John Crawford enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s and women’s cross country and track programs. In 2006, he led the men and women’s cross country teams to two invitational victories. Crawford also took the men’s team to a second-place finish in the Skyline Conference meet and first-place honor for the second consecutive year in the Highlander Invitational. The women’s team placed second as well at the league meet and first at the Highlander Invitational. In addition, both squads produced first-place finishes at the Stevens Invitational at Liberty State Park.
During the 2006-07 indoor season, Crawford helped five men to the ECAC Championships in five different events. On that note, six individuals also set new school records along with the 4x800 relay and the distance-medley relay teams. On the women’s side, every member of the team set a personal record in each event they competed in. They also established new school records in the relay races multiple times, lowering the 4x800 mark four times and the distance-medley record three times. Additionally, four individuals set school records in their respective events as well.
In the 2007 outdoor season, Crawford helped send four runners to the ECAC Division III Championships. Both teams also set new school records in the 10,000-meter run, 200 and 800-meter dash, the 110-meter hurdles, shot put and the hammer throw at the CTC Championships on April 21st.
Prior to Stevens, Crawford coached at SUNY Cortland from 2002-04. In his first season there, he led the Red Dragons’ cross country team to their best finish in five years, while the women’s squad were ranked 17th in the nation at the NCAA Division III Championships. During the indoor track season, the men’s team finished second in the State University of New York Athletic Conference and No. 29 at the ECAC Indoor Championships.
Later that spring, the men nearly pulled off an upset at the SUNYAC Championships but recorded a fourth-place finish at the ECAC Outdoor Championships.
The following year, the results were even more impressive. The teams established 13 new school records en route to winning their respective indoor and outdoor conference championships. In the process, Crawford garnered two coach of the year honors. At the ECAC level, Cortland won its first-ever indoor and outdoor track and field championship. In addition, Crawford helped produce 31 NCAA qualifiers, four All-Americans, and one national champion while placing 18th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Before going to Cortland, Crawford spent three years working as a collegiate assistant track and field coach at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. During his tenure at VMI, Crawford helped the men’s team to two Southern Conference championships in 2000 and 2001. He also coached the league title-holders in the 800, 5,000 and 10,000-meter events.
In 1992, Crawford took a position as the first varsity cross country coach at Seattle University and within three years, the program produced its first All-American. Under Crawford’s tutelage, the women’s team earned 12th and 13th-place finishes at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships in 1994 and 1996, respectively.
Off the field, Crawford volunteered to organize team practices and travel so that the athletes could train in a quality environment because Seattle did not sponsor a track and field program at the time. However, in 2001, the team was elevated to full-sport status.
Three years earlier, Crawford founded a United States Track and Field youth club dubbed the Rain City Flyers. He recruited athletes from around Seattle and traveled to competitions throughout the Northwest, which included age-group national championships. Ultimately, the Flyers became one of the most dominant youth teams in the country. Over the course of the next five years, Crawford instructed more than 100 Junior Olympic All-Americans, nine individual national champions, while winning 14 team titles at the National Junior Olympic Championships.
Subsequently, Crawford was a volunteer coach at Nathan Hale High School (1987) and Garfield High School (1990-91). In those three years, the trio of teams each won a Washington State track and field team title. He also coached at Shorewood High School and Mercer Island High School in 1992 and 1999, respectively. Both teams scored more points at the state championships than any of the school’s track squads had tallied in the previous 20 years.
Crawford holds five USATF Level II coaching certifications (endurance, jumps, multi-events, sprint/hurdle and throws). He also owns a USATF Level I instructor certification and USA Weight-Lifting Club Coach Level I certification.
