After leading the Golden Eagle cross country and track and field teams to impressive accomplishments in 2011-12, Christopher Asher returns for his 11th season as Cal State L.A.’s head coach for women’s cross country, women’s indoor track and field and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field.
Asher led the women’s cross country team to a surprising third-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 2011. Three Golden Eagles finished in the top-10 to earn All-CCAA honors.
After guiding the women’s indoor track team to a strong national finish that included two All-America awards, Asher led the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams to tremendous accomplishments in 2012. The two teams combined to win 17 events at the CCAA Championships, with the men’s team winning 10 events and finishing a close second in the conference and the women’s team winning seven events and finishing in third. Cal State L.A.’s men’s team finished just 4.5 points out of first, while the women were 10.5 points away.
The highlight of the 2011-12 season was a national championship from Calista Lyon in the women’s discus during outdoor track and field. The women’s outdoor track and field team finished in a tie for 17th nationally, which was its best finish since 2006.
During his first nine years, Asher has coached five individual NCAA champions: Lyon in the women’s discus, Josh Como in the 2011 triple jump, Giorgio Bryant in the 2011 long jump, Omonike Kotey in the 2008 indoor triple jump and April Brown in the 2006 indoor 60 meters.
Cal State L.A. has picked up 83 CCAA individual titles, including 80 in track and field (51 in men’s track and field and 29 in women’s track and field) during his tenure. The Golden Eagles picked up 17 individual conference championships and 27 All-CCAA awards in 2012.
In Asher’s 10 years as head coach, the Golden Eagles have earned 237 All-CCAA awards (115 in men’s track, 99 in women’s track and 23 in cross country). The Golden Eagles also had individual CCAA cross country champions in 2002, 2003 and 2007.
Also, the Golden Eagles have earned 85 All-America honors in cross country and track and field since Asher took over as head coach, including eight in 2011-12 (two in indoor track and field, two in men’s outdoor track and field and four in women’s outdoor track and field), five in 2010-11 (one in indoor track and field, two in men’s outdoor track and field and two in women’s outdoor track and field), nine in 2009-10 (one in indoor track and field, five in men’s outdoor track and field and three in women’s outdoor track and field) and nine in 2008-09 (two in indoor track and field, one in men’s outdoor track and field and six in women’s outdoor track and field). The Golden Eagles also had 11 in 2007-08 (two in cross country, six in men’s track and field and three in women’s indoor track and field) and 11 in 2006-07 (two in cross country, five in outdoor track and field and four in indoor track and field).
He has earned four Coach of the Year awards while at Cal State L.A., two of them in the 2007-08 academic year when he was the CCAA Coach of the Year in cross country and the USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year in men’s track and field. Previously, he was named the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year in women’s cross country in 2006 and in women’s indoor track and field in 2006.
The success last year came on the heels of an outstanding campaign for Cal State L.A. in 2010-11. Asher led the men’s outdoor track and field team to a ninth-place national finish, which gave Cal State L.A. consecutive national top-10 finishes for the first time since 1995-96. The women’s outdoor track and field team finished third in the CCAA, the women’s indoor team wound up 43rd in the nation and the cross country team finished fourth in the CCAA for a second straight season.
The highlight of 2010-11 came in men’s outdoor track and field where the Golden Eagles had a pair of national champions. Bryant won the national title in the long jump and Como won the national championship in the triple jump. The two championships marked the first time since 1996 that Cal State L.A. had claimed multiple individual national titles.
The men’s team also claimed seven individual titles at the CCAA Championships on their way to a second-place finish, its best since 2008. The women’s outdoor track and field team got a pair of All-America performances and finished 29th in the nation while also claiming three individual CCAA championships on its way to a third-place finish.
It was a good follow-up to 2009-10 when Asher led the men’s outdoor track and field team to a sixth-place national finish, which was its best since 1998. The women’s outdoor team finished third in the CCAA and 38th in the nation, the women’s indoor team was 44th in the nation and the cross country team finished fourth in the CCAA.
That success came on the heels of an outstanding performance in 2008-09. Asher led the women’s outdoor track and field team to a seventh-place national showing, which was its best finish since 1996. The women’s indoor track and field team took 26th in the country and the men’s outdoor track and field team took 41st in the nation. The women’s outdoor track and field team finished second in the CCAA.
In the 2007-08 season, Asher led the women’s cross country team to its first CCAA championship since 1994 and guided the squad to a second-place finish in the West Region and a fifth-place national finish. He also led the women’s indoor track and field team to an 11th-place national finish that included a national championship for triple jumper Omonike Kotey. The men’s track and field team finished seventh in the nation after an impressive second-place showing in the CCAA, while the women’s track and field team finished third in the conference.
He was named the CCAA Coach of the Year in women’s cross country and the USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Head Coach of the Year.
That season was an impressive follow-up to a memorable 2006-07 campaign. Asher led the women’s cross country team to an NCAA Division II West Region championship, a second-place finish in the CCAA and a fourth-place finish in the NCAA Division II Championships in 2006. The fourth-place finish is the highest national placing in the program’s history. He also led the 2007 women’s indoor track and field team to a 13th-place national finish. The men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams both posted national top-25 finishes. The men placed 21st in the country, while the women wound up 24th.
Asher is a Past President for Division II Track and Field for the United States Track and Field Cross Country Association and NCAA Track and Field West Region chair. He serves on the USTFCCCA Track & Field Executive Committee as a past-president and is the chair of the Meet Enhancement Committee. He is also on the USATF Coaches Advisory Committee and, as a member of the committee, has been appointed as a representative on the Zero Tolerance Committee for both USA Track and Field and the USTFCCCA.
Asher also began his tenure as a member of the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Committee representing the West Region in September.
Asher was also a coach at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June and was an assistant coach for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Spain in July.
Before coming to Cal State L.A., Asher served for five seasons as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, where he was responsible for overseeing sprints, hurdles and relays for both the men’s and women’s teams. His student-athletes earned 19 All-Big West Conference honors, four Big West Conference individual championships and one USATF Junior National All-America award. Asher was integral in Cal State Fullerton athletes setting more than 20 school records in his five years with the program.
Asher has also coached several elite athletes, including sprinter Joe Criner, hurdler Derek Knight, former NFL player Reuben Droughns, current Major League Baseball relief pitcher Sergio Santos (Toronto Blue Jays), current National Basketball Association player Trevor Ariza (Washington Wizards) and 2005 Oakland A’s first-round draft pick Danny Putnam.
Asher competed collegiately at Cal State Northridge from 1994-96. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Pan-African studies from Cal State Northridge in 1998 and his Master’s degree in education with an emphasis in physical education from Azusa Pacific in 2001.
