Worthing
West London Penguin
Two new assistant coaches and a director of operations are joining the Arizona track and field/cross country team as five-time Olympian and cross country coach Bernard Lagat exits.
New head coach Andrew Dubs announced Wednesday that he is bringing on Jay Koloseus and Gabriel Mvumvure as assistants, while Mackenzie Landa will take on the role of director of operations.
Dubs shared in a news release that he would be retaining assistant coaches Lucais MacKay, Dino Dodig, Bob Myers and Dominic Johnson.
Arizona Athletics said separately that Lagat was not retained by Dubs and would not return to the staff for next year. Lagat competed for his native Kenya and the United States, most recently in 2020.
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Under Lagat, the UA cross country team closed out its first season in the Big 12 conference with the women’s team finishing 23rd in the region out of 39 teams. On the men’s side, the team came in 16th in a field of 31.
“I couldn’t be more excited to complete our coaching staff for the future of Arizona track and field and cross country,” said Dubs in the news release. “These additions, combined with the retention of our returning staff, give our student-athletes a full coaching roster of those who have achieved tremendous success at the highest levels, both within the NCAA and in international championship competition.”
Koloseus most recently served as the head track and field and cross country coach at Drake for three years after working as the Bulldogs’ head cross country and associate head track and field coach/recruiting coordinator from 2019-22. He joined the program as an assistant for the 2017-18 season.
He also held posts at Louisburg College from 2013-17 and at Auburn.
At Drake, a school-record seven Bulldogs earned All-American honors in 2023-24, including a runner-up finish in the mile at the NCAA’s Outdoor Championships, the news release said. The program also earned conference titles in 2021 and 2023, both years where Koloseus captured the league’s Coach of the Year honor.
Mvumvure is coming from Washington State, where he has served as men’s and women’s sprints and hurdles coach for three years.
A three-time World Championships semifinalist, Mvumvure got his start as a volunteer assistant coach for LSU, where he was also an NCAA Champion (2008) and SEC Champion (2008) in the 4X100m relay as a student-athlete, the news release said.
In his time at Washington State, the program produced seven All-Americans and NCAA Outdoor semifinalists and an NCAA Outdoor runner-up.
Mvumvure also had a three-year stint at Brown University.
Landa, a Southern California native, joins the UA after three years in the same role for Tennessee cross country, plus two years as an assistant coach, working primarily with UT’s distance runners.
She assisted in the Volunteers’ men’s and women’s team victories at the 2023 South Regional Cross Country Championships, followed by the women’s sixth-place finish at the national meet.
Landa ran at Fresno State for two seasons before transferring to Florida State.
In her new post, Landa will handle the program’s budget and travel, while serving as a liaison with other support units.
“Beyond results, each of these coaches have had a tremendous impact on the lives of their student-athletes,” Dubs said in the news release. “It was a very high priority for me throughout this process to find not just great coaches, but even better people. In mentoring event groups, we spend so much time with our student-athletes on a daily basis, and the ability to really connect well and form strong relationships built around trust and respect is instrumental.”
