The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Women's Cross Country

Updated: December 2025 Tennessee Director of Track & Field Duane Ross announced the hiring of Justin Duncan as the program’s head coach of men’s and women’s ...

Updated: December 2025 Amy Rudolph joined the Tennessee cross country and track & field staff in August 2024 as an assistant coach for UT's distance runners and cross country athletes. One of her generation's great American distance runners, she enters her second year with the program in 2025-26. Rudolph has been instrumental in Tennessee’s recent success at the conference, regional and national levels. Over the past two seasons, she has helped guide the Lady Vols to consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championships appearances and supported the development of two individual men’s national qualifiers. Tennessee distance athletes have totaled six All-SEC honors, 11 All-Region performances and one All-America certificate during that span. During the 2025 cross country campaign, the Lady Vols finished seventh at the SEC Championships and runner-up at the NCAA South Region to earn their third straight NCAA Championships berth. Freshman Mary Nyaboke Ogwoka led the postseason charge with All-SEC and All-Region honors before placing 24th at the NCAA Championships to become Tennessee’s first cross country All-American since 2015, while three additional Lady Vols earned All-Region recognition. The men’s team placed ninth at SECs and fourth at regionals, highlighted by All-Region performances from Zouhair Redouane and Ty Steorts and Redouane’s individual NCAA Championships qualification. Rudolph’s impact has extended to the track, where Tennessee distance athletes earned a bronze medal in t

Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance Barry Cain has worked to enhance the performance of Tennessee student-athletes for more than a decade. He currently oversees training efforts for UT's track & field/cross country program. He also previously worked closely with the Lady Vols' volleyball program. Cain worked for the Vols as a student-assistant from 1998-2001 and again as both an intern and full-time performance coach from 2003-07. He earned a B.S. in physics from Clemson in 1993 then collected both undergraduate (Exercise Science) and master's (Human Performance and Sport Studies) degrees from Tennessee in 2002.

Updated: December 2025 Brian Biekert serves as an assistant coach for Tennessee men’s and women’s cross country and works with the Vols’ and Lady Vols’ distance runners during the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons. He enters his second year with the program in 2025-26. In his time on Rocky Top, Biekert has helped guide the Lady Vols to back-to-back appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships while assisting in the development of two individual men’s national qualifiers. Tennessee distance athletes under his guidance have combined for six All-SEC honors, 11 All-Region performances and one All-America certificate. The 2025 cross country season marked continued postseason success for both programs. The Lady Vols finished seventh at the SEC Championships and runner-up at the NCAA South Region to earn their third consecutive NCAA Championships berth, highlighted by freshman Mary Nyaboke Ogwoka’s All-SEC and All-Region honors and a 24th-place finish at nationals to become Tennessee’s first cross country All-American since 2015. On the men’s side, Tennessee placed ninth at SECs and fourth at regionals, with Zouhair Redouane and Ty Steorts earning All-Region honors and Redouane advancing individually to the NCAA Championships. Biekert has also played a role in Tennessee’s success on the track. Graduate student Zach Jaeger earned bronze in the steeplechase at the SEC Outdoor Championships, while the Vols and Lady Vols recorded 11 UT all-time top-10 performances during t

Taylor Whitter joined the University of Tennessee Sports Medicine Staff in July 2024 and serves as an Athletic Trainer for M/W Cross Country and M/W Track & ...