Plymouth State University

John Ostler begins his 10th year as head men's and women's cross country coach at Plymouth State in 2023-24. He has also led the men’s and women's indoor and outdoor track and field programs since the 2015-16 school year, when the men's program was reinstated and the women's program was started. Ostler came to Plymouth State following a stint at Hamilton College, where he was an assistant with both the cross country and track & field coaching staffs.
 
Ostler led both cross country teams to their first LEC Championships in the last two years, with the men claiming the title in 2022 and the women in 2021. In both cases, PSU boasted the individual race winner, while Oster and his staff was named LEC Coaching Staff of the Year for the winning team in both seasons. Race winners Mike Olson (2022) and Kim Bowles (2021) were selected as LEC Runner of the Year as well.
 
The indoor track programs have seen regular improvement under Ostler. On the men’s side he has guided four different athletes to eight total appearances at the NCAA Division III National Championship meet - including six All-American finishes. While the women's team hasn't had the same recognition on the national level, the team has had its highest finishes at the New England Regional Championships each of the past two winters, while claiming six event wins over the past two LEC Championships, including the 4x200-meter relay both years. 

 
Ostler has lifted four outdoor track athletes to the National Championship, claiming three All-America finishes including back-to-back top-four finishes by Terrell Lewis in the 110m Hurdles in 2021 and 2022. He had multiple qualifiers for the outdoor nationals for the first time in 2023, as Jacob Rigoli (Hammer Throw) and Mike Olson (800-Meters) both competed on the national stage. His outdoor athletes have captured 23 LEC titles, three New England Regional titles and earned a pair of LEC major awards – Track Athlete of the Year and Rookie Track Athlete of the Year. The men have finished fourth at the LEC Championships each of the last five years, and posted a program-best team score at the 2023 New England Championships, while the women moved up three spots to take fifth at last spring's LEC Championship.
  
All told, Ostler's athletes have garnered significant recognition: ten All-Americans, 18 NCAA Championship appearances, 14 LEC major awards winners, 63 LEC individual titles and 194 All-LEC honorees, to go with two LEC Coaching Staff of the Year awards.
 
Ostler also coached NCAA National Championship qualifiers at Hamilton in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, including one All-American and a national runner-up. He helped guide the women’s team to a 32nd national ranking and a fifth-place finish at the 2013 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships. He coached a male heptathlete to a school record and served as Meet Director for the 2013 New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) Cross Country Championships.

 
A 2008 graduate of Saint Lawrence University with a degree in English, Ostler was a four-year letterman on both the cross country and track teams, serving as co-captain of both teams his junior and senior years. He was a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region runner and a NYSCTC All-Conference performer for cross country in 2007. Ostler captured the Liberty League outdoor 5,000-meter championship in 2007 with a meet record time of 15:08.29.
 
Ostler, who earned his Master’s degree in Sports Management from SUNY Cortland in 2013, is a USATF Level I Certified Coach. A native of Morrisville, Vt., Ostler was a teacher and an assistant cross country and track & field coach at U-32 High School in Montpelier, Vt., from 2009 to 2011. He trained 1,600- and 3,200-meter relay teams that qualified for the 2010 New England Championships.