Craig Engels is making a big coaching change.
After training under Pete Julian for the past five years, Engels announced on Thursday his intentions to reunite with his college coach, Ryan Vanhoy. Vanhoy is the director of cross country and track and field at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California.
“After 5 amazing years in Portland, I have decided to start a new running chapter,” Engels said on Instagram. “I was with Pete from the beginning of my pro running career and have had so much freedom and made unreal lifelong friends and memories. We won a couple USA titles, I got to train with The Champ (Don), ate a lot of salmon with Eric, ran some decent times, traveled the world, and met 1000s of awesome supporters. I’m super thankful for everyone along the way and for Nike’s backing.
“With that said, I’ll be moving down to San Luis Obispo, California to chase after teams and medals with my college coach Ryan Vanhoy. I decided to go to Mississippi in 2015 after almost quitting running where Vanhoy got me to 4th and 5th in the Olympic trials in 2 years. My goal is to be the best American miler and to enjoy the all the adventures along the way and I think a change for me was necessary for this to be possible. Thanks for making it this far in the post lol and for following along in my career.”
Engels was a member of the 2019 USATF World Championship team, and the 2018 USATF Indoor Championship team. He won the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships in the 1500m.
