Sam Catterson recently wrapped up his third season as the head coach of the Utica University cross country program. He was promoted to that post in the Summer of 2019. He also serves as the top assistant for the track and field program under head coach Jim Lemieux.
In 2024, Catterson coached the men's program to a 5th place finish at the Empire 8 Championships, while the women's team finished in third. After a ninth place finish at the Niagara Regional, Bennett Melita received an at-large selection to the NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship, placing 164th out of 294 runners. On the women's side, the team notched a program record 9th place finish at the Niagara Regional, highlighted by freshman Catherine Manna's 31st place finish.
In 2023, Catterson coached the men's program to place 3rd at the Empire 8 Championships, while the women's team placed fourth. Bennett Melita won the Empire 8 Most Outstanding Runner at the championship run and set the program's best record with a time of 24:44 in the 8k race. In the NCAA regionals meet, Jade Dening placed 52nd out of over 140 runners. While, in the 6k race Maria Stuhlman recorded a time of 23:53.2, placing 70th.
The 2021-22 track and field season was highlighted by the men's program winning its third Empire 8 Conference Outdoor Team Title, and the coaching staff earning Empire 8 Men's Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. Three athletes, Mackenzie Mix, Hunter Logan, and Ka'Sean Watlington, earned a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and Logan also attended the NCAA Indoor Championships. Logan snagged All-American honors indoors and outdoors in the men's shot put. Mix was chosen as the Empire 8 Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. The squad claimed a total of 30 outdoor All-Conference honors, and also secured ten All-Region honors outdoors. Indoors, Utica claimed three All-Region honors, and nineteen All-Conference honors from seventeen different athletes.
With the cross country schedule returning to normal in 2022, the women's squad placed fifth at the Empire 8 Championships, while the men's program was sixth. Jade Dening ran her way to first team All-Conference honors with an exceptional fourth place finish in the conference. She went on to finish 23rd at the new NCAA Niagara Regional meet. After the season ended, she was named the E8 Rookie of the Year.
The Spring 2021 season produced a pair of fifth place team finishes at the Empire 8 Cross Country Championship. Three members of the UC women's cross country program were picked to All-Conference teams.
On the track, Catterson and the Pioneers produced a quality season. The Utica Women were third in the team championship at the Empire 8 Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while the Utica Men turned in a third place and second place performance, respectively, at the same event. The Pioneers won eight different individual titles in outdoor track, and two indoor titles, while there were a total of seventeen All-Conference honors awarded to the program over the course of the indoor and outdoor seasons. Four members of the squad were picked to All-Region teams, and long jumper Kelsey Wands went on to compete at the NCAA Championships in the Long Jump.
Among Catterson's personal coaching highlights in 2021 was tutoring pole vaulters Chase Pecoraro and Caroline Castriotta to a sweep of the Empire 8 outdoor championships in that event. Kyle Swiecki also set a new school-record in the decathlon.
He led the cross country team to an outstanding 2019 season in his first year at the helm. For their work over the course of the season, Catterson and the Utica staff were honored as the E8 Cross Country men’s coaching staff of the year.
Under Catterson’s direction this past fall, lead runners Kaitlyn Stinson and Mitchell Marlow were named the winners of the Empire 8 Conference Runner of the Year awards for their work in their final seasons of collegiate Cross Country. Marlow was also the individual men’s champion at the Empire 8 Championship meet. After a strong run at the regional meet, Stinson went on to represent Utica at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. She placed 168th for the program’s best finish in national cross country competition. A total of four women and five men were named to the Empire 8 All-Conference Teams.
On the track, Catterson coached Marlow to a sweep of the distance events at the 2020 Empire 8 Indoor Championship. Marlow was named the E8 Track Athlete of the Meet. He additionally coached Utica Athletes to top honors in the men’s and women’s pole vault, with Chase Pecoraro and Meaghan Romaguera landing the individual titles.
In the five years preceding his current appointments, Catterson worked his way up to the title of associate head cross country/track & field coach and was the top assistant for the programs alongside Lemieux. He was originally hired onto the staff to coach the team’s pole vaulters for the 2014-15 season.
In his expanded roles, Catterson has been a catalyst for developing Utica’s cross country program into an Empire 8 power. In 2018, he guided both the men’s and women’s programs to Empire 8 titles while earning the Conference’s coaching staff of the year honors. Veteran standout Kaitlyn Stinson was named the Empire 8 Cross Country Runner of the Year and she became just the second student-athlete in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships. UC’s women’s cross country program has won two of the last three Empire 8 championships.
Prior to coaching in Utica, he spent eight years coaching in Boulder, Colorado. During this time, Catterson served as a coach and competitor with the Above the Track Club, one of the best pole vault clubs in the nation.
He also spent two years (2012-2013) as the cross country head coach and pole vault, throws and hurdles coach for Niwot High School, and led the girl’s team to a state championship in 2013. While at Niwot, he coached Gatorade State Runner of the Year Elise Cranny, who competed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Coach Catterson started his coaching career at his alma mater, Ithaca College, upon graduation in 2005. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History. During the 2005-06 season, Catterson served as the pole vault and multi-event coach for Ithaca.
A four-year member of the Ithaca track team, Catterson competed as a pole vaulter, decathlete and javelin thrower. He was awarded the Larry Czarnecki award at the culmination of his career, which recognized his outstanding contributions to the program during his time there as a student-athlete.
Catterson currently resides in Clinton, NY.
