Sterling Martin enters his 14th season as the head coach of the Missouri S&T cross country and track and field programs and has led four teams to Great Lakes Valley Conference championships during his time at the helm.
The Miners swept the GLVC championships in men's track & field in the 2009 season -- the first conference titles in that sport since 1948 -- then won back-to-back outdoor championships in 2014 and 2015. Â Since joining the GLVC in the 2005-06 school year, the Miners and Lady Miners have generally ranked in the top half of the GLVC on an annual basis.
The 2008-09 Miners won the indoor title by 46 points over Indianapolis, then held off the Greyhounds in the closest conference meet in history as they took the championship by a single point in the outdoor meet in May. Five Miners won conference titles during the indoor season and four titles were claimed by S&T during the outdoor meet, while a total of 25 Miners took all-conference honors from the two seasons combined.
In 2014, the Miners captured the outdoor title behind six event wins and 29 scoring performances in the two-day meet in Romeoville, Ill., as Martin earned the league's "Coach of the Year" honors. Â The Miners also had the GLVC's top competitors at the 2014 Outdoor Championships in Adriel Hawkins and Joseph Vellella, both of whom were conference champions.
S&T repeated as the league champion with a 69-point margin of victory in 2015, winning five events and scoring double figures in points in eight different events over that weekend. Â The Miners' championship performance netted Martin the GLVC's "Coach of the Year" award for the second straight season and third time overall.
S&T has also continued to have success on the national level with annual qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Championships.  Jordan Henry finished as the national runner-up for the second year in a row in the indoor pole vault in 2009 and teammates Peter Hollenbeck and Dan Hellwig earned All-America honors. Henry and Hollenbeck were also All-America performers at the NCAA-II outdoor meet along with javelin thrower Heath Groom.
Last season, Ryan McGuire placed fourth in the pole vault at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships and was one of three from S&T to compete at the national meet in the outdoor season.
On the women's side, Missouri S&T has had 29Â conference championship performances during Martin's tenure as coach (19 outdoors, 10 indoors) and has had 10 All-America performances from the Lady MIners. Â Tamara McCaskill placed third in the high jump in 2009 and Taylor Cipicchio was the most recent to earn All-America honors by placing fourth in the pole vault at the 2014 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
Following a strong 2005-06 campaign, Missouri S&T followed that with its highest-ever finish at an NCAA Division II championship meet when it tied for 12th at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships. Missouri S&T had three All-America performers at that meet, with Tyrone Smith finishing second in the long jump, Lucas Handley taking third in the pole vault and Jordan Henry coming in seventh in the pole vault. The Miners also had two national qualifiers in the outdoor season.
The Miners followed up a third place finish at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships by placing second during the outdoor season. Missouri S&T had six all-conference performers at the indoor meet -- which also saw Jarryd Dean land the league's "Freshman of the Year" award -- then had seven all-league efforts during the outdoor championships that included three conference titles.
In 2009, the Miners finished fourth at both conference meets and scored at the NCAA Division II indoor and outdoor national meets, with Jordan Henry posting a second place finish in the pole vault indoors and a fourth place showing outdoors. The Miners had two other All-America performers last season as Jared Anders was seventh in the indoor pole vault and Peter Hollenbeck took sixth at the outdoor meet.
The Miners had four All-America performances in the 2005-06 season, led by Tyrone Smith's second place finish in the long jump at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships. Smith also had a fourth place at the indoor national meet, while Lucas Handley and Heath Groom also secured All-America honors at the outdoor championships.
In addition, the Miners had their highest finish as a team at the outdoor meet as they ended up in a tie for 20th, while finishing second in both the indoor and outdoor meets in their first appearances at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships. Missouri S&T was also ranked in the final power rankings in 19th indoors and 15th outdoors.
In Martin's first two seasons as head coach, the Miners received an All-America performance from J.R. Skola in the pole vault, the third year in a row in which he earned the award, and national meet appearances from Smith and Rodrick McDonald. The Miners have had two straight solid seasons under Martin and had four conference championship performances last year at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association indoor and outdoor championships, including a one-two finish in the 800-meter run.
Martin came to Missouri S&T from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa where he served as the head coach for the track and cross country programs in 2003. Prior to that, Martin had been the head men's track and cross country coach at Bowling Green State University for four years before the institution eliminated the program following the 2001-02 season.
In his one season at Morningside, Martin coached two members of that team to the NAIA national meet. He has coached a number of student-athletes to All-America honors during his coaching career, including four distance runners to such status.
Martin also served as the head men's cross country coach at his alma mater, Drake University, from 1993 to 1997 and was an assistant coach in the men's and women's track programs there for eight seasons beginning in the 1990-91 season.
He began his coaching career after graduating from Drake in 1987 at the University of Northern Iowa as a volunteer assistant coach in the men's track program for two seasons, then spent a year as a volunteer assistant in the men's and women's programs at Iowa State during the 1989-90 season.
Not only have the Miners shown great improvement on the track, but they have also continued their outstanding performance in the classroom. Missouri S&T has had one of the top academic teams in NCAA Division II in both cross country and track and field throughout his tenure.
