UVA Extends Track and Field Director Vin Lananna Through 2026

Lananna signed a two-year contract extension as UVA’s director of track and field and cross country following a record-breaking season in 2021

Vin Lananna has signed a two-year contract extension to remain Virginia’s director of track and field and cross country through the 2025-2026 season, as announced by UVA athletic director Carla Williams on Wednesday.

Lananna was named the director of the track and field program at UVA in September of 2019 and has taken the Cavaliers to incredible achievements in his two years in Charlottesville, especially in 2021.

The Virginia women’s outdoor track and field team finished tied for 16th place at the 2021 NCAA Championships, which was the program’s best finish since 1983. The men’s outdoor track and field team placed 28th and the overall placement for both teams was the best finish in school history.

Michaela Meyer won the individual NCAA championship for the 800-meter event, becoming the first Cavalier to win an individual women’s track and field title in program history.

13 total UVA student-athletes were named All-American performers in 2021, including eight women and five men. 16 total student-athletes were named to All-ACC teams in 2021 and the UVA women’s track and field team finished third at the ACC Indoor Championships, the program’s best finish since 1995.

“Vin has done an amazing job in the two years he has directed our programs,” Carla Williams said. “We have seen many outstanding performances from our student-athletes across numerous events… We are fortunate to have him at UVA and we’re very excited about the future of Virginia track and field and cross country.”

Lananna has had an illustrious career in the sport of track and field. He coached Team USA at the 2011 World Championships and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. He was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2012 and was also elected president of USA Track and Field in 2017.

Lananna spent several years building elite track and field programs at both Stanford and Oregon. Stanford won five NCAA team championships and 22 individual NCAA championships during Lananna’s tenure from 1992 to 2003. Lananna then spent two years as the athletic director of Oberlin College, leading a massive effort to improve Oberlin’s athletic facilities and resources. At Oregon, Lananna helped make Historic Hayward Field the core of U.S. track and field, including landing bids for Oregon to host the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Trials. Oregon also took home six national championships during Lananna’s tenure.

After 14 years at Oregon, Lananna made the decision to join the University of Virginia as the director of track and field and cross country. The change also brought Lananna back into a direct coaching role, as he had not been the coach at Oregon since 2012, when he took a step back and was solely an associate athletic director for the next seven years at Oregon.

“Returning to coaching has really energized me,” Lananna said. “I am so proud of the efforts and achievements of our student-athletes. These are some remarkable young people we get to work with every day and their commitment to excellence in athletics and academics is unmatched. I think we’ve started something really special at Virginia and I really look forward to what we can accomplish, especially in the setting of such a great running community.”

UVA’s home cross country course at Panorama Farms in Earlysville will be the site of the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships, the product of yet another outstanding administrative effort in the career of Vin Lananna.