Sarah Nardoni completed her fourth season as the associate head coach of Utah State's track & field/cross country programs, and her 11th season overall at USU.
Throughout her tenure at Utah State, Nardoni’s athletes combined for 22 All-American accolades, 16 conference titles and 82 all-conference honors.
During the 2024-2025 track and field campaign, Nardoni helped coach Utah State distance runners to two conference titles, five school records, six All-MW honors and the Aggie women’s first All-American honor since 2019. Under Nardoni’s guidance, eight runners qualified for the NCAA West First Rounds.
Shelby Jensen placed seventh and broke the USU record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to lead the women’s team to its best national finish since 2000 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Landon Bott swept the indoor and outdoor 800-meter titles at the conference championships, helping the Aggie men to third-place finishes at both meets.
In the 2024 cross country season, Nardoni coached Utah State's men's team to its fifth berth in the NCAA Championships. USU finished in 22nd place, defeating three higher-ranked teams.
Camren Todd finished in 25th place with a time of 29:17.4 to earn All-American honors, the seventh Aggie runner and first since 2020 to do so. Additionally, Logan Garnica received the Elite 90 Award, given to the top student-athlete competing at a national championship, for the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Championships. Garnica joined Todd (2020, 2022) as the only USU student-athletes to ever win the Elite 90 Award, which was established in 2009-10.
At the NCAA Mountain Regional, the Aggie men finished in fourth place as Todd earned all-region honors with a 14th-place finish. On the women's side, Emma Thornley took 22nd place to earn all-region honors for the second-straight season.
Garnica started off the cross country postseason with a 13th-place finish at the Mountain West Championships, earning second-team all-conference honors.
During the 2023-24 season Nardoni helped the Aggies to seven team titles and two individual wins. The Aggie women finished eighth at the NCAA Mountain Regionals with Thornley being selected all-region as she finished 23rd, and the Aggie men took 10th. Both programs also finished fifth at the Mountain West Championships.
During the 2024 indoor and outdoor track & field seasons, Nardoni helped the team total eight all-conference selections and 33 times in the top 10 of USU’s record book. Max Wehrli set the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:36.30 and Mattie Geddes set the school record in the outdoor 800 meters with a time of 2:06.45.
In the 2021-22 season, Nardoni helped the women’s cross country team qualify for the NCAA Championships for only its second time in program history, placing 28th out of 31 teams. Katie Haviland was the first Aggie across the line at the NCAA Championships, finishing 81st out of more than 250 runners with a time of 20:23.9. The Aggies received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after placing seventh at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships in Provo, Utah.
The women also recorded the program’s best-ever finish at the Mountain West Cross Country Championships, placing second with a team score of 73 points. The Aggies were paced by Haviland and Mica Rivera, who placed 10th and 12th, respectively, with times of 20:05.1 and 20:07.7 to earn All-MW second team honors.
The Aggie men placed third at the MW Championships with a team score of 79 points. Chase Leach earned MW Freshman of the Year honors as the first freshman across the line, placing 12th with a time of 23:50.2 and also earning All-MW second-team honors in the process. Caleb Garnica also made the All-MW second team, finishing 14th with a time of 23:54.1. At the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, USU narrowly missed out on a bid to the NCAA Championships as they finished eighth with 177 team points.
During the 2022 indoor and outdoor track & field seasons, Nardoni also helped the team earn five all-conference selections in distance events and sent eight distance runners to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminaries.
The Aggies excelled both athletically and academically during the 2020-21 season, which saw the cancelation of the indoor track & field season due to COVID-19, and a shortened cross country that was moved from the fall to early 2021.
The men’s cross country team earned its best-ever finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships as the 21st-ranked Aggies scored 351 points to place 11th overall, surpassing their previous best championship finish of 16th in 2019. Utah State beat 15 ranked teams, including 10 that were ranked ahead of them.
Garnica crossed the finish line in 30:31.2 to place 28th in the men’s 10K race and earn All-American status.
Prior to earning All-America honors, Garnica captured the men’s 8K race at the 2020 Mountain West Cross Country Championships. For his efforts, he was tabbed the MW Men’s Student-Athlete of the Year, to go along with earning first-team All-MW honors. Todd and Haydon Cooper also garnered first-team all-league honors, while Bridger Altice earned a second-team citation.
On the women’s side, Haviland earned second-team All-MW accolades by placing eighth in the 6K race with a time of 20:22.1. Haviland went on to earn an at-large selection to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where she placed 43rd in the 6K race with a time of 21:01.6, narrowly missing out on garnering an All-American citation.
Todd was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I Men’s National Athlete of the Week in late January to become the first Aggie to earn National Athlete of the Week honors in cross country since Dillon Maggard in 2017.
During the outdoor track & field season, Nardoni coached two Aggies that earned first-team All-MW accolades. Luke Beattie placed third in the 5,000 meters, while Todd finished second in the 10,000 meters. Beattie, Garnica, Todd and Haviland all qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships.
Mid-distance runner Christopher Kauffman earned a pair of MW Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week accolades after winning the 800 meters at both the Fresno State-hosted West Coast Relays and Montana-hosted Al Manuel Northwest Invitational. Beattie broke the school record previously held by Maggard in the 10K as he placed fifth in the event with a time of 28:33.45 at the Stanford Invitational.
The 2019-20 campaign proved to be a tremendous season for the Aggie distance runners. The year started off with a bang as the men’s cross country team won its first-ever Mountain West title and made its second appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where the 19th-ranked Aggies scored 428 points to place 16th overall, surpassing their previous best championship finish of 27th in 2017.
Utah State, which was led by Beattie, who placed 49th with a time of 31:33.9, finished ahead of five teams that entered the race ranked above it (No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 11 Washington, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 13 Middle Tennessee State).
The Aggie men earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships after the team finished fourth, their best-ever regional finish, and first among Mountain West schools at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships with 106 points. Five runners placed in the top 25 to earn all-region honors, the most ever by a USU team. Dallin Farnsworth finished 16th and Beattie finished 20th, while Garnica was 22nd, Adam Hendrickson was 23rd and James Withers was 25th.
Hosting the 2019 MW Cross Country Championships, the Aggie men did not disappoint on their home course as they captured their first-ever MW title, while the Aggie women placed fifth. The men won the team title with 42 points, led by Farnsworth, who became the first Aggie to ever win a MW Championship race and earn MW Men's Student-Athlete of the Year honors. Farnsworth’s time of 21:14.2 broke the MW Championship record by 20 seconds.
Three of the top six runners in the men’s 8K were Aggies as Beattie (23:23.8) and Withers (23:24.9) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Withers and Beattie, along with Farnsworth, earned first-team All-MW honors. Garnica was named to the All-MW second team after finishing 14th with a time of 23:40.7.
During the 2020 indoor track & field season, Nardoni helped coached one All-MW honoree as Farnsworth placed third in the 5,000 meters (14:33.13) at the Indoor Championships.
During the 2018 cross country season, Nardoni helped two runners earn all-conference honors at the Mountain West Championships. Alyssa Snyder recorded the best finish for an Aggie at the meet as she earned second-team All-MW honors after placing 13th in the women’s 6K race with a time of 21:14.1. On the men’s side, Beattie also garnered second-team All-MW honors after placing 14th in the 8K race with a time of 25:07.2. The women’s team placed fourth overall, while the men finished fifth.
Cierra Simmons-Mecham capped her stellar cross country career by placing 133rd with a time of 21:21.7 in the 6K race at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships. She was one of 38 individual qualifiers for the championships after she garnered all-region honors by placing 17th in the 6K race with a time of 20:25.0 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships.
Nardoni helped coach the Aggies’ cross country and distance groups to their most successful season in school history during the 2017-18 campaign. Utah State’s men’s and women’s cross country teams both made their first-ever appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2017.
Ranked 19th in the nation going into the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Aggie women finished 14th with 395 points in the 6K race. On the men’s side, No. 27 Utah State, despite having three runners exit in the 10K race, took 27th with 603 points.
Snyder led the way for the Aggie women, as she placed 25th with a time of 20:03.39 to earn All-American honors, joining Alisa Nicodemus (1992) as the only USU women's runners to earn All-American honors.
Maggard capped his stellar cross country career by placing sixth with a personal-best 10K time of 29:16.20 to earn All-American accolades. He became the first two-time All-American in Utah State cross country history, as he placed 12th with a time of 30:03.09 at the 2016 National Championships.
Additionally, Maggard, Snyder, Kashley Carter and Tylee Skinner all earned all-region honors by placing in the top 25 at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. Overall, the women finished fourth in the region with 125 points, while the men finished seventh with 197 points.
At the Mountain West Championships, USU’s all-region honorees also earned all-league accolades as the women finished third with 73 points and the men finished fourth with 93 points.
Nardoni helped coached six athletes who combined for 11 All-America honors in track & field in 2017-18.
During the 2016-17 season, Nardoni helped coach Maggard, who earned the school’s third cross country All-America honor – the second on the men’s side – as he placed 12th with a time of 30:03.9 in the men’s 10K race at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships. Maggard qualified for nationals by placing eighth with a time of 31:02.20 at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships, where he helped the Aggie men finish eighth (out of 17) in the team standings with 230 points. The native of Kirkland, Washington, also earned first-team all-conference accolades after placing fourth with a time of 24:08.10 at the MW Cross Country Championships, leading the men to a fourth-place team finish with 131 points.
Two other Aggies were recognized for their performances at the 2016 MW Cross Country Championships. Kashley Carter earned second-team all-conference accolades for the second consecutive year as she placed eighth with a time of 20:45.20, while Luke Beattie was named the MW Men’s Freshman of the Year after placing 35th with a time of 24:47.30.
Nardoni was the team manager for Utah State’s cross country and track & field teams during the 2014-15 season.
Prior to Utah State, Nardoni was the team manager for BYU’s track & field program during the 2013-14 season. She also worked with the women’s distance team during that year. In 2013, Nardoni was the team manager when both of BYU’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. The men placed fourth, while the women finished 28th.
Nardoni earned her bachelor’s degree in science, exercise and wellness from BYU in 2014, and she graduated with a master’s in social work from Utah State in 2016.
The native of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a member of the track & field, cross country and basketball teams at Thomas B. Doherty High School, where she earned a combined seven letters. She was a team captain for both her basketball and track & field teams.
The former Sarah Griggs, who is the youngest of six children, served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Nicaragua from 2011-13. She married Clint Nardoni in July of 2021.