David Shoehalter officially took over the Bulldogs’ program as the Mark T. Young ’68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field in 2010-11. Shoehalter, who had helped build the program in his 16 seasons as a coach at Yale before that, succeeded legendary Yale coach Mark Young ’68 in the director’s position.

During his tenure at Yale Shoehalter has focused on the sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers on both the men’s and women’s teams. He has coached multiple Bulldog student-athletes to All-Ivy, All-East and All-American honors, including Yale's first IC4A champion in the hurdles since the 1970s and All-American Jihad Beauchman ’06 in the high jump. Under Shoehalter’s guidance, many Bulldogs have broken records in the sprints, jumps and hurdles. He also coached Joslyn Woodard ’06 to eight consecutive titles and a total of 20 career titles at the Ivy League’s Heptagonal Championships.

Shoehalter’s student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom. In 2009-10 the Yale men’s track and field team posted the highest GPA in the country among Division I programs (3.43). During the 2012-2013 season, the Yale men's cross country team was named to the USTFCCA's All-Academic list after posting a team GPA of 3.56--third in the nation and tops in the Ivy League.

The Yale program has made dramatic strides in many areas during Shoehalter’s time, including the renovation of Coxe Cage in 2005 that included the dedication of the William Clay Ford '48 Track & Field Center and a new banked indoor track named after Frank Shorter ’69, the former Yale cross country captain, NCAA champion, and two-time Olympic medalist.

In addition to his contributions as a coach at Yale, Shoehalter has also reached out to the larger track and field community. He is a member of the USTFCCCA Executive Committee. He has been the secretary of the Heptagonal Games Coaches Association for 12 years and is currently the second vice president of the IC4A Track and Field Coaches Association.

A 1989 graduate of Penn with a degree in history, Shoehalter captained the Quakers as a senior and was a scorer in the hurdles and the pentathlon at the Heptagonal Championships. He earned multiple medals in the hurdles and as a member of the 4x400-meter relay team for the USA in the 1989 World Maccabiah Games. He then spent a season as a volunteer coach at his alma mater, working with Penn’s high jumpers in 1989-90.

Prior to coming to Yale Shoehalter was an assistant coach at Lafayette College from 1990 to 1994. He coached the sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers.

Amy Gosztyla joined the Yale staff as women's cross country, middle distance and distance coach in the summer of 2011.

Gosztyla (pronounced goz stilla) spent three years as an assistant at Harvard prior to coming to Yale. There, she worked primarily with the men's and women's middle distance and distance runners. During her time with the Crimson Gosztyla coached six NCAA Championship qualifiers, 13 NCAA Regional/First Round qualifiers, 97 ECAC/IC4A qualifiers and five Ivy League Heptagonal champions. Her runners set 10 school records, and under her guidance the women's cross country team finished as runners-up at the 2009 Ivy League Heptagonal championships.

Prior to joining the Harvard staff, Gosztyla was the assistant women's cross country and track and field coach at her alma mater, New Hampshire. In her one season as an assistant with the Wildcats, 2007-08, she helped develop the program's first women's cross country All-American in nearly 15 years. The UNH women's cross country team also won the ECAC University Championships. On the track, Gosztyla worked with the long sprinter and middle distance athletes. During the indoor and outdoor seasons, the Wildcats finished second in the America East Championships and were the New England Outdoor Championships runners-up. She coached the America East indoor 500-meter champion and 400-meter runner-up, as well as the school record-setting women's outdoor 4x400-meter relay team.

From 2005 to 2007 Gosztyla was the assistant men's and women's cross country and track and field coach at Stony Brook. She and head coach Andy Ronan were named America East Women's Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year in 2005 and 2006, and the women's cross country team developed into an NCAA qualifier in 2007. Individually, Gosztyla helped coach four NCAA Regional qualifiers, 46 ECAC/IC4A qualifiers and three America East champions. Her runners set 20 school records, and the women's cross country team finished as conference runners-up twice.

Gosztyla was named America East Student-Athlete of the Year in 2002, and was honored by UNH that same year with the Jim Urqhart Award as the school's female student-athlete of the year. She was also named Most Outstanding Track Performer at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championships and was the New England outdoor 1,500-meter champion that year. Gosztyla was a four-time America East all-conference selection in cross country, and earned All-Northeast Region accolades as a junior in 1999.  She was a six-time America East champion in indoor and outdoor track, and at one point held seven school records. She served as team captain from 1998 through 2002.

Gosztyla graduated magna cum laude from New Hampshire in May 2001 with a bachelor's degree in nutritional sciences. She earned her master's degree in exercise science summa cum laude from the same school in May 2004, earning the school's Basil Mott Leadership Award along the way.

last updated Aug. 4, 2011

Paul Harkins, who spent four seasons as an assistant coach at New Mexico State, was named men’s cross country, middle distance and distance coach at Yale in the fall of 2011.

Harkins helped the New Mexico State women’s cross country team to the first WAC championship in school history in 2009, just two years after he took over a team that had finished seventh in 2006. He was also a part of the men’s cross country team’s highest finish in school history -- second place in 2010. The men were coming off a seventh-place finish when Harkins arrived in Las Cruces in 2007. Prior to his time at New Mexico State, he coached at Brown, making Yale his second Ivy League stop.

Harkins was named the WAC Conference Women’s Coach of the Year in 2009 at New Mexico State after leading the Aggies to the league title. That same season, he coached the WAC Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year. In 2009 and 2010, he coached the WAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year. All told, Harkins coached five individual WAC champions and 53 all-conference honorees, including the Aggies’ first male cross country runner to earn back-to-back all-conference honors since 1971-72. His runners set nine school records and made 60 additions to the school’s top 10 list. Harkins’ teams also achieved success in the classroom, as both the men and the women were recognized as USTFCCCA All-Academic teams in 2009 and 2010.

Prior to joining the New Mexico State staff, Harkins spent a season as an assistant at Brown and two seasons as an assistant at Missouri State. He coached at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, Wash., from 2001 to 2004.

In his short time at Yale, Harkins has coached many middle-distance and distance athletes to great success, and students like Kevin Dooney, Tim Hillas, Ryan Laemel, John McGowan, Matt Nussbaum, James Randon, James Shirvell and Matt Thwaites all emerged as regional stars under his coaching. Over the past couple years, the middle-distance and distance events have become the strengths of Yale's track team, while the cross country team has achieved its usual success.

Harkins coached his first Bulldog to the Division I NCAA Cross Country National Championships in 2013, helping sophmore Kevin Dooney overcome some early-season injury issues to place to earn All-Region and second-team All-Ivy honors and become just the sixth Yale runner to compete at Nationals since 1991.

Harkins received a B.A. in economics from the University of Washington, where he ran cross country and track, in 2000. He also has a Master’s of Science in health promotion and wellness management from Missouri State.

George Evans, who was the head coach of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country at Marietta (Ohio) College for three seasons, joined the Yale track and field coaching staff as an assistant in the fall of 2014.

At Marietta, Evans helped the Pioneers break 40 school records and earn six All-America selections (in six different events). In his first season, he coached four student-athletes to the NCAA Division III National Championships. He coached three more student-athletes to the NCAAs in his second season, and one more in his third. 

Evans led the Marietta men’s indoor track and field team to its best finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference in 2013 (third), and also oversaw Marietta’s first Ohio Athletic Conference individual cross country champion (2011, 2012).

Prior to Marietta, Evans spent five years as an assistant coach at Brown specializing in sprints/hurdles and relays. During his time with the Bears he helped Brown’s student-athletes to 30 ECAC/IC4A qualifying marks, 10 individual Ivy League titles and seven school records. He also coached nine NCAA Regional qualifiers.

A native of Boardman, Ohio, Evans began his coaching career as an assistant coach specializing in sprints/hurdles and relays at Youngstown State in 2004-05. That year, he helped coach Youngstown’s student-athletes to seven individual Horizon League titles and five league records. He also coached a pair of NCAA Mid-East Regional qualifiers. That season saw the Youngstown women’s team win the Horizon League championship in both indoor and outdoor track and field.

Evans received his B.A. in history from Lehigh in 2004, where he was a two-time Patriot League champion (in the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes) and was named Lehigh’s Athlete of the Year as a senior. He still holds the Lehigh record for the 60-meter dash (6.83), the 100-meter dash (10.51) and the 200-meter dash (21.32), and is part of the record-holding 4x100-meter relay team (41.21). Evans also played football (wide receiver) for the Mountain Hawks, and was a member of the 2001 team that finished 11-0 and won the Lambert Cup as the best team in Division I-AA on the East Coast.