Casey Kear

Biography

Casey Kear is in his sixth season as UC Irvine's cross country/distance coach after joining the staff in August 2019. Last year, Kear saw two of his student-athletes - Sameen Andar and Lukas Amare - make the All-Big West Cross Country Team for the second year in a row. Andar, Amare and Anna Vogtmann also received Big West Athlete of the Week honors during the season. On the track, Andar had a podium finish in the 10,000m at the conference meet, while Vogtmann (1500m), Amare (10K) and Joshua Schuld (Steeplechase) also scored in their respective events. Andar qualified for her second career NCAA West Preliminary in the 10K. During the 2023 track & field season, Kear’s distance squad produced three All-Big West awards and two NCAA qualifying marks. Sameen Andar set a meet record to win the women's 10,000m title at the Big West Championships, while she was third in the 5,000m. Hannah Chau added a third-place finish in the steeplechase. As a team, the UCI women scored 33 points in the distance events at the conference meet. Andar and Evelin Meza both advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary in the 10K. Earlier in the season, Andar broke a 37-year-old school record in the 5K with a time of 16:13.12, and Chau bettered her own standard in the steeplechase at 10:20.11. Andar also set program bests in the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m. During the fall, Kear was named the 2022 Big West co-Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year after leading the Anteaters to a runner-up finish. They came in one