Michigan State University Men's Track & Field

• 2015 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Women's Indoor Assistant Track Coach of the Year • 2019 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year • 2020 Bi...

Aaron Simoneau joined the MSU cross country and track & field programs as a full-time assistant coach in December of 2014. He enters his 11th season with the Spartans in 2024-25. Simoneau's primary coaching responsibilities include working with the MSU distance runners, while also serving as recruiting coordinator. In his 11 seasons with Michigan State in a full-time capacity, Simoneau has helped coach fourteen cross country All-Americans, including most recently Katie Osika, a graduate student who earned the honor of its kind for the first time in her career in 2022. Since the 2015 cross country season, Simoneau has coached 20 men’s and 25 women’s cross country runners to Great Lakes All-Region accolades, in addition to the 12 men and 19 women who have earned All-Big Ten honors. Simoneau has been part of the coaching staff that has helped lead the women’s cross country team to three Big Ten titles in 2019, 2020, and 2022 while they've been on the podium in seven of the eight seasons during his time with the team. He has also aided the women's Great Lakes Regional Championship in 2019 and the men's in 2017 to earn automatic bids to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. At the 2020 NCAA Championships, the Spartan women raced to a fourth-place finish, which was the highest finish since the team won the title in 2014. On the men's side, the 17th place finish at the NCAA Championship was the program's best since 2006. One of the brightest stars who shined under Simoneau's guidanc

Derrick Vicars joined the Spartan track & field staff as an assistant coach in August of 2023. Vicars arrives in East Lansing as the assistant coach for throws after one year as the throws coach at Pittsburgh. Prior to his stint at Pitt, he spent six seasons as the throws coach at Bowling Green and three seasons as the throws coach at his alma mater, the University of Findlay. During the 2022-23 season at Pittsburgh, Vicars coached three NCAA East Preliminary qualifiers and five podium finishers at the ACC Championships. In his six seasons at Bowling Green, he coached 12 NCAA East Preliminary qualifiers, nine NCAA All-Americans and 10 Mid-American Conference champions. Vicars' athletes also saw success on the USA Track & Field and international stages, where he was responsible for two USA Track & Field Championship qualifiers, three USA Track & Field U20 Championship qualifiers, one FISU World Games qualifier, one NACAC qualifier and a Commonwealth Games qualifier. At Findlay, Vicars coached 27 Division II All-Americans, nine conference champions, four national champions, four national runner-ups and an FISU World Games qualifier. Before entering the collegiate coaching ranks, Vicars was a standout thrower at Findlay and post-collegiately. He was an 11-time NCAA Division II All-American as well as an NCAA champion in the discus in 2010 and shot put in 2012 and qualified for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Trials in the shot put. Vicars has earned several awards during his collegiat

After two seasons as a graduate assistant, Benoit was named an assistant distance coach for the Spartans in August 2021. He enters his fifth season overall with the program for the 2023-24 season. In his first season as an assistant coach, Benoit helped women's cross country to its 14th consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships after winning the Big Ten Championship and finishing fourth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The former Spartan standout helped graduate student Katie Osika and junior Makenna Veen to all-conference finishes at the Big Ten Championships while Osika finished the season as an All-American. On the track, Benoit has helped coach five All-American distance runners on the women's side and nine on the men's side across two years in distance-related events since becoming a full time assistant. Michigan State had great success during Benoit’s guidance as a graduate assistant. In 2021, the women’s cross country team finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, while the men were 17th. This was the best combined finish for the men and women in MSU history. Jenna Magness, Lynsie Gram, India Johnson and Morgan Beadlescomb all earned All-American honors in cross country during the 2020-21 campaign. The Spartans also had tremendous success under Benoit during the indoor and outdoor track seasons. In 2021, Beadlescomb and Magness again captured All-American honors in the 5000m, this time in both the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Benoit had a successful runni

Began at Michigan State: July 2021 Education: Smeltzer-Pickard received a B.S. in kinesiology from MSU in 2012 and then an M.S. in kinesiology in 2014. Job Responsibilities: Smeltzer-Pickard is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Cross Country & Track and Field program. Past Experience: Before returning to Michigan State, Smeltzer-Pickard most recently was a Cross Country & Track and Field coach at Vanderbilt University for five years. She also was a coach at Western Michigan for two years and was a former graduate student and student-athlete at MSU. A former standout for the Spartans from 2007-12, Rebekah Smeltzer-Pickard returned to Michigan State in August 2021 as the Director of Track & Field Operations. A four-time letterwinner and graduate assistant during her first stint with MSU, Smeltzer-Pickard came back to East Lansing after spending five seasons as the assistant coach for the Vanderbilt cross country and track & field teams. Prior to Vanderbilt, Smeltzer-Pickard was the assistant coach for Western Michigan’s cross country and track & field teams from 2014-16. During her time in Nashville, Smeltzer-Pickard oversaw the Commodores’ cross country runners earn five All-SEC selections and six NCAA All-Region honors, with Grace Jensen most recently taking home All-SEC Second Team distinction in 2020. The Vanderbilt runners in 2019 boasted the second men’s All-SEC honoree in program history as well as two all-region selections (Nick Laning, Ana Wallace), an A

Tim Nickas joined the Michigan State track & field staff in October of 2025. He currently serves as assistant head track & field coach and works specifically...

Yolanda Johnson enters her eighth season at Michigan State for the 2024-25 season, having guided nine Spartans to the NCAA East Preliminaries in eight season...