners in MJ Erb (sixth place) and Wesley Gallagher (39th). The finish was the highest nationally by any Ole Miss team since the 2014 Ole Miss baseball team advanced to the College World Series.
Ole Miss won its second NCAA South Region team title thanks to a powerful performance that included five All-Region finishers in Erb (seventh), Wesley Gallagher (eighth), Sean Tobin (ninth), Robert Domanic (10th) and Craig Engels (12th). At the conference meet, Ole Miss recorded just its third runner-up finish ever, placing six on either the First of Second-Team All-SEC squad.
Under Vanhoy, Ole Miss was one of just 12 schools in 2016 to place both its men’s and women’s programs in the top-25 at the national meet. The extraordinary cross country success that year helped propel the men to No. 3 and the women No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, joining national powerhouses Arkansas, Oregon, Stanford, Colorado and Oklahoma State as the only programs nationally to finish ranked in the top-10 on both the women’s and men’s lists.
The Rebel women, meanwhile, made history after punching their first-ever ticket to the national meet after finishing runner-up in the team standings at the NCAA South Regional. In their first NCAA Championship meet, Ole Miss finished 23rd in the women’s standings and were led by Bo Ummels in 71st place.
At the regional meet, Ole Miss rode five All-Region performers toward the auto-bid in Emily Bean (10th), Bo Ummels (11th), Mary Alex England (12th), Britt Ummels (18th) and Shelby Brown (21st). It was an equally historic moment at the SEC Championships for the Rebel women, as they posted the highest finish in program history in second place. England led the way with a seventh-place finish for First-Team All-SEC, by she was also followed by Bo Ummels in eighth for Second-Team honors.
The indoor season in 2017 kept the positive momentum rolling with Vanhoy’s first-ever NCAA title. After rewriting the Ole Miss record book and dominating the SEC in the distance medley relay for four straight seasons, Vanhoy’s 2017 DMR squad of Robert Domanic, Nick DeRay, Sean Tobin and Craig Engels brought home the first relay crown in Ole Miss history at a winning time of 9:31.32.
Engels and Erb were the stars of the 2017 outdoor season, as both earned First-Team All-American status at the NCAA Championships. Engels, with his trademark mustache and mullet, became a nationwide sensation overnight due to the ESPN broadcast, and in the spotlight finished third overall in the 1500-meter final – the highest finish in the event in Ole Miss history. Erb, meanwhile, concluded a strong Rebel career with a fourth-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Both won SEC titles, and Shelby Brown (steeplechase) and Mary Alex England (5K) added in Second-Team All-SEC honors as well.
During his third season in 2015-16, Vanhoy helped the men’s team continue dominance in the SEC and contention at the National level. The Rebels won a program best five SEC titles at the 2016 Indoor Championships, four of which were in distance races. Robert Domanic won the men’s mile, Ryan Walling won the men’s 3K and 5K, and the quartet of Trevor Gilley, Craig Engels, Ryan Manahan, and Robert Domanic won the third straight men’s distance medley relay championship, all of which Vanhoy was a coach for.
Ryan Walling was named co-winner of the Cliff Harper Trophy (most points in SEC meet) and his win in the 3K was the first SEC Championship at the event in school history while the distance medley relay quartet were named All-Americans, another first for the program.
The Rebels finished the meet with a total of six All-Americans (five being distance runners) tying the school record for the Indoor Championships.
Vanhoy’s coaching allowed the Rebels to sweep the men’s distance races at the meet, while finishing 1-2-3 in the men’s mile (Domanic, Sean Tobin, Manahan) and 3K (Walling, Tobin, Wesley Gallagher).
The Rebels also set school records in four women’s distance events. The quartet of Britt Ummels, Jolie Carbo, Shelby Brown and Leanna Zimmer ran a program best 11:28.27 in the women’s distance medley relay. The Ummels twins were able to set school records as well. Britt Ummels added a 3000m school record to her part in the DMR, running a 9:24.09 while her sister, Bo Ummels set a school record in the women’s mile running a 4:47.10. Emily Bean finished off the school records on the women’s side by running a 16:21.96 in the 5000m.
At the 2016 SEC outdoor meet the men finished fifth, the second-best finish all-time at the meet. While the men also turned in five All-Americans, first teamers Domanic and Engels (1500m), MJ Erb (steeplechase), Walling (5000m) and second team member Holland Sherrer (800m).
During the 2015 cross country season, the Rebels were able to earn five All-Region honors; Tobin, Engels, Erb, Robertson, Tobin and Domanic. Robert Domanic also became only the second three-time All-Region runner in program history, the other being Barnabas Kirui (2006, 2009, 2010).
Mary Alex England was named 2nd team All-SEC as well. With Brandon Harvey earning a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team.
At the 2015 NCAA South Region the men’s team was able to finish 2nd earning them a trip to the NCAA Championships. The women finished in a program-best 7th.
During his second season in 2014-15, Vanhoy has helped guide the men's distance program into uncharted territory. The Rebels set a school record with 14 entries at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, including 1500-meter runners Robert Domanic and Trevor Gilley, who were the first Rebels to ever qualify for nationals in the event. Additionally, Craig Engels competed in the 800 during the event.
At the SEC outdoor meet, Ole Miss claimed a remarkable four of the top eight finishers in the men’s 1,500 meters and five of the top 10, led by Engels in third place.
Vanhoy helped the Ole Miss men to their best SEC indoor finish in 31 years as the Rebels came in fourth. Senior Daniel Bulmer upset the field to win the 2015 SEC indoor mile title, and Bulmer was joined by Dameon Morgan, Holland Sherrer and Engels in capturing the Rebels’ second straight SEC distance medley relay championship. Additionally, Engels was runner-up in the mile, and the Rebels had scoring performances by MJ Erb in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
The indoor mile and outdoor 1,500 have seen perhaps the most impressive feats since Vanhoy arrival. On the men’s side, four of the top six outdoor 1,500 runners in school history have been coached by Vanhoy and six of the top eight indoor milers. On the women’s side, it’s been six of the top nine in the outdoor 1,500 and seven of the top 11 in the indoor mile.
The Rebel men won the 2014 NCAA South Region Cross Country Championship and made the first NCAA team appearance in program history. They were runners-up at the SEC cross country meet, matching the best finish in program history with the 1968 squad.
Under Vanhoy’s tutelage, Wesley Gallagher, Sean Tobin and Robert Domanic all finished in the top seven at both the South Region and SEC meets and earned All-Region and All-SEC first team honors. Tobin was voted the SEC Cross Country Co-Freshman Runner of the Year.
On the track in 2014, the distance runners contributed big points to the Ole Miss men's best SEC outdoor finish in 30 years (fifth place) at the SEC Championships. That included Domanic's runner-up in the 1,500 meters and Tobin's bronze medal in the 5,000.
The indoor season was just as productive, as the Rebels won their first ever SEC title in the distance medley relay with the grouping of Domanic, Montez Griffin, Will Spiers and Tobin. A native of Clonmel, Ireland, Tobin was SEC runner-up in the mile and also became the first Ole Miss runner to ever run a sub-4 minute mile (3:59.91). He was tabbed the SEC Indoor Co-Freshman Runner of the Year by the league coaches.
Vanhoy came to Oxford after one year at Northeastern University and the previous three at the University of North Carolina.
At Northeastern, Vanhoy coached NU runners to four Colonial Athletic Association conference titles and helped develop Eric Jenkins into an All-American in the indoor 3K and outdoor 5K. In 2013, Jenkins became the fourth-fastest American collegian ever in the 5K at 13:18.57, and he also ran a sub 4-minute mile (3:58.11).
Vanhoy spent the previous three years with the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he helped produce two ACC champions, five NCAA East Region qualifiers and two Olympic Trails qualifiers. In 2012, he guided Isaac Presson and Ashley Verplank to conference titles in the mile and 1500, respectively.
After two years as an assistant coach at UNC, Vanhoy was promoted to head men's and women's cross country coach in January 2012 and was responsible for recruiting and implementation of training programs for more than 40 student-athletes, in addition to other administrative and operational duties.
During the 2012-13 season, he mentored the men's distance medley relay team, which broke a school record that had stood for 27 years.
Prior to his promotion, Vanhoy worked as an assistant track and field and cross country coach for two seasons. While coaching the men's middle distance runners, he also managed areas of team compliance, travel and recruiting.
Vanhoy, who was a member of the Tar Heels' track team, graduated from North Carolina in 2009 with a Bachelor's of Science in biology. The Asheboro, N.C., native earned his master's degree in exercise physiology from UNC in 2012.
Ryan Vanhoy | Ole Miss Career Notes (2013-Present)
Associate Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach, 2015-Present
Assistant Track & Field Coach, Men's and Women's Distance, 2016-Present
Assistant Track & Field Coach, Men's Distance, 2014-15
Men's Cross Country Coach, 2013-15
- Led Rebel men's cross country to first two SEC team titles in program history in 2018 and 2019
- 7x USTFCCCA South Region XC Coach of the Year (Men: 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021; Women: 2017, 2021)
- 2x SEC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year (2018, '19)
- 4x USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year (2015 Outdoor, 2016 Indoor, 2017 Indoor, 2021 Indoor)
- Owns all 14 national team berths to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in program history (eight men, six women)
- Coached Rebel men to fourth-place podium finish at 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships
- 8 Cross Country All-Americans (seven men, one woman)
- 7 NCAA South Region titles (five men, two women)
- 61 NCAA All-South Region honorees (38 men, 23 women; only 12 total prior to arrival)
- 1 SEC Cross Country Champion (Mario Garcia Romo, 2020)
- 4 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year (Sean Tobin, 2014; Cade Bethmann, 2018; Cole Bullock, 2019; Skylar Boogerd, 2019)
- 35 All-SEC cross country runners (27 men, 8 women)
- 14 SEC All-Freshman cross country members (11 men, 3 women)
- 6 NCAA Track Champions (2017 DMR; Mario Garcia Romo, 2021 Indoor Mile; Sinatyehu Vissa, 2021 Outdoor 1500-meter)
- 65 Track All-Americans (41 First-Team, 24 Second-Team)
- 126 NCAA points scored
- 77 NCAA track qualifiers
- Men's distance runners have accounted for 74.1 percent of Ole Miss men’s NCAA scoring since 2014
- 57 Track SEC Champions, 21 SEC Runners-Up
- 1 SEC Indoor Cliff Harper Trophy Winner (Ryan Walling, 2016, 20 points)
- 4 SEC Track Freshmen of the Year (Sean Tobin, Indoor, 2014; Mario Garcia Romo, Indoor, 2019; Dalton Hengst, Outdoor, 2019; Cole Bullock, Indoor, 2021)
- Has claimed 16 of the possible 20 standard school records (indoor/outdoor)
- Has rewritten 9 of the 10 possible indoor/outdoor women's records (four indoor, five outdoor)
- Has claimed seven of the possible 10 men's school records (four indoor, three outdoor)
- 1 CoSIDA Academic All-American (Craig Engels, 2017)
- 3 CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees
- 41 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic selections
- 10 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic team honors
- 8 top-five finishes in a U.S. final
Men’s Top Indoor Times
800-Meter: 1:46.82 (John Rivera Jr., 2022)
Mile: 3:53.36 (Mario Garcia Romo, 2022)
3K: 7:47.56 (Mario Garcia Romo, 2022)
5K: 13:39.44 (Ryan Walling, 2016)
DMR: 9:20.75 (Smulders, Dryer, Rivera, Garcia Romo; 2021)
Men’s Top Outdoor Times
800-Meter: 1:46.03 (Craig Engels, 2016)
1500-Meter: 3:36.33 (Robert Domanic, 2018)
5K: 13:31.30 (Ryan Walling, 2016)
10K: 29:00.46 (Mark Robertson, 2019)
3K Steeple: 8:26.75 (MJ Erb, 2017)
Women’s Top Indoor Times
800-Meter: 2:05.38 (Maddie McHugh, 2017)
Mile: 4:40.99 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2021)
3K: 9:17.19 (Anna Elkin, 2021)
5K: 16:12.67 (Mary Alex England, 2017)
DMR: 11:04.27 (Winn, Glatz, Vissa, King; 2021)
Women’s Top Outdoor Times
800-Meter: 2:01.06 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2022)
1500-Meter: 4:08.72 (Sintayehu Vissa, 2022)
5K: 15:54.46 (Skylar Boogerd, 2022)
10K: 33:26.86 (Clio Ozanne-Jaques, 2021)
3K Steeple: 9:58.98 (Shelby Brown, 2018)
| COACHING CAREER | ||
| Year(s) | School | Position |
| 2015-Pres. | Ole Miss | Associate Head Cross Country Coach / Assistant Coach - Distance |
| 2014-15 | Ole Miss | Assistant Coach / Men's Distance |
| 2013-15 | Ole Miss | Men's Cross Country Coach |
| 2013-14 | Northeastern | Assistant Coach / Cross Country Distance |
| 2012-13 | North Carolina | Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach |
| 2010-12 | North Carolina | Assistant Track & Field and Cross Country Coach |
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