Jake Stewart to Lead Cal Poly’s Track & Field and Cross Country Programs

Stewart mentored Rosina Machu, one of the greatest women’s distance runners in Gonzaga history. In 2026, Machu earned Second Team All-American honors in the 10,000-meter and Honorable Mention recognition in the 5,000 to finish her career as a five-time All-American between track and cross country, the most All-American honors by a woman to run for the Zags ever. Machu, the first Gonzaga woman to qualify for an NCAA Final on the track, broke her own 10,000-meter school record en route to placing seventh at the 2025 NCAA Championships to earn First Team All-American honors. She competed in the meet alongside her teammate Logan Hofstee, who became the first Zag freshman in program history to qualify for an NCAA Final and earn All-American honors. It marked the first time in program history multiple Bulldogs competed in the same NCAA Final.

In cross country, Machu won back-to-back WCC individual championships and WCC Runner of the Year awards (2023-24), and placed 16th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships to become the second women’s cross country All-American in program history and the first since 1996.

In the fall of 2021, Stewart guided Kristen Garcia to a third-place finish individually at the NCAA XC West Regional, allowing her to earn an individual berth to the NCAA Championships. Gonzaga earned a national ranking that season in the USTFCCCA poll for the first time in six years and placed fourth as a team at the NCAA West Regional, matching their program record finish at the meet. The Bulldogs also achieved a national ranking of No. 21 the following cross country season and were ranked for the entirety of the 2024 season.

During the 2025 track season, Stewart qualified a program-record six Gonzaga women between eight events for the NCAA West Prelims. Stewart coached the women’s 4K and 6K school record holders in cross country during his tenure with the Zags, and nine of the top 10 4K performances in school history and eight of the top 10 in the 6K. The programs he oversaw also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors every year he was there, and 173 student-athletes he coached were named to the university’s President’s List (3.85 GPA or higher).

Prior to Gonzaga, Stewart spent six seasons (2012-18) leading the men’s distance program at Illinois back into the national spotlight, serving as the men’s cross country head coach from 2012-17 before being named the first head men’s and women’s cross country coach in the history of the program in the fall of 2017.

Stewart, a native of Kelso, Washington, inherited a men’s cross country program at Illinois that had not finished better than sixth at Big Ten Championships since 1996, guiding them to a runner-up finish at the conference meet in 2015 while coaching the program’s first All-American in the sport (Dylan Lafond) in eight years and mentoring the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jesse Reiser. The following season in 2016, Stewart led the Illini to their first appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 30 years, where they finished 23rd. He was named the 2016 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Cross Country Coach of the Year for his efforts that season.

Stewart also served as an assistant coach on the Fighting Illini track and field staff during his tenure, helping the program capture the Big Ten Outdoor Championship in men’s track and field in 2015, and mentoring 10 All-Americans and four Big Ten individual champions.

Before arriving at Illinois, Stewart had stints at Purdue (2011-12) and Lamar (2009-11). As the men’s cross country head coach at Purdue, he helped the Boilermakers earn their best team finish since 2008 and recruited the program’s first All-American. While at the helm at Lamar, he guided the program to back-to-back Southland Conference championships in cross country (2009-10), and was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year twice.

Stewart served as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams at his alma mater, Iona College, for three years (2006-09). In his time with the Gaels, the men’s cross country team captured runner-up in both 2007 and 2008 at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish of any team in the school’s history, while the women’s team qualified for the national championships for the first time ever.