Damon Martin
Head Coach
Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
Hall of Fame Head Coach Damon Martin has built the Adams State University cross country and track programs to the absolute premiere level, not only at Division II, but in all of collegiate athletics. Winner of 38 National Coach of the Year awards, Martin is recognized as one of the best coaches in the country, especially with distance runners, his specialty.
Martin has guided Adams State to a total of 38 National Championship teams (21 women’s cross country, 11 men’s cross country, 3 women's indoor track & field, 2 men's indoor track & field, 1 men's outdoor track & field), including a stretch of nine straight women’s cross country titles from 1991-99, another stretch of seven straight women's titles from 2003-09 and two separate runs of three straight men's cross country national titles (2008-10 & 2012-14). He has also guided athletes to 1,275 combined all-America honors and 130 individual national championships while also coaching 10 national championship relay teams.
Martin has also guided his men’s cross country and track & field teams to nine USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Program of the Year honors, awarded to the school with the best combined finish at the national championships in cross country, as well as indoor and outdoor track & field. He also led the ASU women to three USTFCCCA NCAA DII Women's Jerry Baltes Program of the Year. In 2014 the USTFCCCA officially named the NCAA DII Men's Program of the Year award after Martin. His strong relationship with USTFCCCA was reinforced in December of 2014 as Martin was voted by his peers to lead the organization as President from 2015-2017.
Martin first came to Alamosa in the fall of 1985 after a brilliant collegiate career at the University of Arkansas-Monticello, where he was a two-time All-American and seven-time All-Conference middle distance runner. His career highlight was a second place finish in the National Championship 1,500-meter event. After earning his bachelor of arts degree in the summer of 1985, he came to Adams State as a graduate assistant for the women’s cross country and track programs.
The next year, Martin finished his master’s degree while working at Valley Athletics and training under the Reebok flag. He continued training after completing his masters’ degree in the spring of 1985. In 1988, Martin competed in the United States Olympic Trials in the 5000 meters.
Martin then caught his big break which vaulted him onto his absolutely amazing career path. In 1988, Martin was named the interim coach for the men’s cross country team, filling in for ASU coaching great Dr. Joe I. Vigil, who was coaching at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The team won their sixth consecutive NAIA National title that year.
The next spring, Martin began a teaching career serving as a half-time physical education instructor and volunteering as a men’s track and field coach. In the fall of 1989, Martin was named the head women’s cross country and track coach. Incredibly, Martin’s inaugural women won the schools first women’s national title since 1981, and the second overall. After finishing second in 1990, the team went on a tear, winning nine consecutive national titles from 1991-99. Martin won National Coach of the Year honors every year in that streak. In 1995, he also won the Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.
In 1996, Martin was named the head coach of the men’s programs and has never looked back. He began rebuilding the team that had gone through tough times the previous year, not qualifying for the national cross country championships for the first time in 28 years. In three short years, he returned the program to dominance with a 1998 Dual National Championship. The Grizzlies repeated that feat for the tenth time in 2018.
In addition to his National Coach of the Year Awards, Martin has numerous Regional and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors. Under Martin, the Adam State Cross Country and Track & Field teams have won a total of 92 RMAC Team Championships.
Martin has been selected to represent Team USA on three occasions, including 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar as the men’s distance coach.
With all his success, have come special invitations. Martin has been a guest speaker at several coaching association conventions, including the 2001 National High School Coaches Convention in North Dakota. He also spoke at the Ohio State Coaches Association, the largest in the country.
In 2018, Martin was inducted into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. Martin was inducted into his alma-mater's athletics hall of fame in 2004, into ASU's Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Colorado Running Hall of Fame in 2015. He was also inducted into the Arkansas State Track & Field Hall of Fame in the fall of 2007. Around the same time, Martin became a published author as he wrote "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Injury Free Running:", a book that can be purchased world-wide.
Martin graduated from Longview High School in Texas in 1981. He met and married his wife Konnie while attending University of Arkansas-Monticello. The couple has two children, Lauren and Tanner. Lauren currently is the head coach for cross country and track & field at Trinidad State College. Tanner is the corporate partnerships senior coordinator at USA Triathlon.
Matt Gersick
Assistant Track & Field Coach
Matt Gersick moved into the role of Director of Strength & Conditioning prior to the start of the 2011-12 school year following two years as the Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning. The S & C program under Gersick is a comprehensive, multi-faceted sport performance program. The program provides a systematic approach to building structural balance, strength, power, and speed, with additional sport specific stability, agility, coordination, and injury prevention.
Gersick also serves as the head throws coach for the ASU track & field program. As a coach, Gersick was named the 2014 NCAA DII Outdoor Men's Assistant Coach of the Year and has coached 18 All-American performances. During that 2014 season, he coached athlete Wesley Lavong to a National Title and top 10 ranking in Division II history. Gersick has coached two athletes to a top 10 all-time DII ranking.
A 2009 Adams State graduate, Gersick is one of the most decorated athletes to ever wear a Grizzly uniform. Gersick won an NCAA Title, nine All-America honors, and 16 All-RMAC honors. In addition to multiple RMAC and Regional Athlete of the Year awards, he was a two-time First-Team ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-American (2008 & 2009), and was named the male recipient of the 2009 ASU Honor Student-Athlete award.
Gersick graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2009 with his BA in exercise science, has earned his MA in exercise physiology from Adams State, and is a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist.
Sadie Baker
Assistant Coach/ Recruiting Coordinator
Sadie Baker is finishing her fifth year as an Assistant Cross Country and Track and Field Distance coach at Adams State University in 2022-23. She is already decorated, as she has helped the Grizzlies win three-straight (2019; 2021 and 2022) national championships in cross country, a women’s indoor track and field championship (2023), two second-place finishes on the men’s side (XC – 2021 and ITF – 2023). Baker has eclipsed the century mark on All-American athletes she has coached with 57 women and 44 men earning the honor.
During her athletic career, she helped the Grizzlies win the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championship while also running on the 2018 team that finished second. She is also a three-time NCAA qualifier in 5k/10k; a five-time conference team champion, four-time conference indoor track and field team champion, two-time outdoor track and field team champion and earned Second-Team All-Conference honors in both XC and Outdoor Track and Field.
Alec Duncan
Duncan joined the Grizzlies coaching staff in Fall 2022. He assists in daily operations for the track & field program and daily practices for distance, sprints and throws practices. Duncan holds USTFCCCA Sprints, Hurdles Relays and Endurance Event Specialist certifications, as well as USTFCCCA Strength & Conditioning certification, USATF Level 1 and Cross Country Specialist certifications.
Prior to his arrival at Adams State, Duncan was the Head Cross Country and Track & Field coach at Cedar Crest College from 2016-2023. While with the Falcons, Duncan lead the team to their first CSAC Cross Country championship title in the program’s history and started the Outdoor Track & Field program that began competition in the Spring 2021 season.
Duncan received CSAC Coach of the Year Awards for both Outdoor Track & Field (2021) and Cross Country (2021). In addition to coaching, he also held titles of Assistant Athletic Director for Operations and co-Interim Athletic Director.
