Jason Dunn enters his eighth year as an assistant track and field coach, responsible for the middle-distance and distance events. He is also in his eighth season as the head cross country coach. Under Dunn’s guidance, the Cavalier distance and middle distance squads have established themselves with a national presence as Virginia is consistently represented at the NCAA Championships.
Since taking over the helm of the cross country program, Dunn has coached Virginia teams to the NCAA Championships on eight occasions (four men / four women). He has also led the 2005 and 2007 men’s squads to the ACC title and in 2005, saw both the men’s and women’s teams advance to the NCAA Championships, marking the first time in school history both sides qualified for the championships in the same season. For his efforts, Dunn was honored as the 2005 and 2007 ACC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Under Dunn’s direction, the 2007 men won their second conference title in three seasons, led by a strong group of front runners. Running at home, in the familiar confines of Panorama Farms, Virginia runners placed 2-3-4-6 to dominate the lead group and outdistance NC State, 32-39. First-year Emil Heineking became just the second Cavalier to be named the ACC Freshman of the Year, as Andy Biladeau garnered Virginia’s first-ever selection as the league’s top rookie in 2005.
While the women’s team narrowly missed a national berth this past season, the men returned to the NCAA Championships for the third straight year, finishing in an impressive 12th place – the highest finish for UVa since 1984. Heineking became the first male to earn cross country All-America honors under Dunn, while Emily Harrison earned her second All-American certificate by virtue of her sixth place individual finish at the national meet. Harrison and Kara Scanlin also earned the distinction in 2005 with their 20th and 25th place finishes, respectively.
In 2004, the cross country team received national attention, as both squads were ranked and both teams sent individual entries to the NCAA Championships. In 2003, Dunn helped coach the men’s team to the national meet for the first time in 20 years. He also saw Jennifer Owen’s collect a sixth-place finish at Nationals in 2001, the highest finish for a Cavalier since 1982. The 2001 women’s squad finished ninth overall, its best finish since the program won a pair of NCAA championships in 1981 and 1982.
In all, Dunn has brought 28 All-ACC honors to 17 different cross country runners in the past eight seasons. This tally was highlighted when seven Cavaliers earned conference honors in 2005, with the men’s team winning the league championship for the first time since 1984. Harrison leads all performers in school history as a four-time selection on the conference’s women’s team, while Andy Biladeau and Jan Foerster are three-time selections for the men. Ryan Foster, Will Christian, Jane Maxwell and Scanlin have each been two-time honorees.
Regionally, Dunn has led 23 runners to 40 all-region honors and nationally, five Cavaliers have earned All-America status. Harrison earned all-region honors all four years and has been a two-time All-American, most recently finishing sixth place individually, in 2007.
On the track, Dunn has coached 41 All-ACC performances among 20 different athletes. He has led eight Cavaliers to nine individual ACC Championships and coached six All-Americans. Virginia distance runners have recorded 18 NCAA Qualifying times since Dunn’s arrival, and three school records have fallen under his guidance.
The 2006-07 year was capped off with Dunn mentoring Stephanie Garcia to the USA Junior National Steeplechase title in just her first year of competing in the event. Garcia also qualified for the NCAA’s in the steeplechase and was joined in that same event by teammate Jan Foerster. Foerester won the ACC title in the 5K and earned runner-up honors in the steeplechase before smashing the school record in the event at the NCAA Championships, en route to earning All-America honors with his sixth place finish. Dunn also had four athletes qualify for NCAA’s in the 10K run with Andrew Dumm on the men’s side and a trio of athletes on the women’s side in Harrison, Scanlin and Katie Read. Read earned All-America honors by virtue of her 10th place finish.
History was made in 2005, when Dunn’s men’s indoor distance medley team shattered the school record and qualified for the NCAA indoor championships. His 2007 DMR team then bettered the record by over a second and earned All-America honors with a seventh place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Between those years, his 2006 men's squad dominated the ACC Outdoor Championships in the distance events, earning 78 points in five events from 800m-10k. Led by Dumm and Ryan Foster's first-place finishes in the 5k and 10k, respectively, the men's distance runners strung together one of the most prolific scoring outputs in conference history. These strong finishes help Dunn earn the honor of NCAA East Region Men's Assistant Coach of the Year for distance events.
The 2005 indoor ACC title in the 800m belonged to McGavock Dunbar, who added it to the outdoor conference title that he won in 2003. Dunn has also guided Will Christian (2004) and Foerster (2007) to the 5000-meter ACC titles. Additionally, Dana Coons (2001) and Jane Maxwell (2003) have each won conference titles in the 10K. Dawn Cleary also won an ACC championship in the 3000m steeplechase in 2003, before earning All-America honors with her sixth place finish at NCAA’s in the same event.
Dunn’s athletes and teams have also excelled in the classroom as both the men’s and women’s cross country squads have been named All-Academic teams each of the last five years. In 2004, then men’s cross country team earned the highest team cumulative GPA for a men’s team at UVA. Additionally, Dunn’s athletes have achieved All-Academic status as individuals in cross country and track & field on twenty-two occasions.
Before coming to Virginia, Dunn served as an assistant coach for Arizona State’s men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams. While at ASU, Dunn was part of a staff that built the distance program from the ground up. During his tenure, the men’s and women’s cross country teams went from never before qualifying for the NCAA Championships to finishing 14th and 12th respectively in 1999. Additionally, athletes Dunn tutored in his years with the Sun Devils earned three All-American certificates in cross country, and seven more on the track.
Prior to his stint in Tempe, Dunn served as an assistant cross country coach at William and Mary, his alma-mater, for the 1996 season. He shared duties in an interim position for a team that ranked in the top 20 nationally and won a Colonial Athletic Conference title.
During his collegiate years at William and Mary, Dunn served as team captain and belonged to two NCAA-qualifying cross country teams. He also earned all conference honors in cross country and on the track where he was the 1996 CAA Champion in the steeplechase. Dunn also received All-East honors in the steeplechase and went on to qualify provisionally for the NCAA Championships and the Olympic Trials. Dunn received his B.A. in government from William and Mary in 1996 and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a physical education emphasis from Arizona State in 1999.
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Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
