John Oliver

John Oliver, who works primarily with the men's distance runners, joined the cross country and track and field coaching staff in December 2012. In 2014 and 2015, Stanford earned back-to-back

John Oliver, who works primarily with the men's distance runners, joined the cross country and track and field coaching staff in December 2012.

In 2014 and 2015, Stanford earned back-to-back top-three finishes for the first time in more than a decade. The Cardinal was second in the NCAA in 2014, for the program's highest finish since 2003, and was third in 2015. Stanford has had seven different men's All-Americans in the past two seasons.

The Cardinal's top five in 2014, each earned All-America honors by placing among the top 40, and the entire top seven placed among the top 100.

In 2015, Joe Rosa and Sean McGorty placed sixth and seventh at the NCAA Championships. In addition, McGorty's runner-up finish at the Pac-12 Championships marked the third consecutive year a Cardinal finished among the top three individually.
In Oliver's first season, the Cardinal men won the 2013 NCAA West Region cross-country title and Jim Rosa earned his first All-America honor by placing fifth at nationals. Rosa was the top American-born runner at the NCAA Championships after finishing second at both the Pac-12 and West Region races.

In the 2014 track season, Stanford had men in every non-barrier distance final at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2015, McGorty earned first-team All-America honors in the outdoor 5,000.

During the 2014 indoor season, the Cardinal captured the NCAA men's distance medley relay. After the 2013-14 season, Stanford's combined cross country, and indoor and outdoor teams were rated as the No. 7 overall men's program in the country.

In the 2013 track season, Oliver helped coach Atchoo, Erik Olson, and Tyler Stutzman to All-America honors. Atchoo broke the Stanford indoor mile record and anchored the distance medley relay team to a school record. Stutzman was fourth in the NCAA indoor mile and Olson was an NCAA outdoor finalist in the 5,000 meters.

Besides coaching, Oliver assists with other aspects of the cross country and track programs, such as recruiting and equipment needs. Oliver came from Syracuse, where he was assistant for three seasons while serving in much of the same capacity. He also was the director of operations for the Orange for two seasons.

The St. Louis native ran cross country and track for North Central College in Naperville, Ill., under the legendary Al Carius. During Oliver's time there, North Central won 11 of a possible 12 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team championships in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. The Cardinals also regularly contended for national cross-country titles.