In July 2018, then-Gonzaga Director of Athletics Mike Roth announced that Jake Stewart was hired as head coach of the women's cross country and track and field teams. He enters his seventh year in 2024-25.
Under Stewart'stutelage, the Zags have produced eight NCAA Championship individual qualifiers between cross country and track. Most recently in 2023-24, Rosina Machu qualified as an individual for the NCAA Cross Country Championships before becoming just the second All-American in women's program history. Machu would follow that up on the outdoor oval with a Second Team All-American finish in the NCAA 10K final, becoming the first female in program history to earn such honors in the same one-year span. Machuwas also crowned the West Coast Conference Cross Country Champion and Runner of the Year in the fall of 2023, the first under Stewart and first since 2015.
Machu was one of five Bulldogs to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in 2024, the most in program history. Alicia Anderson (1500m), Willow Collins (5K), Jessica Frydenlund (Steeple), Kristen Garcia (10K), and Machu (5K/10K) all earned qualifying marks, with Frydenlund the first Gonzaga true-freshman to qualify. Throughout the 2023-24 indoor season, nine of GU's records were broken with 23 different athletes taking part in some form of record. Five more program event records were broken during the outdoor season.
In cross country, Kristen Garcia finished All-West Region and qualified for back-to-back NCAA Championship races as an individual in the Spring 2021 season and Fall 2021 season. On the outdoor oval, five individuals qualified for NCAA Regionals in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, with Garcia qualifying in the 5,000m in 2021 and the 10,000m in 2022, Alicia Anderson in the 1,500m and 5,000m in 2022, and Elisabeth Danis in the 5,000m in 2022.
Stewart has also coached five All-West Regional performers in cross country, with Garcia being named to the team twice in 2021 and 2022, Rosina Machu named to the team in 2022 and 2023, and Sadie Tuckwood in 2023. He’s also coached six All-WCC performers, highlighted by Garcia being named three times in spring 2021 (12th), fall 2021 (7th) and 2022 (6th) seasons. Other notable mentions include Claire Manley in 2019 (6th), Elisabeth Danis in fall 2021 (10th), Machu in 2022 and 2023 (7th and 1st), Sadie Tuckwood in 2023 (4th), and Jessica Frydenlund in 2023 (5th).
Since joining the program in 2018, the Zags have had an additional 302 individuals crack the program’s All-Time Top 10 lists in cross country and indoor and outdoor track under Stewart’s coaching. Of those additions to the list, 77 have gone on to break program records in all three sports.
In the last three seasons, the Zags have finished in the Top Four of the team total at WCC Championships, includingsecond-place finishes in the Fall of 2021and 2023 that they followed up withprogram-best fourth- and fifth-placefinishes at the NCAA Regionals.
In 2021, the Zag women entered the USTFCCCA coaches’ poll for the first time since 2015 at No. 29, reaching their highest-ever ranking at No. 21 the following season. In total, the Zags have spent ten weeks in the coaches’ poll either ranked or received votes. GU has also gone on to beat seven USTFCCCA ranked teams in the top 30 during the span.
GU’s women’s program has been ranked among the Top Five in the West Region by the USTFCCCA in each of the last two seasons. The Zags spent 15 weeks ranked inside the top 10 of the regional rankings and an additional 15 weeks between the rankings of 11-15.
In his second season, Stewart led the Zag women to a fourth-place finish at the WCC Championships, led by an All-Conference finish from Claire Manley. She placed sixth at the event, the first Zag to crack the Top 10 at WCC’s since Jordan Thurston’s fourth-place finish in 2016. Since then, eight more GU women’s runners have earned All-WCC finishes, with Kristen Garcia doing so three times in 2020, 2021 and 2022 along with Elisabeth Danis (2021), Rosina Machu (2022 and 2023), Jessica Frydenlund (2023), and Sadie Tuckwood (2023). Garcia and Machu became the first Zags duo to pick up All-West Region honors in 2022, leading the Zags to a seventh-place finish. Machu and Tuckwood followed that up in 2023 with All-West Region honors and a fifth-place team finish.
Stewart has brought in hard-working athletes who have gone on to succeed in the classroom, with 154 student-athletes making the university’s Dean's List (3.50-3.84 GPA) and 173 student-athletes making the university’s President’s List (3.85+). Six of his teams have also been named a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, along with seven individuals named USTFCCCA All-Academic Individual. In 2022, track athlete Morgan Greene was named GU's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In 2024, Alicia Anderson and Willow Collins earned the nod as co-recipients.
In his latest recruiting classes, Stewart has earned commitments from four Nike Cross National competitors.
Stewart arrived in Spokane after spending six seasons as the men's cross country head coach at Illinois. In 2017, he was named the first Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach in the program's history. He was also an assistant on the Fighting Illini track and field staff, in charge of distance running.
Stewart arrived at Illinois in the fall of 2012, and he guided the Fighting Illini men's distance program back into the national picture. He led the Illini to its first cross country NCAA Championships appearance since 1986 in 2016, and assisted the men's track and field team in winning the 2015 Big Ten Outdoor Championship. Additionally, Stewart built stability in the distance program with back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes in 2015 and 2016.
Inheriting a cross country program that had not finished better than sixth at Big Ten Championships since 1996, Stewart guided Illinois to a runner-up finish at the conference meet in 2015. Also that season, Stewart coached Dylan Lafond to the program's first All-America honor since 2007, while also tutoring Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jesse Reiser. In 2016, Stewart guided the Illini to its first NCAA Championships in 30 seasons where the team finished 23rd. Following that season, he was named the 2016 USTFCCA Midwest Region Cross Country Coach of the Year.
On the track, the Illinois distance group totaled four Big Ten individual titles and ten All-American finishes under Stewart. In 2017, Stewart coached Lafond to a Big Ten title in the steeplechase and Jon Davis to All-America honors in the 5K as a freshman. During the Illinois' Big Ten championship season in 2015, Stewart guided Joe McAsey (800m) and Lafond (steeplechase) to All-America honors.
Stewart's impact has extended onto the national stage, as he coached Lafond to a United States Olympic Trials appearance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase during the summer of 2016.
Prior to Illinois, Stewart made stops at Purdue and Lamar. At the helm of the Boilermakers, Stewart led the men's cross country team to its best finish since 2008 and recruited the first All-American in school history. During a three-year stint at Lamar, Stewart guided the program to back-to-back Southland cross country conference championships in 2009 and 2010, and was twice named Southland Conference Coach of the Year.
Prior to his tenure at Lamar, Stewart was the assistant coach for the Iona College. In his time with the Gaels, the men's cross country team finished runner-up in 2007 and 2008, the highest finish of any program in school history, while the women's team became the first female team in program history to qualify for national championships. Academically, the men's team was named the NCAA Division I All-Academic Team of the Year in 2006 and 2007.
During his time as an undergrad at Iona, Stewart helped the Gaels win four MAAC championships and finish in the top 10 each year. In addition, he was the captain of the squad in 2005, becoming the first walk-on in program history to achieve the feat.
Stewart's father, Joe, is a member of the Washington State High School Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame, after being the long time track and field and cross country head coach at Kelso High School.
Jake Stewart earned his Master's degree in Sports Administration from Concordia University in 2012, and his Bachelor of Science in English from Iona College in 2005. He and his wife Brandi, a native of Kennewick, Wash., have a son, Griffin, and a daughter, Poppy.