Charlee Linton - Track & Field Coach - University of Utah Athletics

Charlee Linton

Title:
Assistant Cross Country and Track & Field Coach
Email:
clinton@huntsman.utah.edu

Charlee Linton begins her fourth cross country season and fifth track season with the Women of Utah after joining the Utes in January of 2022.

Since her arrival the Women of Utah have had two All-Americans, six all-regional and three all-conference honorees in cross country. In addition, the Utes have had seven runners garner 11 All-American status.

Her third season on the Hill saw the Utes make their debut as members of the Big 12 Conference. The cross country squad got off to a hot start, taking second as a team at the Nuttycombe Invitational before capturing the Bill Dellinger Invitational title. Utah would go on to finish third as a team in its first-ever Big 12 Championships before earning an at-large berth and recording another top-20 finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The indoor season had its moment as well with the DMR squad running the sixth-fastest mark in NCAA history (all-conditions) in Seattle with a time of 10:42.56 at the Husky Classic. That squad would go on to finish fifth-overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships and garner First-Team All-America honors. The outdoor season saw a record 18 athletes qualify for the NCAA West Regional while the 4x100m relay team made history by becoming the first squad to advance to the NCAA Championships.

With a reloaded roster in 2023-24, some fresh faces made a splash for the Utes with freshman Anna Peters and transfer McKaylie Caesar leading the way during the cross country season. Peters, a former Gatorade Player of the Year in Idaho, went on to lead Utah in three of the five major races while Caesar paced the Utes in the other two. Caesar went on to have a singular cross country season that rivaled Emily Venters, claiming Second-Team All-Pac-12, USTFCCCA All-Region and All-America honors. Peters arguably had one of the best seasons for a freshman at Utah, earning USTFCCCA All-Region and All-America honors.

As a team the Utes finished fifth at the final Pac-12 Championships and third at the NCAA Mountain Regionals before earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships. Despite a reloaded roster, the Women of Utah had the second-best finish in program history at the championships when they took 13th-overall.

On the track, the distance team had 13 total edits to the record book in 2023-24 with five coming in the indoor season and eight coming from the outdoor season. During the championships season, the distance side had six NCAA West Regional qualifiers with Erin Vringer advancing onto the NCAA Championships in the 1500m run before earning USTFCCCA All-America Honorable Mention selection.

In addition, former All-American Simone Plourde ran in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris as a member of Team Canada in the 1500m. Kyla Martin also competed in the 800m run on the Canadian U20 World Athletics Championships squad in Lima, Peru.

The 2022-23 campaign was one for the ages for Linton and the Utes. The cross country season set the tone early on with Utah sweeping the podium at the Roy Griak Invitational behind Venters’ individual victory – who led the Utes at every race that season. After taking eighth at a completely stacked Nuttycombe Invitational, Utah tied its best finish ever at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships after taking second when it lost the tiebreaker to Colorado.

The Women of Utah continued to make history in the championships season by claiming runner-up honors at the NCAA Mountain Regionals and earned an AQ bid into the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history thank to Venters, Keelah Barger and Plourde earning all-regional honors. Venters then became the program’s ninth All-American in cross country when she crossed the finish line in 12th to help Utah finish 12th as a team – the highest finish in program history.

Venters and Plourde took their momentum in the cross country season into the indoor season with both earning All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Venters was the first to grab All-America honors when she finished fifth in the 5000m race. Plourde followed up the next day with the best finish in program history at the indoor championships with a fourth-place mark in the 3000m race to become just the fifth individual to earn indoor All-America honors.

Utah’s distance duo didn’t stop there and went on to have one of the best track seasons in program history. Venters kicked off her outdoor season running the sixth-fastest 10k by a collegian at the Stanford Invitational with a mark of 31:48.35 to become just 1-of-5 collegians to run a sub-32 10k since 2015. Plourde and Venters then teamed up to become Utah’s first Pac-12 Champions with Venters winning the 10k title while Plourde captured the 1500m title with a meet record run of 4:09.48. Prior to the conference championships, the Utes also captured their first Drake Relays Cup title.

The two would eventually qualify for the NCAA Championships and take home two All-America honors apiece for Utah to become just the second pair of Utes to earn multiple All-America honors in the same season. Plourde took home first-team honors in the 5000m and second-team honors in the 1500m while Venters earned a pair of first-team accolades in the 5000m and 10000m races. Venters’ runner-up finish in the 10000m race was the best finish by any Ute at the NCAA Championships.

Venters and Plourde both signed professional contracts at the end of the season with the same running club – Union Athletics Club.

Linton would go on to be named the 2023 USTFCCCA Mountain Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year for her efforts by her fellow peers.

In her first track & field season, the distance crew broke the indoor DMR record with a run of 10:59.24 while the 4x1600m relay team broke the outdoor record with a time of 19:11.37. Additionally, senior Cara Woolnough closed out her collegiate career earning USTFCCCA Second-Team All-America Honors after posting a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in the 5000m (15:45.26). A few months earlier, Woolnough broke the school record in the 5000m with a mark of 15:40.52 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Linton comes to Salt Lake City with familiarity having competed as part of the distance team at Washington State (2012-16). She remained in Pullman and served as a volunteer coach after graduation in 2016-17 before joining Wayne Phipps’ staff full time in the summer of 2017.

Since joining the staff full time, WSU had a pair of NCAA Cross Championship qualifiers – including an All-American in Vallery Korir (2017), who went on to hold the school’s outdoor record in the 5000m and 10,000m. She was also instrumental in mentoring Erin Mullins, who qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships as an individual in 2020 that took place in Stillwater, Okla., during the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19. In addition, the Cougars also had five Cougars qualify for the NCAA West Regionals since Linton joined the staff.

The Shoreline, Wash., native walked onto the WSU cross country and track program her freshmen year before earning a scholarship her final two season on The Palouse. Linton went on to become a contributor on the cross country team, scoring for the Cougars three-straight years at the Pac-12 Championships and at the NCAA West Region races. She was also named the team’s captain her junior year.

Out on the track, Linton broke the school record in the 10,000m (34:03.69) back in 2015 before she helped guide Korir break it in 2018. Linton’s mark of 16:31.43 in the 5,000m and 9:35.49 mark in the 3,000m (indoor) both rank 10th at Washington State.

Linton graduated from Washington State in 2016 with a degree in psychology and minor in business administration.