Women's Track & Field

Ron Combs enters his 28th season as the Head Men's and Women's Cross Country coach at Wilmington College in 2024-25. He has a long history with both the Wilmington College cross country and track & field programs.

He has coached countless All-Conference performers during his time at the helm of the program. Simon Heys completed his legendary cross country career at Wilmington in 2023 with his third straight All-American performance at the NCAA Divison III Cross Country Championships. 

As a graduate of and former athlete at WC, Combs knows the program and people well. After a quarter-century run as head men's & women's track & field coach, Combs has transitioned to an assistant track & field coach.

During his collegiate career, he was a four-year letterman in both track and cross country and was named team captain of the school's only cross country team to win a conference title. Combs began his coaching career immediately after graduating from WC in 1993. He went back to his hometown of Tiffin to be an assistant track and cross country coach at Heidelberg College, but when the opportunity presented itself to return to Wilmington as an assistant coach, Combs didn't hesitate.

"As a graduate of Wilmington, I knew the college well and I enjoyed my four years there as a student-athlete," Combs said. "I enjoyed Wilmington so much that I was eager to return." Combs put in a couple of seasons as the assistant cross country and track coach before being promoted.

In 1997, his dedication and coaching talents paid off in the form of the head coaching position of the Quakers cross country teams. From his start, there were just six men and three women on the Quakers' roster. With such low numbers, the team didn't have any hope of competing with the top teams in the state. Combs, however, made sure those days remained long gone. He has since built the WC roster up, and his teams are not only competing with the best in the state but have gained national recognition as well.

In addition to the teams' athletic accomplishments, the Quakers also have garnered several All-Academic Team honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Combs' success with the cross country teams spilled over onto the track after he was named the Quakers' head track & field coach in 1998. Again, he started with small numbers, but has since built a program that has caught the eye of the nation.

Combs was a two-time recipient of the HCAC's Coach of the Year award and also has been named the Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. In addition to his success at the conference level, Combs' teams have also cracked into the Top 30 nationally. His 2002 Men's Indoor Track and Field team placed sixth at the NCAA Championships and his 2004 women's team placed seventh overall in Division III. More recently, he mentored Simon Heys to back-to-back All-American honors in cross country, marking the first time at WC student-athlete has earned such honors in the NCAA era (1991-present). In the spring of 2023, he guided the Quaker men to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Combs has coached eight Track & Field National Champions in Nyhla Rothwell (Indoor High Jump, 1997), Emily Herring (Indoor High Jump, 2004), Doreen Nagawa (Outdoor Triple Jump, 2005), Ashley Johnson (Outdoor Pole Vault, 2006), Callen Martin (Indoor 55-Meter Dash, 2010), Christian Patterson (Outdoor High Jump, 2014), Brady Vilvens (Outdoor High Jump, 2023), and Faith Duncan (Outdoor 5,000 Meter Run, 2024).

Combs has guided 23 Quakers to multiple Track & Field All-American honors in his career.

He resides in Wilmington with his wife Kelley and their sons, Dylan and Cameron.

*Last updated - June 11th, 2023*