NEWS: Kentucky Hires Tito Medrano as Distance Coach

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On Saturday, the University of Kentucky announced the hiring of Tito Medrano as the program's newest cross country and distance coach. The hire comes in the wake of the team's presumably former distance coach, Hakon DeVries, being suspended while the university conducted an investigation for unknown allegations.

Most recently, Medrano served as an Associate Head Coach at the University of Toledo. There, he led the men's distance program while assisting with the women's distance team under Director Andrea Grove-McDonough.

In recent years, the Rockets have been better known for the achievements of their women's squad. However, Medrano achieved modest success at the helm of the men's cross country team during his two-year stint in Ohio. Last fall, the Toledo men won the MAC team title and developed individual national qualifier and 13:31 (5k) runner, Dominic Serem (who has since transferred to Colorado).

Prior to Toledo, Medrano was an assistant coach at his alma mater Syracuse and at Eastern Kentucky. At the latter program, he also served as a recruiting coordinator on top of his coaching duties from 2018 to 2021. During that time, EKU brought in plenty of solid distance talent despite their mid-major status. Among their impressive recruits was eventual NCAA steeplechase champion and Paris Olympic finalist, Ahmed Jaziri.

Admittedly, most of Kentucky's success as a track and field program has come in the sprints. However, their women's middle distance program has made some notable strides in recent years. The Wildcat women advanced a DMR squad to the NCAA Indoor Championships as recently as 2023. They also sent two women to the outdoor national meet over 800 meters this past spring.

On the grass, the Wildcats have occasionally shown flashes of being a top-half program at the conference level. At the 2022 SEC XC Championships, Kentucky finished in 4th place as a team on the women's side while their men's team secured 6th place at the same meet.

However, neither squad has come particularly close to replicating those finishes since then. And with the SEC distance scene expecting to become even deeper in the coming years, Medrano will have his work cut out for him in both recruiting and development.