Seven-time Atlantic 10 Cross Country Coach of the Year Gavin Kennedy enters his sixth season as head coach of Loyola Chicago's cross country and track & field programs in 2026-27. An 18-year coaching veteran, Kennedy spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin prior to arriving in Rogers Park.
"Gavin is a proven winner and has experienced success at each of his stops during his career, recruiting and developing numerous conference and NCAA champions, as well as All-Americans," Loyola Director of Athletics Steve Watson said upon Kennedy's hiring in 2021. "We are confident he will continue to build on Loyola's storied history in the sports of cross country and track & field."
Over his coaching career, Kennedy has guided teams to 20 conference championships while mentoring seven NCAA champions, 36 All-Americans and 85 individual conference champions.
During the 2025-26 season, Kennedy led Loyola to one of the most successful campaigns in program history. The Ramblers swept the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships for the third time in four years, capturing both the men's and women's team titles. Loyola's men defeated two nationally ranked opponents en route to a runner-up finish at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational and earned the program's first appearance in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, debuting at No. 30. The Ramblers closed the cross country season with strong performances at the NCAA Midwest Regional, where the men placed fifth and the women finished 11th.
Following the season, James Lawrence was selected to represent the Ivy League Alumni Team at the prestigious Izumo Ekiden in Japan, one of the world's premier collegiate road relay events.
On the track, Loyola combined for 14 medals at the Atlantic 10 Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The Ramblers captured seven medals indoors before adding seven more outdoors, highlighted by conference titles from Nate Boutin in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Eileen Seebon in the 10,000 meters. Boutin set a program record in the steeplechase with a time of 8:45.43 at the Raleigh Relays, while Roisin Treacy lowered the women's school record to 10:08.67 at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships.
The season concluded with Treacy, Boutin and Rodolfo Sanchez qualifying for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminary Round.
During the 2024 cross country season, Loyola's women captured a third consecutive Atlantic 10 championship behind four top-seven finishers, while the men's team earned a runner-up finish with two runners placing among the top seven.
Lawrence and Grace Kuhn earned All-Region honors at the NCAA Midwest Regional. Lawrence finished 14th in the men's 10K to help Loyola place fifth as a team, while Kuhn took 23rd in the women's 6K to lead the Ramblers to a ninth-place finish. Academically, the men's team posted a 3.43 GPA during the fall semester, while the women recorded a 3.69 GPA.
At the 2025 Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships, Lawrence earned Most Outstanding Track Performer honors after winning the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter titles. His winning time of 8:03.53 in the 3K established a conference meet record. Earlier in the season, Lawrence broke Jim Westphal's 33-year-old school record in the event with a time of 7:52.32. Emma Watcke also rewrote the record book, setting school records in the indoor mile (4:39.66) and indoor 3,000 meters (9:14.85). Lawrence and Gabe Smit were named to the Atlantic 10 Indoor All-Academic Team.
During the outdoor season, Lawrence and Watcke claimed Atlantic 10 titles in the 5,000 meters, while Treacy captured the conference championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Three additional Ramblers recorded podium finishes at the league meet.
Lawrence, Sam Field, Watcke and Treacy qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round. At the Stanford Invitational, Lawrence ran 27:54.62 in the 10,000 meters, the 13th-fastest time in the nation and a school record, eclipsing NCAA Cross Country All-American Chris Devaney's previous mark by more than 45 seconds.
Following the season, Lawrence, Smit, Watcke and Treacy earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors. Loyola's men's and women's teams also received USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition, while Lawrence, Watcke and Treacy earned individual USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. At the conclusion of the spring semester, the men's team posted a 3.44 GPA and the women finished with a 3.67 GPA.
In the summer of 2025, Jason Clayton broke Loyola's outdoor 3,000-meter record at the Cork City Sports meet in Ireland, running 7:53.12 to surpass the previous mark by 27 seconds. He later set a school record in the 5,000 meters at the Night of Athletics meet in Belgium, clocking 13:26.94 to break Jim Westphal's 32-year-old record by 19 seconds.
Over the course of the year, Loyola athletes broke school records eight times and earned eight Atlantic 10 Track Performer of the Week honors.
The 2023 cross country season saw Loyola defeat four ranked opponents while defending both Atlantic 10 team championships. Chris Devaney repeated as the conference individual champion and earned All-America honors with a 31st-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Seven Ramblers earned All-Atlantic 10 recognition across the conference's All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams, while three men received USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
During the 2023-24 indoor season, Loyola won five conference titles, including victories from four individuals and the men's distance medley relay. Jayla Johnson captured the 60-meter hurdles title and broke Loyola's indoor 60-meter hurdles and outdoor 100-meter hurdles records five times. Francois Guilhot earned Atlantic 10 All-Academic honors, while Cael Mulholland and Julia Isham each collected multiple All-Rookie selections.
The Ramblers added two more conference champions during the 2024 outdoor season as Devaney won the men's 10,000 meters and Clayton captured the men's 5,000 meters. Devaney, Clayton and Watcke qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, with Clayton advancing to the quarterfinals. Eileen Seebon and Nate Boutin earned Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team honors, while Devaney was named to both the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team and CSC Academic All-District Team.
Through his first two seasons at Loyola, Kennedy guided the Ramblers to three conference championships, including a sweep of the 2022 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships. During that span, Loyola produced its first cross country All-American since 1991, while 11 Ramblers earned All-Conference honors.
In Loyola's inaugural Atlantic 10 season in 2022, Kennedy led both cross country teams to conference championships and earned Coach of the Year honors on both the men's and women's sides. The sweep marked the program's first since 2012. Devaney captured the men's individual title and was named the conference's Most Outstanding Performer.
Ryan Martins, Blake Buysse, Nora Wollen, Lilian Mataway and Claire Hengesbaugh also recorded top-10 finishes as Loyola earned nine All-Atlantic 10 selections and two All-Rookie honors.
At the NCAA Midwest Regional, the men's team finished fourth, the highest regional finish in program history, while the women placed eighth, the third-best finish in school history. Martins and Devaney earned All-Region honors.
Martins later became Loyola's first men's NCAA Cross Country Championships qualifier since 2014 and finished 29th nationally, the second-highest finish in program history.
The success continued during the indoor track & field season as Martins broke Jim Westphal's 30-year-old school record in the 5,000 meters, running 13:33.45. Loyola also saw three freshmen earn Atlantic 10 All-Rookie honors.
The outdoor season featured the program's first Atlantic 10 individual champion in the men's 10,000 meters, 81 personal records and 22 all-time top-10 performances.
Martins and Devaney both broke Westphal's school record in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational, running 28:40.40 and 28:45.46, respectively. Buysse added a time of 29:05.99 to move into fifth on Loyola's all-time list. The trio helped Loyola earn a No. 5 national event ranking from the USTFCCCA.
Martins and Devaney qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in the 10,000 meters, while Jason Clayton advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in the 1,500 meters after running 3:41.76.
Kennedy's teams also excelled academically. Kathleen Simms earned the Atlantic 10 Postgraduate Scholarship, while Devaney and Martins were recognized by both the Atlantic 10 and USTFCCCA for their academic achievements.
Kennedy's first season at Loyola in 2021-22 produced immediate success. The women captured a third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference cross country title, while the men recorded their highest conference finish since 2013. Anneka Murrin earned MVC Athlete of the Year honors, and Chantz Visse led the men's team with a fourth-place finish.
During the indoor season, Loyola posted 78 personal records and 15 additions to the program's all-time performance lists. Nine Ramblers earned All-MVC honors at the conference championship meet hosted at Gately Park.
The outdoor season produced 68 additional personal records and 14 new all-time top-10 marks. Kathleen Simms and Melissa Parrella won MVC titles in the 5,000 meters and long jump, respectively, while five Ramblers advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
Jason Clayton capped the year by becoming the first Rambler to break four minutes in the outdoor mile, running 3:59.53 at the Festival of Miles.
Before arriving at Loyola, Kennedy spent eight seasons at Wisconsin, where he helped develop seven NCAA champions, 31 USTFCCCA All-Americans and 24 Big Ten champions. The Badgers also won eight conference championships and recorded five top-10 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships during his tenure.
Kennedy served as an assistant coach at Ole Miss during the 2012-13 season after spending one year as head men's cross country coach at Illinois. While in Champaign, he guided two athletes to NCAA Cross Country Championships appearances and coached qualifiers to the NCAA West Preliminary Round and NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Kennedy began his collegiate coaching career at Iona, where he spent three seasons and rose to associate head coach. He helped the Gaels finish runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships while winning six Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles. Kennedy coached 11 All-Americans and 47 MAAC champions, including two-time NCAA champion Leonard Korir.
A former standout runner at DePaul, Kennedy earned all-conference honors in each of his four seasons. He set school records in the mile and 1,500 meters and earned all-academic recognition as both a junior and senior.
A native of Waterford, Ireland, Kennedy is a certified Level 1 coach through USA Track & Field and also holds USTFCCCA Endurance Coach certification.
Kennedy graduated from DePaul in 2006. He and his wife, Taylor, have two sons, Dylan and Owen.
