Five-time Atlantic 10 Cross Country Coach of the Year, Gavin Kennedy will begin his fifth season at the helm of Loyola Chicago’s cross country and track & field teams in 2025-26. A 17-year coaching veteran, Kennedy spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin prior to his arrival 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.”
Kennedy has piloted 18 team conference championships, seven NCAA champions, 36 All-Americans, and 83 individual league champions through his coaching career.
During the 2024 cross country season, the Loyola women captured the Atlantic 10 title for the third-straight season, placing four runners in the top seven. The men’s team earned a runner-up finish, led by two top seven performances.
James Lawrence and Grace Kuhn earned All-Region honors at the NCAA Division I Midwest Regional. Lawrence placed 14th in the men’s 10K, helping Loyola to a fifth-place team finish. Kuhn finished 23rd in the women’s 6K, pacing the women to ninth overall. At the end of the fall semester, the men’s team recorded a 3.43 GPA, while the women’s team led the way with a 3.69.
At the 2025 Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships in Virginia, Lawrence earned Most Outstanding Track Performer honors after winning both the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. His 3K time of 8:03.53 set a new conference meet record. Lawrence broke Jim Westphal’s 33-year 3k indoor record with a 7:52.32. Emma Watcke shattered the school’s indoor mile record by four seconds (4:39.66) as well as the indoor 3k record by more than six seconds (9:14.85). Academically, Lawrence and Gabe Smit were named to the A-10 Indoor All-Academic Team.
The outdoor season featured multiple podium finishes, including three Atlantic 10 champions. Lawrence and Watcke took first in the 5,000 meters, while Roisin Treacy won the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Three other Ramblers earned top-three finishes at the conference meet.
Lawrence, Sam Field, Watcke and Treacy all qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round. At the Stanford Invitational, Lawrence posted the 13th-fastest 10K time in the nation, clocking a 27:54.62 at the Stanford Invitational, breaking NCAA Cross Country All-American Chris Devaney’s school record by more than 45 seconds.
After the season, Lawrence, Smit, Watcke and Treacy each earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors for their combined excellence in competition and in the classroom. Again, both men’s and women’s teams received USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors, with individual accolades awarded to Lawrence, Watcke, and Treacy. At the conclusion of the spring semester, the men's team posted a 3.44 GPA, while the women's team excelled with a 3.67.
In the summer of 2025, Jason Clayton broke Loyola Chicago’s outdoor 3,000-meter school record at the Cork City Sports meet in Ireland with a time of 7:53.12, beating the previous record set by Alex Baker in 2018 by 27 seconds. He then broke the 32-year-old 5,000-meter school record at the Night of Athletics meet in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, running 13:26.94 and improving Jim Westphal’s time by 19 seconds.
Over the course of the year, Loyola athletes broke school records eight times and collected eight Atlantic 10 Track Performer of the Week honors.
The 2023 cross country teams triumphed over four ranked opponents to defend their league titles. Chris Devaney, who repeated as the men's individual A-10 cross country champion, earned All-American status by placing 31st at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The Ramblers had seven student-athletes honored across the three All-A-10 Teams (All-Rookie, All-Conference, and All-Academic), with three men earning USTFCCCA All-Region honors.
In the 2023-24 indoor season, four individuals and the men's DMR secured league titles. Jayla Johnson won the 60m hurdle event and broke the program's indoor 60m hurdle and outdoor 100m hurdle records five times. Francois Guilhot was named to the All-Academic Team, while Cael Mulholland and Julia Isham earned All-Rookie honors in two events each.
During the 2024 outdoor season, two Ramblers won league titles: Devaney in the men's 10k and Jason Clayton in the men's 5k. Both, along with Emma Watcke, qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Clayton advanced to the quarterfinal round. Eileen Seebon and Nate Boutin made the A-10's All-Rookie Team, while Devaney was named to both the All-Academic Team and the CSC Academic All-District Team.
Through his first two years with the Ramblers, Kennedy’s teams won three conference titles including a sweep of the 2022 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships. The cross country program named its first All-American since 1991 (Ryan Martins), 11 Ramblers earned All-Conference honors, two All-Rookie, two All-Region accolades, and several academic awards from the league and USTFCCCA.
In the 2022 season, the Ramblers prepped for their first season in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Kennedy coached both the cross country teams to conference titles, en route to Coach of the Year accolades for both teams. It marked the first title sweep since the 2012 season. The men also claimed the individual title with Chris Devaney crossing the finish line first. He took home the A10 Most Outstanding Male Performer honors.
In addition to Devaney’s success, Ryan Martins and Blake Buysse placed in the top-10 with second and ninth place respectively. On the women’s side, Nora Wollen (5th), Lilian Mataway (6th), and Claire Hengesbaugh (8th) landed in the top-10. Mataway was tabbed the A10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer. Loyola raked in a total of nine All-Atlantic 10 nods and two All-Rookie selections following the A10 Championship.
The Ramblers continued rewriting history at the NCAA Regionals under Kennedy’s guidance. The men soared to a fourth-place finish at the regional, marking the highest finish in program history. The women’s eighth-place finish was the third best in program history. Martins and Devaney were tabbed All-Region by UTSFCCCA.
Martins also became the first male to qualify for the NCAA Championship since 2014. At the championship, he placed 29th with a personal best time (29:28.8), which is the second highest finish by a Rambler in program history.
Momentum carried over into the indoor track & field season starting with the shattering of Jim Westphal’s 30-year-old school record. Martins was 23-seconds faster in the men’s 5k to make history, stopping the clock at 13:33.45. Kennedy’s second indoor season was capped with the success of three freshmen earning A10 All-Rookie honors. Woody Jerome and Ali Gillooly ran the fastest times in the men’s and women’s 3,000m, respectively, while Mataway held the fastest rookie time in the women’s 5k.
In all, the Ramblers posted 10 top-10 times during the indoor campaign, including five on each the men’s and women’s side. The teams combined for 41 personal records over nine meets.
The outdoor track season garnered similar success, including the program’s first ever Atlantic 10 individual champion in the men’s 10k, 81 PRs, and 22 program top-10 times.
Outdoors, Devaney and Martins broke Jim Westphal’s 31-year-old program record in the event at Stanford in the early season, claiming first and second on the all-time list, with times of 28:40.40 & 28:45.46 respectively. Buysse was on their tails with a time of 29:05.99 that landed him fifth all-time. The trio eventually became part of an event squad ranked fifth in the nation by USTFCCAA.
Martins and Devaney went on to qualify in the 10k for the NCAA West Preliminaries. They ran in the NCAA semifinals out in California and were joined by teammate Jason Clayton. Clayton qualified for the men’s 1,500m, where he advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in his career, running 3:41.76.
The Ramblers also excelled in the classroom. Kathleen Simms was tabbed the A10’s Post Graduate Award winner following her dedication to academics and athletics. Devaney and Martins earned USTFCCCA and A10 All-Academic Team honors during the cross country season, while both teams earned team recognition.
Kennedy's first season in Rogers Park proved to be an eventful one. The Maroon & Gold hit the ground running during the cross country campaign, posting the program's top combined finish at a Missouri Valley Conference Championship in program history. The Rambler women cruised to a third consecutive MVC team title, with three-time MVC Cross Country Athlete of the Year Anneka Murrin highlighting a group of four All-Valley honorees. On the men's side, Loyola battled to a third-place finish, its top team finish since 2013. First Team All-MVC pick Chantz Visse led the way, placing fourth overall, the top individual effort by a Rambler male since 2017.
As the calendar flipped to 2022, Loyola didn't skip a beat moving into the indoor portion of its track & field schedule, posting an astonishing 78 personal best performances, 15 of which landed on the program's all-time indoor record boards. Nine Ramblers earned All-MVC distinction at the MVC Indoor Track & Field Championship, which were hosted for the first time at the Track & Field Center at Gately Park.
The success of Kennedy's crew carried over into the outdoor season, with 68 more personal bests posted, including 14 new all-time top 10 marks. Kathleen Simms (5,000m) and Melissa Parrella (Long Jump) both took home conference titles in their respective events as part of a group of eight Ramblers that collected All-Valley accolades. Simms and Parrella were part of a group of five Ramblers who advanced on to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary.
Freshman standout Jason Clayton wrapped up the 2021-22 year with a bang in June, becoming the first Rambler in program history to run an outdoor sub-four-minute mile, as he clocked a time of 3:59.53 at the Festival of Miles in St. Louis, Mo. An All-MVC pick during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns, Clayton became just the fourth Rambler in program history to come in under the four-minute barrier and first freshman to accomplish the feat.
During his time with the Badgers, Kennedy helped guide his athletes to unprecedented success, aiding in the development of seven NCAA champions, 31 USTFCCCA All-Americans and 24 Big Ten Conference champions. As part of the coaching staff, he helped the Badgers to eight Big Ten titles across an eight-year span and five top-10 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Prior to a one-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Mississippi in 2012-13, Kennedy was the head men's cross country coach at the University of Illinois, where he led a pair of athletes to the NCAA Championships, marking only the second time in program history the Illini were represented at the national meet. He also guided athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary and NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Kennedy cut his teeth in the coaching ranks at Iona College, where he served as an assistant coach for two seasons before being promoted to the role of associate head coach ahead of the 2010-11 campaign. He helped pilot the Gaels to a runner-up finish at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships and captured six Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) crowns during his three-year stay. Kennedy mentored 11 All-Americans and a staggering 47 MAAC champions, highlighted by two-time NCAA champion Leonard Korir.
A former standout during his time at DePaul University, Kennedy earned all-conference honors during each of his four years in Lincoln Park. He shattered program records in both the mile run and 1,500m run, while also receiving recognition for his work in the classroom, receiving all-academic nods as both a junior and senior.
Kennedy, a native of Waterford, Ireland, is a certified Level 1 Coach by the USA Track & Field (USATF) and also owns USTFCCCA certification as an Endurance Coach.
A 2006 graduate of DePaul, Kennedy and his wife, Taylor, are parents to two sons, Dylan and Owen.
