Dennis McCaffrey joined the Portland State track & field and cross country programs in August 2015, and will enter his second season as an assistant coach in charge of distances for the 2016-17 academic year.
McCaffrey led several athletes to breakout performances in his first season as an assistant during the 2015-16 season. McCaffrey guided Amanda Boman to All-Big Sky honors in his first fall cross country season with the Vikings, as she became just the second Viking since 1999 to crack the top 10 at the conference cross country meet. Boman also earned All-Big Sky honors with a second-place finish in the outdoor 5,000 meters, the longest distance at which any Viking had earned All-Big Sky honors. Additionally, Boman qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in the 10,000 meters, the fourth straight season the Vikings have had a runner qualify in the longest event.
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No athlete made a bigger jump under McCaffrey than Ben Richardson, however, who earned All-Big Sky honors in with third-place finishes in both the indoor and outdoor 800 meters in 2016. Richardson was a surprise third-place finisher in the indoor 800, as he entered the Big Sky meet ranked 14th in the conference within the event, only to beat the form chart by 11 spots. Richardson then kept up that momentum during the outdoor season, when he shaved more than a second off his personal best while cracking 1:52 at two different meets.
For McCaffrey, his arrival at Portland State marks a reunion with his mentor and old collegiate coach Brent Ericksen. McCaffrey captained the Southern Oregon men's outdoor track and field team to the 2010 NAIA national championship under Ericksen, and then coached under Ericksen at Morehead State.
More recently, McCaffrey served as an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky for the 2015 track and field season. During the 2014 cross country season, McCaffrey was an assistant at Michigan State where he helped lead the Spartans’ women’s team to the Division I national championship.
McCaffrey is a native of Ashland, Ore., and graduated from Southern Oregon University in June 2011. He also went on to earn a Masters in Teaching (MAT) at Morehead State in 2012.
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