Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jody Stewart Receives Contract Extension

“I want to thank Dr. Teis and our senior staff for their continued support in our vision. It’s been an amazing two and a half years,” said Stewart.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State Athletics announced on Wednesday that Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Jody Stewart has received a contract extension through 2021.

“Jody has been a tremendous addition to our coaching staff. Not only is he building a first class program on the track, but in the classroom as well,” said Director of Athletics Larry Teis. “Our APR numbers continue to increase along with the number of championships we win in our indoor and outdoor programs. I am extremely excited Jody wants to remain a Bobcat.”

In his two and a half years leading the Bobcat programs, Stewart has won five Sun Belt Conference Championships, been named SBC Coach of the Year five times and led the women’s program to its highest point total at an indoor championship in 2017.

Texas State has also produced 10 All-Americans, 42 individual Sun Belt Conference champions, 43 NCAA First Round qualifiers, 109 all-conference honorees, 16 school records and 13 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors. In addition, the women’s team swept the 2017 postseason awards from the SBC during the outdoor season.

“I want to thank Dr. Teis and our senior staff for their continued support in our vision. It’s been an amazing two and a half years,” said Stewart. “My staff and I are committed to the mission of the University and will continue to achieve both University and department goals. I have an outstanding coaching and support staff, and we are excited for the future as this is just the beginning.”

A goal of Stewart’s when he arrived in San Marcos was to build a balanced track and field program. That came to fruition this fall when the women won their first conference cross country championship since 1994. It was a vast improvement from the ninth-place finish in 2015, Stewart’s first year at the helm.

The men’s cross country team has recorded back-to-back third-place finishes at the SBC Championships; the program’s best finish since being runner-ups in the 1994 and 1995 Southland Conference Championships. This past fall, the squad had four individual top 20 finishes and were six points shy of winning the conference title. At the NCAA South Central Regional, the men have recorded consecutive top 10 finishes with a program best finish of fifth taking place in 2017.

Indoor season has been the most successful for the Bobcats when it comes to championship trophies under Stewart with a team bringing back a trophy each year. First was the men’s team in 2016 behind a 127.5-point effort and three gold, silver and bronze medals apiece.

The women won their first indoor title under Stewart in 2017 with a dominating 166-point performance after using an extremely close runner-up performance the year prior. Tramesha Hardy showed her dominance on the track by claiming golds in the 60-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter dashes and 4×400-meter relay to earn the Women’s Top Meet Scorer with 32.5 points. Also standing atop the podium at the meet was Chelsie Decoud, Devina Schneider and Antonisha Stewart.

Back in February, the women repeated as conference champions as Hardy repeated as a four-time gold medalist and Women’s Top Meet Scorer.

Last year saw the women win their first outdoor Sun Belt championship. Performances by Julie Lange, Hardy and Schneider at the meet were awarded with the Bobcats sweeping the conference’s individual awards for the outdoor season.

When either of the programs hasn’t finished atop the podium at the SBC Track & Field Championships, they have never finished lower than third in the team standings.

For the latest on the Texas State track & field teams, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, follow Twitter at TXStateTrack.com.