BEAUMONT, Texas - After winning 15 team and 116 individual Southland Conference championships, Lamar University's cross country and track & field coaching staff are receiving well-earned promotions. Trey Clark has been raised to the Director of Track & Field/Cross Country position, and Tony Houchin is now the head coach of the cross country program and associate director of track & field.

Clark is entering his 20th year at the helm of Lamar's cross country and track & field programs, and has coached 18 league Athletes of the Year and nine All-Americans, 11 Southland Conference Newcomers of the Year, 14 Freshmen of the Year, nine Outstanding Track Performers and eight high point scorers in that time, along with 40 current Lamar record holders and 125 athletes who currently rank in the top five in the school's record books.

Clark, a former sprinter and hurdler for LU, first stepped on campus in 1988 and was named as an assistant coach under head coach Barry Collins. He is the Cardinals' sixth head coach in program that started in 1953.
 
Quite possibly one of his best accomplishments could be the restoration of Lamar's distance program. The men's side won its 11th championship in 13 years in 2017, and before that both programs swept the league in 2013 and 2014. The distance Cardinals have had at least one league Athlete of the Year since 2013, and had two in 2014 (Minttu Hukka and Sam Stabler). In 2018 Clark and Houchin coached Jamie Crowe to an NCAA South Central Regional individual title, and sent Crowe and Jordan Rowe to the NCAA National Championships, the first time any Southland Conference runner has reached nationals since 2015.
 
LU gained its first distance all-American since 1969 when Francis Kasagule achieved in back-to-back seasons in 2006-07.  Since Samuel Kosgei (2008) and Johnsen (2012) have both done it.  As a team, the men were one spot away from earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in 2014 and the women two spots away.
 
He was named as the Southland Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2011.

Houchin is a four-year veteran of the coaching staff and has in that time led the cross country team to three men's championships in the past four seasons and four individual championships (three men, one women). Houchin has been named the SLC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year three times (2015, 2016, and 2017) and has three SLC Men's Newcomers of the Year, two SLC Men's Athletes of the Year, a 2017 SLC Women's Freshman of the Year honoree, and a 2016 SLC Women's Athlete of the Year in that time.

Houchin has also been integral in the track & field team's success with several Outstanding Performer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year titles underneath his belt.

Joining the Cardinal track & field staff this season is Tyler Sunwall, who will work primarily with the Big Red jumps unit.

The Cardinal cross country program will make its 2019 season debut on Friday with the Rice Invitational. The women's 4,000-meter race will begin at 6:15 p.m., and the men will start their 6,000-meter race at 6:45.