Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Irv Ray


Since joining the UC Riverside coaching staff in August of 2003, Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Irv Ray has overseen a major transformation in both the Highlanders cross country and track and field programs, helping them elevate to previously unseen heights at the Division I level.

The year prior to his arrival, the women’s cross country team finished ninth in the conference and the men’s team finished eighth. Five years later, the women’s team hoisted the 2008 Big West Conference Championship trophy, and the men came within two points of a second place finish.

UCR’s track and field teams have also improved nearly every season under Ray’s tutelage, as the women finished in second place in 2008 and third place in 2009, and the men’s squad scored its most points ever at the Big West Championships in 2012.

The Highlanders now routinely have double-digit athletes qualify for NCAA Regionals and four to five conference champions each year. That list of champions includes three-time All-American Brenda Martinez, who shattered her own school records in the 800m and 1500m events in a series of European competitions, running the 800m in 2:00.86 and the 1500m in 4:09.52.

During the collegiate season, Martinez became the first woman in Big West Conference history to win four consecutive track & field titles in the same event by taking the 1500m at the 2010 Big West Conference Championship. She added to her trophy case by taking the 800m as well, giving her seven individual titles for her UC Riverside career.

Martinez was named Big West Female Track Athlete of the Year and UC Riverside Athlete of the Year in 2009. She later finished second in the NCAAs in the 1500m and took ninth at the 2009 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship.

Ray came to UCR from the University of Missouri, Kansas City where he coached the school’s first-ever individual conference champion in cross country. In outdoor track his women’s team finished fourth, and men’s team sixth in the Mid Continent Conference. He had three student-athletes compete at the NCAA track and field regional, and had a fourth named Verizon/CoSida Academic All American First Team.

Ray was head track and field and cross country coach for Cal Baptist from 1997- 2002, where he guided CBU to national prominence at the NAIA level after taking over a program entering its second year of existence. His 1999 men’s team captured the school’s first-ever national championship by winning the NAIA indoor track and field title. For his efforts, Ray was named NAIA Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach-of-the-Year, and one of his athletes was honored as the male Athlete-of-the-Meet. Two of his athletes qualified and ran in the 2000 Olympic games.

Eleven of Ray’s student-athletes won individual national championships, with four setting NAIA indoor and outdoor track and field records. His teams placed in the top four at NAIA national meets five times in track and field, and his athletes have earned over 175 All-American honors. Ray’s cross country teams also were among the NAIA’s elite, earning two top four national finishes. He was named the Golden State Athletic Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year six times, Western Region Coach of the Year three times, and track and field coach-of-the-year once, in 2001.

Prior to joining CBU, Ray was head cross country and assistant track and field coach at Azusa Pacific from 1988-96. His 1994 cross country team finished fourth at the NAIA national meet. He has coached 14 individual All-Americans in cross country. In all, Ray’s cross country teams never finished out of the top 10 in ten appearances at the NAIA nationals.

Ray served as head cross country and track and field coach at Covina High School from 1985-88, guiding his teams to four California Interscholastic Federation league championships in track and one in cross country. He tutored 26 all-conference student-athletes, 11 All-CIF honorees and one CIF champion in the 1,600.

In addition to his collegiate and prep experience, Ray is well-respected at the highest level of track and field. He was named to the USA Track and Field Olympic Development Middle and Long Distance Committee as the chair of the men’s 1,500 meters from 1999 to 2004. Ray serves as a USA Track and Field and Olympic Development Clinic middle distance specialist.

He has coached several elite American middle distance athletes, including former men’s American mile record-holder Steve Scott; Michele Buccichio, past American age group record-holder at several distances; 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Dave Johnson; and Jason Pyrah, a member of the 1996 Olympic and 1997 and 1998 World Championship teams. He has coached several other athletes who qualified for the United States championships and represented the USA on Olympic and World Championship teams as well as international Olympic teams. He coached Bryan Berryhill, the 2001 NCAA 1,500 meter champion and No. 2 American in the event in 2002 and 2003.

Ray also developed a training program for 22-year-old Tim Ramirez, a former Azusa Pacific athlete who ranked fourth nationally in the men’s 800 and finished the 2006 campaign with a personal best of 1:46.20.

Ray is an accomplished author, having written several articles for track and cross country periodicals.He collaborated with Australian Olympic Coach Tony Benson on a middle and long distance training manual that has been accepted for Level Two coaching by the International Amateur Athletics Federation. That manual evolved into a book entitled “Run With The Best,” a coach’s guide for middle and long distance runners which was a best seller for Track and Field News. He has served as a technical consultant on two other books.

He also spent 20 years in consumer marketing and sales, specializing in grocery consumer products as a vice president for Southern California Marketing Companies. He is an avid fly fisherman and enjoys spending his vacations at the Owens River in the Eastern Sierras.

Ray earned a bachelor of arts degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific, making the dean’s list in his last four semesters. He also holds a master of arts degree in education, graduating with honors, from Azusa Pacific. Ray and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Chris and Ryan.
 
Highlanders Under Coach Ray
Women's Track & Field
BWC Finish		Men's Track & Field
BWC Finish		Women's Cross Country
BWC Finish		Men's Cross Country
BWC Finish
200435.07th of 9xx200412.59th of 9xx20039th of 10xx20038th of 9
200554.06th of 9200523.58th of 920049th of 1020048th of 9
200663.06th of 7200631.07th of 720055th of 820054th of 7
200761.56th of 7200721.57th of 720064th of 820066th of 7
2008143.02nd of 8200836.08th of 820072nd of 920073rd of 8
2009100.53rd of 8200963.56th of 820081st of 920083rd of 8
201071.05th of 8201042.0T7th of 820095th of 920094th of 8
201197.05th of 8201154.07th of 820104th of 920102nd of 8
201282.05th of 82012102.05th of 820115th of 920114th of 8
201365.507th of 9201370.05th of 820124th of 1020126th of 8
201449.0T7th of 9201472.05th of 820136th of 920137th of 8