Christine Engel - Track & Field Coach

Christine Engel

Title:
Assistant Coach (Distance)
Email:
cengel@csufresno.edu
Phone:
559-278-6182

Christine Engel enters her third season as Fresno State’s distance coach for the track and field program and head coach for the Bulldogs' cross country teams.

In her first season, she aided in Annemarie Schwanz winning a pair of Mountain West titles (mile, 1500m) and return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships where she earned All-America honors. During the year, Schwanz broke school records in the 3,000 meters (9:33.77) indoor, and 800 meters (2:04.65) and 1500 meters (4:10.93) outdoor. Schwanz's time of 4:10.93 in the semifinals at the NCAA outdoor championships broke the Mountain West record which had stood since 2003.

Prior to Fresno State, Engel spent two seasons at Duke where she was head women's cross country coach and assistant track & field coach. Her primary responsibilities included coaching Duke's middle and long distance runners. She helped guide former Blue Devil Anima Banks to the semifinals in the 800 meters at the 2016 US Olympic Trials where she placed 12th with a time of 2:02.58. Banks reached the semis with a personal best of 2:02.39.

During the 2016 indoor season, she coached Banks to First Team All-American honors in the 800 meters and the Blue Devil's women's distance medley relay team to Second Team All-American honors. A year earlier, Engel helped two student-athletes to All-ACC honors at the indoor conference meet and three who qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Round during the outdoor season.

Before joining the Blue Devils, Engel held the position of head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant women's track & field coach at Elon University for six years. During her tenure at Elon, Engel coached four Southern Conference individual champions and two NCAA East Preliminary Round qualifiers. Engel also helped lead 24 different student-athletes to 75 All-Southern Conference honors.

Elon's record books were rewritten during Engel's time with the program. Overall, 17 of Elon's top 20 all-time 5K performances and 16 of the school's top 20 all-time 6K performances came during Engel's tenure. Additionally, 11 records on the track were set while Engel was with the Phoenix.

In her final cross country season at Elon, she guided the women's cross country team to a second-place finish at the Southern Conference Championships, the team's highest conference finish in program history. The Phoenix followed the performance with a ninth-place effort at the NCAA Southeast Regionals, also the highest finish in school history at the event. On the men's side, Engel coached Luis Vargas to All-Region honors at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships as he became the first men's cross country athlete at Elon to earn All-Region honors.

Prior to Elon, Engel served as the assistant cross country and track and field coach at Columbia University, assisting three student-athletes to All-Ivy League honors in cross country, two to All-Northeast Region accolades and one to All-America honors.

In addition to her collegiate coaching experience, Engel also helped qualify six runners for the 2008 Olympic trials in the marathon, serving as a coach of the Impala Racing Team, an all-women's club team.

Engel graduated from Clemson University where she twice earned All-ACC honors, including a conference title as a member of Clemson's distance medley relay. Engel also served as a leg on Clemson's school record setting 4x800, distance medley relay and 4x1500m relay. Clemson recognized Engel's efforts as a student-athlete by naming her to the Clemson University Athletic Wall of Fame.