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Nick Stenuf has turned around the men’s cross country program into a highly competitive competitors in the Mid-American Conference since his introduction in 2019. Stenuf came in as an assistant coach and was promoted to associate head cross country/ track & field coach in 2021. Stenuf primarily works with the men’s cross country team and the distance runners on the women’s track & field squad.
Under Stenuf’s direction the men’s cross country team has finished runner-up in back-to-back Mid-American Conference Championship races, to match its best finish in 42 years as a varsity program. Eight of the nine Rockets who competed finished with personal-best times. Dennis Mutai and Mathew Chesum (First-Team All-MAC), Benjamin Otis and Geoff Howles (Second-Team All-MAC) marked the first time in program history that four runners received all-conference honors in the conference meet. Toledo continued to make historical moment until the very end, when it ran to a program-best ninth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship.
On the track side in 2022, Faith Linga made an appearance at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship meet where she finished 21st in the 10K and earned USTFCCCA honorable mention All-America. Linga was among five Rockets who qualified for the NCAA Regionals: Lou Trois (1500m), Stephanie Sherman (10,000m & 5,000m), Semra Karaslan (3,000m Steeplechase) and Emily Vining (3,000m Steeplechase).
Chirchir took first in the 5000m and 3000m at the 2022 MAC Indoor Championships. Chirchir was named MAC Freshman Runner of the Year, Co-Performer of the Meet and earned First-Team All-MAC honors, while Emily Vining earned Second-Team All-MAC honors. Trois won the 1500m at the 2022 MAC Outdoor Championships, while Linga won the 10K. Trois, Linga, Karaslan, Sherman and Margrett Watt earned All-MAC honors.
In 2021, the men’s team finished second at the MAC Championships and 11th-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Great Lakes Regionals. Three Rockets were named All-MAC: Jacob Harris (first-team), Benjamin Otis (second-team), and Mathew Chesum (second-team). Stenuf also helped the women’s team capture the 2021 MAC Championship title and receive a national ranking during the season. During the 2021-22 track & field season, Stenuf saw four women finish first at the MAC Championships, including Joy Chirchir being named Freshman Runner of the Year and Co-Performer of the Meet.
Motivated and encouraged by Stenuf, the women’s track and field distance runners recorded 39 personal records in long distance races. In the 2021 outdoor season, the group captured the highest point total in MAC history for events 800m-10,000m.
In Stenuf’s first season at Toledo, the distance medley relay team captured first at the MAC Championships in the distance medley relay with a time of 11.38.11. Petronela Simiuc broke a MAC record in the mile as well as a Toledo record in the 800m (2:05.73) to take first the MAC Indoor Championships. In men’s cross country, Jacob Harris was named Freshman Athlete of the Year in 2019, and qualified for the 2020 US Junior Pan Am team and competed in Victoria, B.C. where he finished 14th overall.
Stenuf joined the Rockets after a stint as the assistant coach at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan. While at Ottawa, Stenuf was the coach for the men’s and women’s cross country teams, as well as for the distance events for track & field. Stenuf also served as the coordinator of student-athlete development and success, as well as the coordinator of the Student Achievement & Retention Corp. during his time as a Brave.
As a volunteer assistant coach at Duke University in 2014-15, Stenuf helped coach the Blue Devils’ first NCAA Indoor Track & Field qualifiers in the 5000m and distance medley relay. He also helped guide the program’s first ever indoor sub-4 minute miler and sub-14 minute 5,000m runner.
Stenuf worked with head coach Andrea Grove-McDonough while at UConn in 2012-13 as the women’s cross country assistant coach. At UConn, Stenuf was part of the Big East Coaching Staff of the Year and a Huskies women’s team that finished eighth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
In 2014, Stenuf earned his master’s degree in sports management from Florida State and was the graduate assistant for the men’s and women’s cross country and track teams. Stenuf earned his bachelor of science in business education from the Nazareth College of Rochester in 2008. While at Nazareth College, he competed in cross country and track and became the Golden Flyers’ first three-season All-American, once in cross country and twice in indoor and outdoor track & field.
As an undergraduate, Stenuf was a five-time Empire 8 Conference Runner of the Year as well as an Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year. He also earned Atlantic Region Outdoor Runner of the Year honors in 2006.
Stenuf hails from Syracuse N.Y. He and his wife, Chaeli, have two sons, Niko and Tytus.
