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BREAKING: Ryan Vanhoy Hired as Arizona State's Next Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
- Jonah Billings
- 34 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Written by Jonah Billings, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
Earlier today, Arizona State announced that they have hired Ryan Vanhoy as the Sun Devils' next Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. The move comes one month following the dismissal of former ASU Director, Dion Miller.
Vanhoy will now depart his position as Cal Poly's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field alongside his wife and coaching partner, Michelle Chewens, who has led the Mustang women's distance program since the pair were hired in summer of 2022.
It is unclear at the moment what role Chewens will assume for Arizona State moving forward.
Vanhoy and Chewens led Cal Poly to notable success during their short tenure in San Luis Obispo, winning four-straight Big West cross country titles on both the men’s and women’s side. Their distance program was the scoring engine behind three Big West track and field team titles, two men’s and one women’s.
The Vanhoy era at Cal Poly was also responsible for the rise of middle distance stars such as Aidan McCarthy, whose blistering 1:45.19 (800) effort in 2025 remains the NCAA #7 all-time mark (indoors). Separately, Chris Caudillo, a 3:35 (1500) runner who earned All-American honors this past spring.
It should be noted that, on Sunday, Caudillo announced via Instagram that he was entering the transfer portal. Speculation is that the now-former Mustang is expected to follow Vanhoy and Chewens to Tempe, Arizona.
Sun Devil fans will hope that Vanhoy and Chewens can bring similar success to a beleaguered track and field program, one that has seen off-and-on success over the past decade. The Arizona State cross country program has seen even less production, consistently finishing in the back-half of the Big 12 Championships on the grass.
Vanhoy and Chewens’ surprise late-summer move is more bad news for Cal Poly, as it was announced that former assistant coach Brandon Lawrence would take over California's distance program just last week.
