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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. Rujuta Sane competing over 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships // Photo via Nico Klementzos 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.

Written by Aimee Morganti, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin Last month, Cal Poly assistant coach Brandon Lawrence was hired as the next Associate Head Cross Country Coach at the University of California, Berkley. However, The Stride Report has recently learned that Lawrence is now stepping away from that role. Instead, he will follow his former head coach, Ryan Vanhoy, to Arizona State University. California has since removed their July 17th website press release regarding Brandon Lawrence’s hiring. Lawrence will hold a similar assistant-type role at Arizona State University with Ryan Vanhoy as the program's newest Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. He will also continue to work alongside Michelle Chewens, Vanhoy’s wife and coaching partner. It is unclear who will replace Lawrence at California moving forward. With this move, Lawrence will return to a Power Four conference in the BIG 12. Lawrence began his Division One coaching career with a two-year stint as an assistant at Wake Forest, a member of the ACC. However, his latest two-year tenure at Cal Poly resided in the BIG West Conference. Brandon Lawrence cheering for his Cal Poly athletes // Photo via Cal Poly Athletics Last fall, the Sun Devils did not compete at the 2025 West Regional XC Championships. At the BIG 12 XC Championships, they finished 12th out of 13 teams in the men’s race. Their women’s squad took last place. Earlier this week, former Cal Poly distance star Chris Caudillo announced that he will be transferring to Arizona State. There, he will reunite with Ryan Vanhoy and the former Cal Poly coaching staff. Lawrence's latest move leaves California's Associate Head Cross Country Coach position vacant while they begin a new search for a replacement. The Golden Bears have an almost 10-year gap since their last NCAA XC Championship appearance as a team. Their women’s cross country squad last qualified for the national meet in 2017 while their men’s cross country team last qualified in 2016.