Annie Richards joined the Mountaineers in July 2023 as the women’s distance coach after serving as the assistant distance/middle distance coach at New Mexico in 2022.
In her second season at the helm of the women’s distance program, Richards guided App State to its first Sun Belt Women’s Cross Country title since 2018 and earned her first SBC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year honor. Four women earned All-SBC honors, led by Jasmine Donohue, who finished third with a personal best 5K time of 17:18.85. Additionally, Lauren Johnston was named Sun Belt Women’s Cross Country Newcomer of the Year and Breanna Budzinski earned SBC Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors after their performances on the course. At the NCAA Southeast Regional, Johnson set pace for the Black and Gold, finishing 51st out of 248 runners and helping the team place 16th out of 34 teams. The women’s cross country team’s success also extended to the classroom, as the team earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors.
During the indoor season, Richards guided Donohue to a stellar performance at the SBC Indoor Championships, where she collected a complete set of medals and was the top-meet scorer, tallying 24 of App State’s 82 points. Donohue’s contribution helped the Mountaineers’ third-place team finish, which was the Black and Gold’s best finish at the indoor conference meet since 2016. Additionally, five women’s distance program records fell during the indoor season. With Richard’s guidance, Addison Ollendick-Smith broke the women’s 600-meter record, Johnston reset the women’s 1,000-meter record, and Donohue broke the women’s 3,000-meter and women’s 5,000-meter records. The women’s distance medley quartet of Johnston, Jayla Adams, Ollendick-Smith, and Donohue also reset the program record.
The women’s distance crew’s success carried into the outdoor season, where the 4x800-meter relay and distance medley relay records were reset on the regular season’s biggest stage: the Penn Relays. At the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships, Russum collected SBC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year honors after securing the SBC crown in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase and silver in the women’s 5,000 meters, helping the women’s team to an eighth-place finish in the team standings. At the USATF U20 Championships, Richards coached incoming freshman Allie Kinlaw to a top-10 finish in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
In her first season as the women’s distance coach, Richards coached Donohue to a top-10 finish and Second-Team All-SBC honors and the team to a fifth-place team finish at the SBC Cross Country Championships. Donohue went on to represent the Mountaineers at the NCAA Southeast Regional, where she finished 92nd out of 243 runners.
Richards guided the distance medley relay team of Rhys Ammon, Nicole Wells, Ollendick-Smith, and Donohue to Second-Team All-SBC honors at the SBC Indoor Championships and coached Ollendick-Smith to Second-Team All-SBC honors after her performance in the 800 meters at the SBC Outdoor Championships. During the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, four of Richards’ athletes ended up in the App State all-time list for six events.
While with the Lobos during the 2022 season, Richards assisted the women’s team to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Each of the Lobos’ top five finishers earned All-America honors as they crossed the line within 11.1 seconds of one another between the 22nd and 40th places in what was a remarkable team effort.
New Mexico’s women’s team also clinched first while the men finished ninth in the team standings at the NCAA Mountain Regional. The women clinched the Mountain West Conference title, while the men earned a sixth-place finish.
Prior to her time at New Mexico, Richards spent two years as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Oregon. While with the Ducks, she worked with both men’s and women’s distance programs and helped them to top-25 NCAA team finishes in women’s cross country (24th in 2021), men’s indoor track & field (1st in 2021, 9th in 2022), men’s outdoor track & field (2nd in 2021, T-25th in 2022), women’s indoor track & field (15th in 2021, T-11th in 2022) and women’s outdoor track & field (T-11th in 2021, 11th in 2022).
She has also served as a coach with Nike’s Smoky Mountain Running Camp in Asheville, N.C.
Richards, a native of Eugene, Ore., is a graduate of the University of Arizona, where she earned a degree in government and public service while competing on the cross country and track & field team.
