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Tony Sandoval, one of the most experienced and highly-regarded distance coaches in the United States, begins his 17th season as head coach of the California men's and women's cross country teams and his 27th year overall at the university.
Sandoval also was the head women's track and field and cross country coach at Cal from 1982-91, prior to the merger of the men's and women's programs into a single entity in 1992.
He has a proven track record of developing athletes during their collegiate careers, and many of them have gone on to race after college. Those who have experienced post-graduate success include Bolota Asmerom, Peter Gilmore (marathon qualifier at 2005 World Championships), Magdalena Lewy (2008 U.S. Olympian in the marathon), Elissa and Lori Riedy and Richie Boulet. Two other Sandoval protégés, besides Lewy, who competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials were Alysia Johnson in the 800 and David Torrence in the 1500.
Sandoval had five former athletes at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials - Elissa Riedy, Asmerom (3rd, 5000m), Corey Creasy, Gilmore and Steve Moreno.
Under Sandoval's guidance, Cal runners Bridget Duffy, Kirsten O'Hara, Marilyn Davis, Sally Wood, Sabrina Han and Elissa Riedy combined for eight cross country All-America citations between 1985 and 2004.
In the Bear women's first NCAA cross country team appearance in 1984, they finished 15th nationally and then returned in 1988 to take ninth place at the NCAA Championships, Cal's highest finish ever. Before Duffy's trip to NCAAs, Riedy competed at the NCAA Championships in 1997 and 1998, earning All-America honors in the latter year.
Sandoval's history of success has carried over to the men's cross country program. Last year, the men had their best season in the history of the program. The Bears participated as a team in the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. They also reached their highest national ranking of eighth over the course of the campaign. In the 2007 and 2005 Pac-10 Championships, the men's team finished third for its best showing in the history of the program. In 1993, Boulet became just the second men's runner in Cal history to earn All-America recognition, and the first Cal male athlete in any sport to win six All-America honors (five in track & field). Boulet posted three consecutive top five finishes at the Pac-10 Championships and advanced to the 1993 and 1994 NCAA Championships. He continued to race at the elite level after college, placing at the USATF and World indoor Championships in 1998.
Cal was represented at the NCAA cross country meet in 2006 by Torrence. The other recent Bears to reach the meet individually were Giliat Ghebray (2005), Guangul (2000), Bolota Asmerom (1999) and Gilmore (1999).
Sandoval, the 1986 NorPac Conference Track and Field Coach of the Year, started his collegiate coaching career with the University of New Mexico women's team in 1975, serving first as an assistant before taking over the head coaching duties.
A five-time U.S. national team coach, Sandoval served as the head coach for the 1995 U.S. Junior Pan American women's track and field team in Santiago, Chile. He also was an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba, head coach of the 1987 U.S. junior team that competed in Cuba and Canada, and head coach for the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships in Glascow, Scotland (1978), and Madrid, Spain (1981).
A 1968 graduate of New Mexico, Sandoval helped the Lobos to two Western Athletic Conference titles in cross country and three conference championships in track and field.
Sandoval continued his education at UNM, earning a master's degree in exercise physiology and a minor in guidance and counseling in 1974. He taught in the undergraduate physical education department at UNM while working on his Ph.D. in sports psychology.
Sandoval and his wife, Barbara, reside in Pleasant Hill and have two daughters, Lisa and Marcy.
