Kelly Hart - Track & Field Coach - Colorado State Athletics

Kelly Hart

Title:
Head Cross Country Coach
Email:
kelly.hart@colostate.edu

Hart's Coaching Accolades

Mountain West Coach of the Year (2023)

Kelly Hart joined Colorado State prior to the 2022 season as an assistant coach before getting elevated to head coach before the 2023 season.

In just her second season at the helm, Hart led the Ram women to the Mountain West Championship and advanced all the way to the 2023 NCAA Championships. Between the men's and women's programs, Hart mentored a total of five all-conference honorees. This included graduate student Sarah Carter, who captured the MW individual title with a time of 19:48.5. For her efforts, the Ram leader was selected as the 2023 Mountain West Cross Country Coach of the Year.

During her first season in Fort Collins she helped both cross country squads return to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2004, both earning at-large bids. Both squads were also nationally ranked heading into the Mountain Regional for just the second time in school history. At the Mountain West Championship, she helped set eight personal records on the women's side and three on the men as both squads finished second. Both squads combined earned nine All-Mountain West honors.

Pior to Colorado State, Hart spent the 2021 season on staff at Tulsa for her first post-collegiate position. The two-time All-American at Notre Dame joined the Hurricane in August of 2021 and immediately helped Tulsa with championship results. The Hurricane men and women swept the American Athletic Conference in cross country titles, while Hart and Co. were named the AAC Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year. In her one season, Hart learned under the tutelage of Steve Gulley, who has been at the helm of Tulsa's track and field and cross country program for 21 seasons. Also on staff, aiding in Hart's development was Taylor Gulley and Brian Biekert. The foursome made for one of the most extensive distance coaching staffs in the country.

While in Tulsa, Hart was the event coach for the women's 800-meter group, however she assisted in all other middle to long distances. She was pinned as the head of recruiting for the women's distance and middle-distance groups along with overseeing the weight training regimen.

The success in cross translated to the track season with two indoor conference champions in the 3,000 and 5,000 plus three outdoor conference champions in the 5,000, 10,000 and 3,000 steeplechase. In all, the women's distance crew tallied 11 All-AAC indoor awards and 14 All-AAC outdoor awards. As a team, the women finished third at indoors, tying for the highest conference finish in program history.

Due to COVID and redshirt seasons, Hart had a six-year career at Notre Dame. She obtained a bachelors in sociology with a minor in education, schooling and society in 2019, however she continued to take non-degree-seeking graduate level classes until she exhausted her athletic eligibility in spring of 2021. During her time with the Irish, she earned two USTFCCCA All-America honors for the distance medley relay and was a five-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer in the 800.

Outside of athletics, Hart excelled in the community and scholastically. She was awarded the Byron V. Kanaley Award for exemplary leadership – the most prestigious award bestowed on a Notre Dame student-athlete. Additionally, she served as the community service coordinator and earned Notre Dame Community Champion award for her outstanding service. Hart exemplified leadership as the Student Athlete Athletic Council team representative in addition to being the cross country team captain. In the classroom, she was a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree.

Hart, of Arlington, Va., attended Yorktown High School, located 20 minutes from Washington D.C. The four-year letterman was named the Female Track Athlete of the Year by Better Sports Club of Arlington. Her accolades in her final two years consisted of the 2014 Arlington County Cross Country title, a conference champion in the 800 and the 1,000. Again, she excelled in school, earning the Central Intelligence Agency Award for an Outstanding Young Scientist.