PEORIA, Ill. - Darren Gauson, who has swept the Southland Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year awards in each of the last two years, has been named the head coach of Bradley University's men's and women's cross country and track programs, according to an announcement today by Braves Director of Athletics Dr. Chris Reynolds.
Gauson comes to Bradley from Lamar University, where he guided both the Cardinals men's and women's cross country programs to consecutive Southland Conference championships in 2013 and 2014. He inherits a Bradley distance running program that is coming off a historic season that saw the Bradley women's cross country team win the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference title, the men's cross country team match its best-ever Valley finish with a third-place showing at the 2014 MVC Championship and the men's and women's track programs combine to send five runners to the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
"After an extensive search to find the next leader of the Bradley cross and country and track teams, Coach Gauson truly rose to the top," said Reynolds. "He has excelled at every level of his career, from a competitor himself to an emerging, young coach, and I am confident he will continue to build on the momentum being generated by our running programs."
In addition to the championship success of the cross country teams at Lamar, Gauson coached the Cardinals runners to 36 individual Southland Conference championships in cross country and track in just three seasons. Among his star runners, Gauson helped Matt Johnsen to a 33rd-place finish at the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championship and the first All-America honor for the Cardinals since 1969. Additionally, Sam Stabler posted the second-fastest 5,000 meters time in the nation last spring to go along with Capital One Academic All-America honors.
A 2006 graduate of Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a degree in sport and exercise science, Gauson competed two years at Butler University, where he earned a master's of science degree in education in 2008.
Gauson was an assistant cross country/track and field coach at Butler for four seasons after earning his master's degree. The Butler men were able to extend their streak of consecutive conference cross country titles to 14 during Gauson's time in Indianapolis and the Bulldogs finished 29th at the NCAA National Championship during his first season on the coaching staff. Butler boasted four All-Americans during his tenure at the school.
As a student at Butler, Gauson earned a Horizon League title in the 1,500 meters during his final year of eligibility in addition to claiming Scottish national championships in the event in both 2004 and 2005.
