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ICYMI: Charlotte Hires Former MIT Distance Coach Riley Macon as Next Head XC Coach
- Aimee Mackenzie
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Written by Aimee Morganti, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
Back in late July, Charlotte announced that Riley Macon, the now-former distance coach for MIT, has been hired as the 49ers' newest Head Cross Country Coach. The hiring stems from the recent departure of Coach Joe Lynn, who has since been hired as the Head Cross Country Coach at Hillsdale College.
Macon previously led the Engineers' distance program (men and women) for the past five years.
During his time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Macon assisted in leading the Engineers to five Division Three national team titles. Two of those victories came at the NCAA Division Three XC Championships between 2022 (men) and 2024 (women).
In a press release announcing Macon's hiring, Charlotte’s Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Bob Olesen, stated...
“I couldn’t be happier with this addition. Coach Macon has had tremendous success and a lot of leadership responsibility as a young coach. MIT is a unique environment for a coach to navigate, and I’m excited to see what he can do here at Charlotte.”
Macon’s highlights from MIT include coaching two NCAA champions. One of those names was Rujuta Sane who claimed the 2026 NCAA indoor 5000-meter title. On the men's side, Ryan Wilson was a three-time NCAA 800-meter champion, the 2023 1500-meter NCAA champion and the 2023 NCAA mile champion.
At last year's NCAA D3 XC Championships, the MIT women placed 5th overall while the men's team secured 9th place. In total, Macon has coached 88 Division Three All-Americans.
On joining Charlotte's program, Macon stated...
“I am incredibly grateful to Coach Olesen for his faith in me and for the opportunity to lead the cross country team and distance runners at Charlotte. Coach Olesen has built an incredible program and I am thrilled to begin working with this very special group of student-athletes.”
Charlotte’s 2025 cross country season concluded at the Southeast Regional XC Championships with an 11th place finish by their men’s team and a 15th place finish by their women’s team. Of those lineups, the 49ers return three of their five women’s regional meet scorers, and four of their five men’s regional meet scorers.
