Torrey Olson was named Academy of Art University director of track & field/cross country in August 2015 after joining the program in June 2012.
Olson's fourth year guiding the program saw the Urban Knights send two full teams to 2016 NCAA Division II Regionals for the first time ever, break new ground with the men's team finishing
11th at NCAA Nationals, and produce the second male All-American in program history in Joshua Thorson. Along the way, both teams collected
USTFCCCA All-Academic honors with three All-Academic Individuals, the men finished second and the women took third at the PacWest Championships, and the men dominated the PacWest honors with Thorson taking Runner of the Year, Gatien Airiau earning Newcomer of the Year, and Marvin Thomas capturing Freshman of the Year.
Moving into the Knights' 2017 track & field campaign, Olson, head coach Kevin LaSure, and their coaching staff saw their teams combine to set a total of 19 new school records (eight indoor, 11 outdoor). Highlights included three NCAA National Championships and
USTFCCCA DII Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for Mobolade Ajomale (indoor 60m, 200m, and outdoor 100m), 13 total All-Americans across both seasons, and the teams' top three finishes at the
PacWest Championships.
Under Olson, the Urban Knights' 2015 cross country season featured the program's first top 10 NCAA Regional team placement, its first tandem of NCAA Nationals qualifiers, and its first men's cross country All-American to date. After winning the PacWest Conference individual title and being named
PacWest Runner of the Year, Valentin Pepiot claimed seventh overall at Nationals for his first
All-American honor. He would also be named
PacWest Scholar-Athlete of the Year for cross country, helping the men's team earn
USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors as well. Fellow Frenchman Pierre Fontanarosa reached Nationals after earning
PacWest Newcomer of the Year and contributing to the
men's second place finish at PacWest. On the women's side, McKaela Christenson earned her second consecutive
USTFCCCA All-West Region honor while leading the Knights to
fourth at PacWest.
As cross country gave way to the 2016 track & field season, Olson collaborated with head coach Kevin LaSure and their coaching staff to produce the two highest men's team finishes to date (third indoor, fourth outdoor) and 21 new school records (six indoor, 15 outdoor). Pepiot, the
PacWest Track Athlete of the Year, claimed
two more All-American honors with inspired races in both the 1500m and 5000m at Outdoor Nationals while both he and Fontanarosa earned
USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.
Prior to his promotion to director of track & field/cross country, Olson finished his first year as head coach for the Academy of Art University cross country teams and associate head coach for ART U Track & Field in 2014-15 after making tremendous progress with the program as associate head coach for cross country in 2013-14 and an impressive first year as assistant coach with the Urban Knights in 2012-13.
Over a 2015 campaign that saw the Urban Knights produce seven All-Americans and one NCAA individual champion, Academy of Art University track & field set a total of 19 school records (nine indoor, 10 outdoor). The indoor season was highlighted by Jordan Edwards earning the
national title in the 400m dash along with All-American trophies in the 200m dash and with three teammates in the 4x400m relay. The men's 4x100m relay would take
outdoor All-American honors while the women's side featured Keanna Moody being named an All-American in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. As a team, Academy of Art would earn 43 USTFCCCA All-Region honors (
27 indoor,
26 outdoor) and Valentin Pepiot claimed his second
USTFCCCA All-Academic honor.
The 2014 fall season saw great success for ART U cross country as Olson coached the men's team to a second place finish and the women's team to a record fourth place finish at the
Pacific West Conference Championships, the men's first
NCAA DII West Regionals team appearance in program history, and Valentin Pepiot,
the Urban Knights' third NCAA Nationals individual qualifier, was the
top finisher from the PacWest in the postseason finale. Under Olson, Academy of Art earned
a program record 10 PacWest postseason honors including Pepiot as PacWest Newcomer of the Year along with Mack Marbas and McKaela Christenson both PacWest Freshman of the Year (all three were also
USTFCCCA All-Region). Pepiot and Christenson also each earned
USTFCCCA All-Academic awards and Christenson went on to be named
PacWest Scholar-Athlete for women's cross country at the year's end.
Over the course of their 2013-14 track & field season, the Urban Knights produced an individual National Champion, crowned 12 All-Americans in total, and collectively set 24 new school records (9 indoor, 15 outdoor). The indoor season was highlighted by
four All-Americans in the women's 4x400m relay then, in the outdoor campaign, Jordan Edwards' 400m NCAA national title came along with a
PacWest Conference Championship for the women's team and
All-Americans Racquel Jones (long jump), Nicolas Rifflard (1500m), Keanna Moody (400m and 400mH), Dinesha Bean (100mH), Edgar Panford (triple jump), and
both genders' 4x100m relays.
The 2013 cross country season featured new ground broken by the Urban Knights. At the
PacWest Championships, an eighth place finish by the women and a fourth place finish on the men's side were highlighted by Top 20 results from Nicolas Rifflard, Temarius Walker, and Kaelyn Harbison, ensuring the trio a chance to run at NCAA Division II West Regionals. Those runners were named to the All-PacWest Conference Teams with Rifflard, a two-time PacWest Runner of the Week, on the All-PacWest First Team and Walker and Harbison on the All-PacWest Second Team. After
NCAA Regionals saw Rifflard become the first male Urban Knight to qualify through to NCAA Nationals,
he delivered a 57th place finish that was among the Top 10 competitors from the West Region in the postseason finale.
In 2012-13, their first year eligible for the post-season, the Urban Knights did something no NCAA DII program has ever done: Win two NCAA Division II Championships. Academy of Art produced 32 NCAA All-Americans across the indoor and outdoor campaigns and the Knights achieved a total of 44 new program records (15 indoor, 29 outdoor) that season, including a historic weekend at the 2013 Drake Relays that saw the ART U women's team
tie the NCAA record in the 4x100m shuttle hurdles (52.50) and
break the Drake Relays record in the 4x100m (44.19).
In 2012, Olson guided Jenny Bergren to become the
program's first NCAA All-American after capturing a host of accolades including
Pacific West Conference Runner of the Year and
USTFCCCA All-West Region. Men's cross country posted its best team finish of the season at the
PacWest Conference Championships.
Olson brings a strong intercollegiate coaching background after serving as an Assistant Coach with University of San Francisco Track & Field/Cross Country.
In his time at the University of San Francisco, Olson helped guide the dons to their first team berth to the DI NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2011. Across Olson’s two seasons with USF, two athletes earned All-American honors, while the team broke school records in both the men’s and women’s 800, Mile, 3000, 5,000, and 10,000.
Prior to working with the Dons, Olson served as the distance coach at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for the 2009-10 seasons, where three athletes qualified to NCAAs, and two earned All-American honors. For a number of years, Olson worked with a handful of post-collegiate athletes, including San Francisco's own Olympic Trials qualifier, Crosby Freeman. Olson also bolstered his coaching career in 2009 when he spent five weeks in Morocco interviewing and observing the country’s best distance and middle-distance runners and coaches.
A graduate of Pomona College, Olson also holds an MFA from St. Mary’s College. He is a USATF Level I certified coach. Olson was a decorated student-athlete himself as well. He served as team captain for the Sagehens two years in cross country and one in track & field. Olson captured All-Academic honors in both sports while also becoming an individual NCAA qualifier in cross country during the 2008 season.
Olson currently resides in Oakland, Calif.
