University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Track & Field
Angel, Wayne
Wayne Angel
- Title:
- Director of Track and Field and Cross Country
- Email:
- wendell.angel@unco.edu
- Phone:
- 970.351.2185
Wayne Angel was introduced as the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at the University of Northern Colorado in July 2019, and the energetic, dynamic, and noteworthy coach immediately set about building the Bear programs toward conference championships and national recognition.
His impact on the program didn’t take long to see. In his first season with the cross country program, the men earned their highest-ever finish at the Big Sky Conference Championship by taking fifth place. Both the men and women continuously set new personal record times and the men ended up ranked as high as 13th in the highly competitive Mountain Region.
It’s a path he cultivated toward a triumphant five-year stint at Tennessee Tech University where he took the women’s track & field program to Three conference crowns.
Angel led Tennessee Tech to domination with both the indoor and outdoor Ohio Valley Conference championships in 2018 and 2019. In that time, he also produced the OVC Athlete of the Year each season and trained the school’s first-ever women’s track All-American. Angel coached TTU to 40 OVC individual titles from 2016-19 and was named the OVC Coach of the Year four times.
Angel not only had success as the track and field coach but also in cross country at Tennessee Tech. He sent an individual to the NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2018 and had both the men's and women's individual OVC champion in 2016. The Golden Eagles not only excelled on the cross country course but in the classroom as well as earning NCAA top 10 percent APR progress rating awards in 2017 and 2018. Â
Prior to Tennessee Tech, Angel was the head men's cross country and track and field head coach at Florida A&M from 2010-14. He coached two NCAA All-Americans and was named the MEAC Coach of the Year twice.
Angel also had stops at Illinois as the head men's cross country and track and field coach (2003-09), head women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Iowa (2002-03) and Wichita State (1999-2002) as the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach.
At Illinois Angel coached a pair of Olympians in Andrew Riley and Gakologewang  Masheto.
A Rantoul, Illinois native, Angel earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois where he was a two-time Big Ten champion and former school record holder in the 400-meter hurdles. He competed in two Olympic Trials (1980/Eugene. Ore. and 1984/Los Angeles). He is a three-time gold medalist at the World Military Games and a seven-time Inter-Service champion. He currently holds the Armed Forces record in the 400-meter hurdles (49.92). He is a member of two Halls of Fame (Parkland College Hall of Fame and the Rantoul [Ill.] High School Hall of Fame). Angel is also a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the U.S. Army's Air Assault School. He earned the elite and coveted Army Ranger tab as well as his Airborne wings.
Coach Angel Through the YearsÂ
In 2022, at the helm for the Bears, Angel added another successful season under his belt. His triple jump squad earned national recognition, at one point ranking No. 2 in the nation, thanks to the impressive performances by Qwazon Al-Khaliq, Tyler Thimsen, Welre Olivier, and Maccee Reed. Angel also led his team to multiple broken records for multiple athletes during the season. Al-Khaliq set a school record at the Texas Shootout in triple jump with a mark of 16.03m. Along with this, freshman Jerome Campbell broke the program record in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.76 seconds.Â
Under Angel's guidance, two Bears earned Big Sky titles in Welre Olivier and Craiesha Johnson, in triple jump and the 400m, respectively. He also sent four athletes to the NCAA West Regionals in Qwazon Al-Khaliq, Welre Olivier, Tyler Thimsen, and Jerome Campbell to round out another strong season. Two athletes also earned Big Sky Track/Field Athlete of the Week Honors in Campbell and Al-Khaliq. He also placed 17 student-athletes on the Academic All-Big Sky list.
During his five years as head coach of the Tennessee Tech men’s and women’s cross country and women’s track & field teams, Angel established himself as a pioneer of each of the three programs.
In 2018, his first four years of building the program culminated in not one, but two seasons. In February, the TTU indoor track & field team made school history, claiming its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference title by scoring more than 30 points higher than runner-up Eastern Kentucky. The Golden Eagles scored 137 points, including a whopping 102 on the second and final day alone.
Tech claimed eight event titles during the event, led by a whopping three titles from senior Micayla Rennick. Named the OVC Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year prior to the Championships, Rennick captured gold in the mile run, 800m run and 3000m run to also take home OVC Women’s Athlete of the Championship honors. Both were firsts in program history.
Angel was honored as the OVC Indoor Coach of the Year for the second straight year.
Less than three months later, it was the outdoor track & field team’s turn in making school history, capturing the program’s first-ever title. The Golden Eagles dominated the OVC Outdoor Championships, producing 151 points for an eye-popping 50-point lead over runner-up Murray State.
Once again, Rennick was the shining star for the Tech squad, medaling in all four events she competed in. The senior, who took home OVC Female Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honors, was a cinch for the OVC Women’s Athlete of the Championship again after winning the 1500m and 10,000m runs and placing second in the 800m and 5000m runs.
Under Angel’s guidance, Rennick became just the third student-athlete since Athlete of the Championship was first awarded in 2005 – to win all four awards in a single year. Angel also captured the OVC Outdoor Coach of the Year award after his team became one of just seven OVC programs ever to sweep both the indoor and outdoor championships in a single season.
In the 2017 women’s cross country season, it was a newcomer to the squad that quickly set the tone for the team. Freshman Purity Sanga earned OVC Women’s Freshman of the Year after leading Tech in each of the four events she competed prior to the OVC Championships. She claimed a sixth-place finish in the league’s event, but it marked just the tip of the iceberg for her postseason run.
Sanga took the NCAA South Regional by storm, turning in an incredible eighth-place finish to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. She became the first women’s cross country student-athlete from Tennessee Tech to compete at the NCAA Championships and eventually earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors following the season.
On the men’s side, a sophomore who had already re-written the Golden Eagle record books as a freshman was dominant for much of the season. The owner of the school’s top times in the 6K, 8K and 10K, Gilbert Boit was unstoppable early, capturing first-place finishes in the team’s first three events.
He earned OVC Men’s Athlete of the Year and placed sixth at the OVC Championships. He followed it up with a 13th-place showing at the NCAA South Regional, narrowly missing out on a bid to the NCAA Championships while earning All-Region honors.
In 2017, the indoor and outdoor track & field teams showed signs of things to come in turning, at the time, the highest finishes at the OVC Championships in program history. The indoor squad conquered behind brilliant performances across the board, finishing in second place and just 14 points behind Eastern Illinois. The result was the first OVC Coach of the Year honors for Angel.
The outdoor team turned in a day for the ages on the third and final day of the OVC Championships, jumping from 10th to a third-place finish, the school’s highest, behind 91 points total points. Thanks to their spectacular times throughout the season, Na’Asha Robinson and D’Airrien Jackson were invited to take part in the NCAA East Preliminaries.
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Robinson kept her season alive, becoming the first female runner in Tech history to advance to the NCAA Championships, qualifying in the 400-meter dash. She finished 15th in the NCAA Semifinals.
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As for the 2016 men’s cross country team, Boit established himself as the best runner in Tech history early as a freshman, going on to win OVC Male Freshman of the Year honors and the OVC Men’s Cross Country Championship. He went on to finish 11th overall at the NCAA South Regionals, claiming a place on the All-Region team.
In 2016, the women’s cross country continued to trend up in its progress, earning its highest finish at the OVC Championships in six years. Rennick, a junior at the time, placed sixth at the league meet, turning in a school-record time for the 5K in the process.
Upon being named head coach at Tennessee Tech in 2014, Angel made an immediate splash, recruiting a sophomore runner from Florida A&M to lead the men’s team, Geoffrey Sambu. The newcomer gave Tech fans a glimpse of what was to come in the future, immediately establishing himself as one of the best distance runners in program history.
Sambu recorded four of the five best 8K times in school history, breaking his own school record while finishing 13th at the NCAA South Regional Cross Country Championships. It marked the highest finish in program history and his selection to the All-Region team was also a first for the program.
At Florida A&M, Angel coached Kenyan Elias Chesire to two National Athlete of the Week honors in cross country. He had two Rattlers earn All-America honors in the long jump and triple jump. His cross country teams won two MEAC conference championships and a runner-up honor in the four years while at FAMU, earning him two Coach of the Year honors. He coached 15 individual MEAC champions, six outstanding performers of the MEAC Championships, 40 all-MEAC performers and two All-South Region award winners in cross country. His men's cross country team was ranked as high as eighth in the South Region of the United States in 2012 and 2013.
While at Illinois, Angel coached future (London) Olympian and 110m hurdles national champion Andrew Riley. Under his guidance, sprinter Gakologewang Masheto earned numerous All-American and Big Ten honors in the 400 meters. He also earned a spot on the Botswana Olympic team competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; becoming the third Olympian that Angel has coached. In 2008, Masheto made headlines when he set the NCAA collegiate record in the 500-meter dash.
Angel established himself as one of the top middle distance and sprint coaches in the Big Ten while he was at Illinois. He coached six All-Americans who earned 17 total All-American awards, 30 individual Big Ten champions, one NCAA Regional champion, 70 All-Big Ten honorees and two Olympic Trials qualifiers. His mile relay unit took second place at LSU in the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2006. The Illini men's track team finished 23rd at the NCAA Championships that year.
Angel earned two Central Collegiate Coach of the Year honors and was a two-time sprint coach at World Scholar-Athlete Games in 1997 and 2001. He also served as an assistant sprint coach for Latvia at the 2001 World Track & Field Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Angel takes great pride in having coached six 800-meter runners under 1:50 (1:46.43; 1:47.80; 1:48.20; 1:47.81; 1:49.54; and 1:48.89) and three 400-meter hurdlers who have run 50 seconds or better (:49.60; :49.81; and :50.01). His coaching prowess extends beyond the 400m and 800m. In 2005 and 2006, he coached two of the top mile relays in the country (3:06.79 in/3:04.64 out).
During his brief stint at Iowa as the head cross country coach and assistant track coach, he guided Hawkeye Sarah Arens to an NCAA championship berth and school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Angel also coached a nationally ranked distance medley relay group during that period.
At Wichita State, Angel was the head cross country coach and assistant track coach. He trained two of the nation's top 800-meter runners indoors, Viktors Lacis (1:48.63) and Solomon Birir (1:48.81), to appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships. His middle distance runners were also dominant at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships as they swept the top three spots. Lacis, a two-time Olympian, also placed third at the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles with a time of 49.60, setting a school record and earning All-American honors. Lacis went on to win the Latvia National Championships in the 400-meter hurdles that year. Angel's Shocker women's cross country team was runnerup in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships and was ranked as high as 28th in the United States and third in the Midwest Region.
Before entering the college coaching ranks, Angel was a highly successful head track and field coach at Pike High School in Indianapolis, Ind., from 1993-1998. He led his 1997 girl’s team to an undefeated season (15-0), the Indiana State High School Championship and a No. 17 national ranking. The team was state runner-up in 1998. Angel's Red Devils won three conference and four regional championships during his tenure. He also received numerous Coach of the Year honors during this period.
Angel's collegiate coaching career began in 1998 when he became the head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant men's and women's track and field coach at UT Martin. He guided one first-team All-OVC performer and three school-record setters.
Angel is married to the former Tammy Johnson of Jefferson, City, Tenn. He has seven children – Brian, Danielle, Christie, Jason, Wayne, Geoffrey and Raven – and six grandchildren.
Angel Accomplishments
- Helped train three Olympians
- Named Coach of the Year six times
- Coached 21 NCAA All-Americans
- Led teams to five team titles                                                                                                                             Â
- Coached Viktors Lacis at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships
His impact on the program didn’t take long to see. In his first season with the cross country program, the men earned their highest-ever finish at the Big Sky Conference Championship by taking fifth place. Both the men and women continuously set new personal record times and the men ended up ranked as high as 13th in the highly competitive Mountain Region.
It’s a path he cultivated toward a triumphant five-year stint at Tennessee Tech University where he took the women’s track & field program to Three conference crowns.
Angel led Tennessee Tech to domination with both the indoor and outdoor Ohio Valley Conference championships in 2018 and 2019. In that time, he also produced the OVC Athlete of the Year each season and trained the school’s first-ever women’s track All-American. Angel coached TTU to 40 OVC individual titles from 2016-19 and was named the OVC Coach of the Year four times.
Angel not only had success as the track and field coach but also in cross country at Tennessee Tech. He sent an individual to the NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2018 and had both the men's and women's individual OVC champion in 2016. The Golden Eagles not only excelled on the cross country course but in the classroom as well as earning NCAA top 10 percent APR progress rating awards in 2017 and 2018. Â
Prior to Tennessee Tech, Angel was the head men's cross country and track and field head coach at Florida A&M from 2010-14. He coached two NCAA All-Americans and was named the MEAC Coach of the Year twice.
Angel also had stops at Illinois as the head men's cross country and track and field coach (2003-09), head women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Iowa (2002-03) and Wichita State (1999-2002) as the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach.
At Illinois Angel coached a pair of Olympians in Andrew Riley and Gakologewang  Masheto.
A Rantoul, Illinois native, Angel earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois where he was a two-time Big Ten champion and former school record holder in the 400-meter hurdles. He competed in two Olympic Trials (1980/Eugene. Ore. and 1984/Los Angeles). He is a three-time gold medalist at the World Military Games and a seven-time Inter-Service champion. He currently holds the Armed Forces record in the 400-meter hurdles (49.92). He is a member of two Halls of Fame (Parkland College Hall of Fame and the Rantoul [Ill.] High School Hall of Fame). Angel is also a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the U.S. Army's Air Assault School. He earned the elite and coveted Army Ranger tab as well as his Airborne wings.
Coach Angel Through the YearsÂ
In 2022, at the helm for the Bears, Angel added another successful season under his belt. His triple jump squad earned national recognition, at one point ranking No. 2 in the nation, thanks to the impressive performances by Qwazon Al-Khaliq, Tyler Thimsen, Welre Olivier, and Maccee Reed. Angel also led his team to multiple broken records for multiple athletes during the season. Al-Khaliq set a school record at the Texas Shootout in triple jump with a mark of 16.03m. Along with this, freshman Jerome Campbell broke the program record in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.76 seconds.Â
Under Angel's guidance, two Bears earned Big Sky titles in Welre Olivier and Craiesha Johnson, in triple jump and the 400m, respectively. He also sent four athletes to the NCAA West Regionals in Qwazon Al-Khaliq, Welre Olivier, Tyler Thimsen, and Jerome Campbell to round out another strong season. Two athletes also earned Big Sky Track/Field Athlete of the Week Honors in Campbell and Al-Khaliq. He also placed 17 student-athletes on the Academic All-Big Sky list.
During his five years as head coach of the Tennessee Tech men’s and women’s cross country and women’s track & field teams, Angel established himself as a pioneer of each of the three programs.
In 2018, his first four years of building the program culminated in not one, but two seasons. In February, the TTU indoor track & field team made school history, claiming its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference title by scoring more than 30 points higher than runner-up Eastern Kentucky. The Golden Eagles scored 137 points, including a whopping 102 on the second and final day alone.
Tech claimed eight event titles during the event, led by a whopping three titles from senior Micayla Rennick. Named the OVC Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year prior to the Championships, Rennick captured gold in the mile run, 800m run and 3000m run to also take home OVC Women’s Athlete of the Championship honors. Both were firsts in program history.
Angel was honored as the OVC Indoor Coach of the Year for the second straight year.
Less than three months later, it was the outdoor track & field team’s turn in making school history, capturing the program’s first-ever title. The Golden Eagles dominated the OVC Outdoor Championships, producing 151 points for an eye-popping 50-point lead over runner-up Murray State.
Once again, Rennick was the shining star for the Tech squad, medaling in all four events she competed in. The senior, who took home OVC Female Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honors, was a cinch for the OVC Women’s Athlete of the Championship again after winning the 1500m and 10,000m runs and placing second in the 800m and 5000m runs.
Under Angel’s guidance, Rennick became just the third student-athlete since Athlete of the Championship was first awarded in 2005 – to win all four awards in a single year. Angel also captured the OVC Outdoor Coach of the Year award after his team became one of just seven OVC programs ever to sweep both the indoor and outdoor championships in a single season.
In the 2017 women’s cross country season, it was a newcomer to the squad that quickly set the tone for the team. Freshman Purity Sanga earned OVC Women’s Freshman of the Year after leading Tech in each of the four events she competed prior to the OVC Championships. She claimed a sixth-place finish in the league’s event, but it marked just the tip of the iceberg for her postseason run.
Sanga took the NCAA South Regional by storm, turning in an incredible eighth-place finish to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. She became the first women’s cross country student-athlete from Tennessee Tech to compete at the NCAA Championships and eventually earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors following the season.
On the men’s side, a sophomore who had already re-written the Golden Eagle record books as a freshman was dominant for much of the season. The owner of the school’s top times in the 6K, 8K and 10K, Gilbert Boit was unstoppable early, capturing first-place finishes in the team’s first three events.
He earned OVC Men’s Athlete of the Year and placed sixth at the OVC Championships. He followed it up with a 13th-place showing at the NCAA South Regional, narrowly missing out on a bid to the NCAA Championships while earning All-Region honors.
In 2017, the indoor and outdoor track & field teams showed signs of things to come in turning, at the time, the highest finishes at the OVC Championships in program history. The indoor squad conquered behind brilliant performances across the board, finishing in second place and just 14 points behind Eastern Illinois. The result was the first OVC Coach of the Year honors for Angel.
The outdoor team turned in a day for the ages on the third and final day of the OVC Championships, jumping from 10th to a third-place finish, the school’s highest, behind 91 points total points. Thanks to their spectacular times throughout the season, Na’Asha Robinson and D’Airrien Jackson were invited to take part in the NCAA East Preliminaries.
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Robinson kept her season alive, becoming the first female runner in Tech history to advance to the NCAA Championships, qualifying in the 400-meter dash. She finished 15th in the NCAA Semifinals.
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As for the 2016 men’s cross country team, Boit established himself as the best runner in Tech history early as a freshman, going on to win OVC Male Freshman of the Year honors and the OVC Men’s Cross Country Championship. He went on to finish 11th overall at the NCAA South Regionals, claiming a place on the All-Region team.
In 2016, the women’s cross country continued to trend up in its progress, earning its highest finish at the OVC Championships in six years. Rennick, a junior at the time, placed sixth at the league meet, turning in a school-record time for the 5K in the process.
Upon being named head coach at Tennessee Tech in 2014, Angel made an immediate splash, recruiting a sophomore runner from Florida A&M to lead the men’s team, Geoffrey Sambu. The newcomer gave Tech fans a glimpse of what was to come in the future, immediately establishing himself as one of the best distance runners in program history.
Sambu recorded four of the five best 8K times in school history, breaking his own school record while finishing 13th at the NCAA South Regional Cross Country Championships. It marked the highest finish in program history and his selection to the All-Region team was also a first for the program.
At Florida A&M, Angel coached Kenyan Elias Chesire to two National Athlete of the Week honors in cross country. He had two Rattlers earn All-America honors in the long jump and triple jump. His cross country teams won two MEAC conference championships and a runner-up honor in the four years while at FAMU, earning him two Coach of the Year honors. He coached 15 individual MEAC champions, six outstanding performers of the MEAC Championships, 40 all-MEAC performers and two All-South Region award winners in cross country. His men's cross country team was ranked as high as eighth in the South Region of the United States in 2012 and 2013.
While at Illinois, Angel coached future (London) Olympian and 110m hurdles national champion Andrew Riley. Under his guidance, sprinter Gakologewang Masheto earned numerous All-American and Big Ten honors in the 400 meters. He also earned a spot on the Botswana Olympic team competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; becoming the third Olympian that Angel has coached. In 2008, Masheto made headlines when he set the NCAA collegiate record in the 500-meter dash.
Angel established himself as one of the top middle distance and sprint coaches in the Big Ten while he was at Illinois. He coached six All-Americans who earned 17 total All-American awards, 30 individual Big Ten champions, one NCAA Regional champion, 70 All-Big Ten honorees and two Olympic Trials qualifiers. His mile relay unit took second place at LSU in the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2006. The Illini men's track team finished 23rd at the NCAA Championships that year.
Angel earned two Central Collegiate Coach of the Year honors and was a two-time sprint coach at World Scholar-Athlete Games in 1997 and 2001. He also served as an assistant sprint coach for Latvia at the 2001 World Track & Field Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Angel takes great pride in having coached six 800-meter runners under 1:50 (1:46.43; 1:47.80; 1:48.20; 1:47.81; 1:49.54; and 1:48.89) and three 400-meter hurdlers who have run 50 seconds or better (:49.60; :49.81; and :50.01). His coaching prowess extends beyond the 400m and 800m. In 2005 and 2006, he coached two of the top mile relays in the country (3:06.79 in/3:04.64 out).
During his brief stint at Iowa as the head cross country coach and assistant track coach, he guided Hawkeye Sarah Arens to an NCAA championship berth and school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Angel also coached a nationally ranked distance medley relay group during that period.
At Wichita State, Angel was the head cross country coach and assistant track coach. He trained two of the nation's top 800-meter runners indoors, Viktors Lacis (1:48.63) and Solomon Birir (1:48.81), to appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships. His middle distance runners were also dominant at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships as they swept the top three spots. Lacis, a two-time Olympian, also placed third at the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles with a time of 49.60, setting a school record and earning All-American honors. Lacis went on to win the Latvia National Championships in the 400-meter hurdles that year. Angel's Shocker women's cross country team was runnerup in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships and was ranked as high as 28th in the United States and third in the Midwest Region.
Before entering the college coaching ranks, Angel was a highly successful head track and field coach at Pike High School in Indianapolis, Ind., from 1993-1998. He led his 1997 girl’s team to an undefeated season (15-0), the Indiana State High School Championship and a No. 17 national ranking. The team was state runner-up in 1998. Angel's Red Devils won three conference and four regional championships during his tenure. He also received numerous Coach of the Year honors during this period.
Angel's collegiate coaching career began in 1998 when he became the head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant men's and women's track and field coach at UT Martin. He guided one first-team All-OVC performer and three school-record setters.
Angel is married to the former Tammy Johnson of Jefferson, City, Tenn. He has seven children – Brian, Danielle, Christie, Jason, Wayne, Geoffrey and Raven – and six grandchildren.
Angel Accomplishments
- Helped train three Olympians
- Named Coach of the Year six times
- Coached 21 NCAA All-Americans
- Led teams to five team titles                                                                                                                             Â
- Coached Viktors Lacis at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships
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Wednesday, July 30
