In four seasons as Stanford's cross-country coach, Chris Miltenberg has coached the men to two NCAA top-three finishes, and the women to third place and four national top-14 finishes.
Miltenberg, the 2013 USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year, has coached 13 different Stanford runners to cross-country All-America honors.
Overall, he has coached 42 Stanford All-Americans to a total of 77 All-America honors. Of those, 24 have become first-team track and field All-Americans, earning a total of 31 first-team All-America honors.
Under Miltenberg, Stanford has won two NCAA event titles in track and field and had eight runner-up finishes. In addition, two Cardinal have set American junior records and another broke a collegiate record.
In cross country, Stanford teams have finished among the NCAA top-three three times. The men were second in 2014 and third in 2015, and the women third in 2013. Cardinal women have won three of the past four Pac-12 individual titles, and Stanford’s Maksim Korolev was the 2014 West Region champ, fourth in the NCAA, and earned a berth on the U.S. team for the 2015 Cross Country World Championships.
The Stanford men were back-to-back NCAA West Region champions in 2012-13. In all four years, both the Stanford men’s and women’s teams have advanced to the NCAA Championships, extending a streak of twin NCAA qualifications to 22 years – the longest in the country. The programs have combined for nine NCAA team championships.
In track and field, his Stanford teams have combined for seven top-20 NCAA team finishes indoors and outdoors. In 2015, his men’s track and field recruiting class was named No. 1 in the nation by MileSplit. And, in 2013-14, taking into account NCAA team finishes in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field, the Stanford women ranked second in the Program of the Year Award standings and the men seventh, as determined by the USTFCCCA.
Academically, Stanford’s programs have excelled under Miltenberg, especially distance runner Miles Unterreiner, who earned a Rhodes Scholarship. In addition, Aisling Cuffe, Luke Lefebure, and Tyler Stutzman each were named Pac-12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year for either cross country or track, and Lefebure earned the NCAA Elite 89 Award for having the highest cumulative grade-point average at the 2013 NCAA indoor track championships.
Stanford won the men’s cross country Scholar Team of the Year Award for 2014 by the USTFCCCA and the women earned All-Academic team honors. During Miltenberg’s tenure, Stanford runners have combined for 70 Pac-12 All-Academic team honors.
Stanford’s NCAA titles under Miltenberg have come from Kori Carter, who won the 2013 NCAA women’s 400 hurdles crown in a collegiate record 53.21, and the men’s indoor distance medley relay team in 2014. Elise Cranny set the U.S. junior indoor record in the women’s 3,000 (98:58.88) while finishing second at the 2015 NCAA Championships. And Harrison Williams shattered the U.S. junior decathlon record with a score of 8,037 points while winning the 2015 Pan Am Junior championship. Earlier in the season, Williams broke Stanford’s oldest record, the 1952 decathlon mark set by the great Bob Mathias during a gold-medal performance at the Helsinki Olympics.
Three other especially notable performances have come in the women’s 5,000, when Cuffe ran the third-fastest time ever among collegians, and second-fastest ever by an American collegian, with a time of 15:11.13 at the 2014 Payton Jordan Invitational. A year later, Jessica Tonn ran the No. 7 time among American collegians with a 15:18.85. Also, Amy Weissenbach set a national women’s freshman record in the 800 , running 2:00.98 while advancing to the USATF final in 2013.
Three of his Stanford athletes have won U.S. junior championships: Sean McGorty in cross country, Williams in the decathlon, and Valarie Allman in the women’s discus. Also, Olivia Baker won gold at the 2015 Pan Am Junior Championships in the women’s 4x400 and Lena Giger took silver in the women’s hammer.
Before arriving at Stanford, Miltenberg was the associate head coach for track and field and the head women's cross-country coach at Georgetown. He led the Hoyas to the 2011 NCAA title in women's cross country and was named the USTFCCCA National Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
In five seasons at Georgetown, Miltenberg coached 36 All-Americans in track and field, including Emily Infeld, an NCAA champion at 3,000. Miltenberg also led the Georgetown women to the 2012 Big East indoor track title.
Miltenberg's Georgetown teams finished in the top 10 of the USTFCCA Terry Crawford Program of the Year two consecutiveseasons. He was a three-time Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year for women's track and field and had six of his athletes compete at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Prior to Georgetown, Miltenberg was the associate head coach for men's and women's track and field, and cross country at Columbia. He spent one season in that role and was an assistant coach at Columbia for two seasons before that. He led the Lions to 13th-place finishes at the 2004 and 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Miltenberg also led Columbia to a pair of Ivy League titles during those same seasons.
Miltenberg is a 2003 graduate of Georgetown where he was a two-time All-American and placed fourth at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3,000. He went on to run professionally for a year with Adidas while training for the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials.
A native of Huntington, N.Y., he attended John Glenn High, where he was a two-time scholastic All-American in the mile and was the New York state cross country runner-up. He won the mile at the 1998 Golden West Invitational.
Miltenberg earned a master's in applied physiology in 2005 from Columbia. He is married to former Georgetown All-America runner, the former Colleen Kelly. The couple has three children, daughters Maggie and Caitlin, and son Kevin.
As the Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, Miltenberg has guided Stanford's men's and women's cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams to a No. 3 combined ranking among the nation's top programs for 2013-14 by the USTFCCCA.
In 2014, Stanford's men finished second in the NCAA cross country championships, the program's highest finish since 2003. The Cardinal's top five, led by Maksim Korolev in fourth, all earned All-America honors by placing among the top 40. It's entire top seven placed among the top 100. Korolev, who beat Oregon's Edward Cheserek to win the NCAA West Regional, was named West Region runner of the year.
The Cardinal women, with five true or redshirt freshmen, placed 14th. This came after third-place finishes in both the Pac-12 NCAA West Region meets. Freshman Elise Cranny was the Pac-12 runner-up and placed 12th at the NCAA's, the highest finish by any freshman and the best frosh placing for a Stanford runner since 1999. Cranny was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
In 2013, Stanford was the only school to have individuals place among the top-5 in both the NCAA men's and women's races in Terre Haute, Ind. Aisling Cuffe was fourth in the women's race, earning Stanford's top finish since 2006. In the men's race, Jim Rosa was fifth while also earning the distinction of being the top American-born finisher.
Cuffe captured the Pac-12 title to give Stanford women back-to-back individual championships, following Kathy Kroeger's 2012 title. Cuffe, a two-time All-America, was named Pac-12 women's cross-country Athlete of the Year. Kroeger's Pac-12 title was the first for the Cardinal women since 2007
The men captured back-to-back West Region titles under Miltenberg and have earned three top-20 national team finishes. In 2012, Miltenberg coached the Cardinal women to third in the country -- the team's best finish in five years.
Miltenberg's athletes have excelled academically as well. In 2013, Tyler Stutzman was named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete for men's cross country and one of Miltenberg's 2012 runners, Miles Unterreiner, was selected as a Rhodes Scholar.
Miltenberg arrived from Georgetown, where he coached the Hoya women to the 2011 NCAA cross-country title.
At Georgetown, Miltenberg was the associate head coach for track and field and the head women's cross-country coach. He was named the USTFCCCA National Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year for 2011.
Miltenberg had outstanding credentials from his five seasons at Georgetown. He coached 36 All-Americans in track and field, including individual NCAA 3,000-meter champion, Emily Infeld, and two NCAA runner-up finishers. Miltenberg also led the Georgetown women to the 2012 Big East indoor track title.
Under the guidance of Miltenberg, Georgetown finished among the top 10 of the USTFCCA Terry Crawford Program of the Year the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years. He was a three-time Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year for women's track and field and had six of his athletes compete at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Before his time at Georgetown, Miltenberg was the associate head coach for men's and women's track and field, and cross country at Columbia. He spent one season in that role and was an assistant at Columbia for two seasons before that. He led the Lions to a pair of 13th-place finishes, in 2004 and 2005, at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Miltenberg also led Columbia to Ivy League titles those same seasons.
Miltenberg is a 2003 graduate of Georgetown where he was a two-time All-America and placed fourth at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3,000 meters. He went on to run professionally for a year with Adidas while training for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Miltenberg also earned a master's in applied physiology in 2005 from Columbia. He is married to a former Georgetown All-America runner, the former Colleen Kelly. The couple has three children, Maggie, Kevin, and Caitlin.