GUNNISON, Colo.  Head track and field coach Lindsey Grasmick has announced that after eight years with the Western Colorado program, the last six as head coach, she will be stepping away from the coaching profession.

"I feel very grateful to have had the privilege to lead the Mountaineers for the past six years and work alongside passionate coaches, administrators, and student-athletes," said Grasmick. "The past six years have been an incredible journey and the tenacity, determination and work ethic of our team was something that inspired me daily.

"I have decided to step away from the sport but look forward to following Western track and field and the bright future that lies ahead for the program," she added.

Grasmick was the interim head coach during the 2017-18 academic year before the interim tag was removed at the end of the outdoor season.

"We appreciate everything that Coach Grasmick has done for Mountaineer athletics during her time here," said Director of Athletics Miles Van Hee. "Lindsey has done an amazing job elevating the track & field program into an RMAC and national contender and making a huge impact in developing her student-athletes to earn many individual RMAC, national championship, and All-American titles. Lindsey also played a big role in campus, community and alumni engagement.  

"Lindsey's overall impact has made a difference for our entire department and I respect Lindsey's leadership qualities, her work ethic, and her passion for both advancing the track and field program as well Mountaineer athletics."

Most recently, the Mountaineers completed the 2023 NCAA Division II outdoor championship gathering 14 All-American awards on the way to a ninth-place finish in the women's team standings while the men finished in 17th place.

One of Grasmick's All-Americans at the meet was 400-meter hurdler Kaiya Firor who set the school record (58.97 seconds) with a fourth-place finish in the championship heat. Firor had previously been part of an All-American distance medley relay quartet at the 2023 NCAA indoor championship meet.

Grasmick's most recent national champion was Bailey Sharon who won the 800-meter run at the NCAA 2021 outdoor championship with a school-record time of 2:04.23, which still ranks eighth all time in NCAA D-II history. Sharon's title was also the first in school history in a running event shorter than 1,500-meters.

Her 2019 men's team won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference indoor title. Grasmick would be voted the RMAC Indoor Men's Coach of the Year and then the USTFCCCA South Central Regional Men's Indoor Coach of the Year. This followed a stellar 2017-18 in which the Mountaineer women would finish second at the 2018 NCAA indoor championship meet for the highest finish in program history.

Grasmick's mentorship with the sprinters and hurdlers has rewritten much of the program's record book. Indoor records have fallen in the women's 60, 60-meter hurdles, 200, 400 and 800, and the 4x400 relay, along with the men's 60, 60-hurdles, and the 200 records.

Outdoor marks were broken in the women's 200 and 800, the 400 hurdles, and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, while the men's record board saw new names go up in the 400, 400 hurdles, and the 4x100 relay.

In all, as the head coach or as an assistant with the Mountaineer program Grasmick has mentored student-athletes to 20 All-American honors—15 women and 5 men—including national champions in Sharon and a women's DMR. Fifteen Mountaineers—11 women and 4 men—would capture individual RMAC titles with Grasmick as the program's head coach.

"I would like to express my gratitude for Lindsey's work at Western," adds Van Hee. "She involved herself with the University's Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity committee, along with our department's Mountaineer Diversity Inclusion Alliance, all the while doing an amazing job of building the track & field program and setting things up nicely for the next head coach who will lead the program. I'm not alone in wishing nothing but the best for Lindsey in her next endeavors."

A national search for the head coach position at Western will be initiated by mid-June.