Schumacher Adds Solinsky to UO Staff

EUGENE, Ore. – Chris Solinsky, former American record holder at 10,000 meters, joins the Oregon cross country and track and field program as an assistant coach for the Ducks’ distance crew as announced by head coach Jerry Schumacher. Solinsky comes to Eugene after five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Florida.
 

Solinsky was a five-time NCAA champion under Schumacher at Wisconsin (2003-07) and went on to a record-breaking professional career with Schumacher and the Bowerman Track Club before becoming an assistant coach at William & Mary in 2014.
 
“I’m incredibly excited to have Chris join our team,” Schumacher said. “Having coached him for over a decade, I know him to be one of the most driven and passionate athletes I’ve worked with and his work ethic is second to none. Chris has brought those attributes to coaching and has had tremendous success working with student-athletes at the University of Florida. He will be an awesome addition to our staff.”
 
During the recently completed 2022 cross country season, Solinsky coached Florida’s Parker Valby to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla. She was also the South Region and SEC cross country champion during the campaign, and the NCAA runner-up at 5,000 meters during the 2022 outdoor season.
 
The Florida women finished fifth at the 2022 SEC Cross Country Championships, their highest finish since a second-place finish in 2018 also under Solinsky. Valby and Jessica Pascoe (2018) both won SEC XC titles during Solinsky’s time in Gainesville; Pascoe was the Gators’ first individual champion since 2009. The UF men had a best finish of sixth place in 2019 for their highest finish since 2013.
 
In addition to Valby’s runner-up performance at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Solinsky saw two of his student-athletes—Imogen Barrett and Gabrielle Wilkinson—advance to the final of the 800 meters with Barrett (2:02.05) coming away with fourth place. She was also the SEC champion over 800 meters last spring.
 
As a freshman, Barrett won the SEC title in the 1500 meters and was the only freshman qualifier in the event at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
Solinsky coached both Pascoe and Valby to current Florida school records. In 2018, Pascoe established an indoor 5K best of 15:34.76 at the BU Opener to erase a nine-year-old Gators’ record. Valby, in her standout freshman campaign on the track, set new UF marks of 8:53.89 in the…