Portland State University Athletics

Rhonda Riley joined the Vikings as a volunteer assistant before the 2022 cross country season and will continue in that role for the 2023 track & field season.

In her first track season working with the Vikings, Riley helped lead the Vikings to historic finishes at both the Big Sky Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Outdoors, a trio of Vikings posted historic finishes at the conference meet. Bára Stýblová became the first Viking to score in both the women's 800 and 1,500 meters at a single conference meet since 2013, placing sixth in the 800 and fifth in the 1,500. On the men's side, Dom Morganti became the first Viking ever to score in the men's 10k, placing fourth overall. Jordan MacIntosh, meanwhile, became the first Viking since 2006 to score in the men's 1,500 meters, placing fifth overall.

Stýblová was also part of a trio of qualifiers for the NCAA West Prelims. Stýblová, Alex Barbour and Tatum Miller all qualified in the women's steeplechase, giving the Vikings the most qualifiers in the event outside of BYU. Miller and Stýblová traded off the school record in the steeplechase during the regular season. Stýblová initially set the record at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 13, breaking Sarah Medved's five-year-old mark with a time of 10:17.05. Miller then passed that two weeks later, finishing in 10:14.62 at the OSU High Performance Meet on April 28.

The trio of Barbour, Miller and Stýblová also ran three of the four legs on the Vikings' distance medley relay that placed second at the Big Sky Indoor Championships. That finish followed a school record in the DMR earlier in the season, when those three plus Wendy Hare broke a 16-year-old record in the event with their finish in 11:36.53 at the UW Invitational.

In the 2022 fall cross country season, Riley helped lead the Viking men to a program-record third-place finish at the Big Sky meet. The Vikings finished behind only a pair of nationally ranked teams in Northern Arizona (the eventual national champions) and Montana State. MacIntosh led the way with the best individual finish by a Viking men's runner, placing 12th overall. MacIntosh would also set the highest individual finish ever by a men's runner at the NCAA West Regional, where he'd place 27th overall.

The biggest step the Vikings took in 2022, however, came in the team's depth. The men had five runners finish in the top 25 at the Big Sky meet for the first time in program history. Before 2022, the Vikings had only ever placed two runners in the top 25, and even that they had only accomplished three times before. The men then placed six runners in the top 100 at the NCAA West Regional. Two years earlier, that record stood at three in the top 100, so the Vikings doubled that total in 2022.

Besides MacIntosh, Ben Collins set the freshman records for highest individual finishes by a Viking men's runner at the Big Sky meet (17th) and NCAA West Regional (56th).

The Vikings showed similar depth on the women's side. They placed four runners in the top 25 at the Big Sky meet for the second straight season after not having done so before last season. That depth led them to a fourth-place team finish at the conference meet, trailing only 2021's third-place finish as the program's best ever.

The women went on to finish 16th overall at the NCAA West Regional, just 61 points out of 11th which would have tied their highest finish ever at the meet.

Barbour led the Viking women at every meet at which she competed, placing 13th overall at the Big Sky meet and 56th at the NCAA West Regional. The women also had two runners win races during the season in Miller at the Viking Rust Buster and Stýblová at the Charles Bowles Invitational.

In her first indoor season with the Viks, Riley helped lead the Vikings to a second-place finish in the women's DMR at the 2023 Big Sky Indoor Championships. That finish followed a school record in the DMR earlier in the season, as Barbour, Wendy Hare, Miller and Stýblová broke a 16-year-old record in the event with their finish in 11:36.53 at the UW Invitational.
 
Riley came to the Vikings after five seasons at Duke where she served as the head coach of the women’s cross country team from 2016-20. She also spent one year as interim head coach of both the men’s and women’s programs during the 2020-21 school year.
 
Both men’s and women’s cross country teams reached the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2012 during Riley’s year as interim head coach. The men’s team finished 16th at the NCAA meet, the program’s best finish since 2001. Additionally, three different runners earned All-ACC honors at the conference meet between two women (Michaela Reinhart and Samantha Schadler) and one men’s runner (CJ Ambrosio).
 
During the 2021 track season, Riley helped Alex Miley break a 49-year-old school record in the men’s steeplechase while earning an ACC silver medal. Sara Platek also placed second in the indoor 5k, while Leigha Torino qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800, placing ninth. As a team, the Duke women captured the program’s first-ever ACC outdoor title thanks in part to Riley’s runners.
 
Riley also oversaw the women’s cross country program’s first All-Southeast Region honorees in five years, as Reinhart and Gabrielle Richichi earned the honor in 2018. Reinhart would earn the honor again in 2019, along with Platek as they finished 11th and 18th, respectively, at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
 
Prior to coaching at Duke, Riley spent nine years as an assistant coach within the Vanderbilt program. During Riley’s tenure at Vanderbilt, the women’s cross country team made five consecutive appearances at the NCAA Championships and claimed back-to-back South Region titles during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. During the 2011 cross country season, Riley helped lead the Vanderbilt women to their first Southeast Conference title, as they placed five runners among the first nine finishers at the championship meet.
 
Riley also coached Vanderbilt’s first All-American in Alexa Rogers, who placed 39th at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Caroline Pietrzyk would also claim All-American honors during her freshman season in 2015, placing 32nd at the NCAA meet after earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors earlier in the season.
 
Before joining the Vanderbilt program, Riley spent two years at Arizona State as a graduate assistant and one year at Oregon State as a volunteer.
 
Riley graduated from Oregon State with her bachelor’s degree in early childhood development in 2004. She earned her master’s degree in higher education from Arizona State in 2007.
 
Riley works as a realtor with the Keller Williams/Andrews Group when not coaching.