Irv Ray
Director of Track and Field/Cross Country • Irv.Ray@ucr.edu
Since joining the UC Riverside coaching staff in August, 2003, Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Irv Ray has overseen a major transformation in both the Highlanders cross country and track and field programs, helping them elevated to previously unseen heights at the Division I level. But the Highlanders performances are just the start of what Ray thinks can be achieved at UCR.

Ray came to UCR from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where he had great success. In the fall he coached the school’s first ever individual conference champion in cross country. In outdoor track his women’s team finished fourth, and men’s team sixth in the Mid Continent Conference. He had three student-athletes compete at the NCAA track and field regional, and had a fourth named Verizon/CoSida Academic All American First Team.

Ray was head track and field and cross country coach for CBU from 1997 through 2002, when the school dropped the program. He guided CBU to national prominence at the NAIA level after taking over a program entering just its second year of existence. His 1999 men’s team captured the school’s first-ever national championship by winning the NAIA indoor track and field title. For his efforts, Ray was named NAIA Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach-of-the-Year, and one of his athletes was honored as the male Athlete-of-the-Meet.

Eleven of Ray’s student-athletes earned individual national champion honors, with four setting NAIA indoor and outdoor track and field records. His teams placed in the top four at NAIA national championship meets five times in track and field and his athletes have earned over 175 All-American honors. Ray’s cross country teams also were amongst the NAIA’s elite, earning two top four national finishes. He was named the Golden State Athletic Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year six times, Western Region Coach of the Year three times, and track and field coach-of-the-year once, in 2001.

Prior to joining CBU, Ray was head cross country and assistant track and field coach at Azusa Pacific University from 1988-96. His 1994 cross country team finished in the top four at the NAIA national championships. He has coached 14 individual All-Americans in cross country. In all, Ray’s cross country teams never finished out of the top 10 in ten appearances at the NAIA national meet.

Ray served as head cross country and track and field coach at Covina High School from 1985-88, guiding his teams to four California Interscholastic Federation league championships in track and another in cross country. He tutored 26 all-conference student-athletes, 11 All-CIF honorees and one CIF champion in the 1,600.

In addition to his collegiate and prep experience, Ray is well-respected at the highest level of track and field. He was named to the USA Track and Field Olympic Development Middle and Long Distance Committee as the chair of the men’s 1,500 meters from 1999 to 2004. Ray serves as a USA Track and Field and Olympic Development Clinic middle distance specialist.

He has coached several elite American middle distance athletes, including current men’s American mile record-holder Steve Scott; Michele Buccichio, past American age group record-holder at several distances; 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Dave Johnson; and Jason Pyrah, a member of the 1996 Olympic and 1997 and 1998 World Championship teams. He has coached several other athletes who qualified for the United States championships and represented the USA on Olympic and World Championship teams as well as international Olympic teams. He is currently coaching Bryan Berryhill, the 2001 NCAA 1,500 meter champion and No. 2 American in the event in 2002 and 2003. Berryhill is currently training to compete in the 1,500 in the 2008 Olympics
Ray also developed a training program for 22-year-old Tim Ramirez, a former Azusa Pacific athlete who burst onto the elite 800 meter scene in 2006. Ramirez was ranked fourth nationally in the men’s 800 and finished the 2006 campaign with a personal best of 1:46.20. Ray is guiding Ramirez in his post-college career, aiming towards a spot on the 2008 Olympic team.

Ray is an accomplished author, having written several articles for track and cross country periodicals. He collaborated with Australian Olympic Coach Tony Benson on a middle and long distance training manual that has been accepted for Level Two coaching by the International Amateur Athletics Federation. That manual evolved into a book entitled “Run With The Best,” a coach’s guide for middle and long distance runners which was a best seller for Track and Field News. He has served as a technical consultant on two other books.

He also spent 20 years in consumer marketing and sales, specializing in grocery consumer products as a vice president for Southern California Marketing Companies. He is an avid fly fisherman and enjoys spending his vacations at the Owens River in the Eastern Sierras.

Ray earned a bachelor of arts degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific, making the dean’s list in his last four semesters. He also holds a master of arts degree in education, graduating with honors, from Azusa Pacific.

Ray and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Chris and Ryan.

Nate Browne
Assistant Coach • nathan.browne@ucr.edu

Nate Browne was promoted to full-time assistant cross country and track and field coach in the summer of 2007. He joined the UC Riverside program in the summer of 2003 as a volunteer assistant coach after previously serving as a graduate assistant at California Baptist University from 2001-2002.

Since joining the Highlander program, he has assisted in the training of six NCAA Regional Qualifiers and two Big West Conference Champions in track and field and one All-West Region performer in cross country.

Browne was an 11-time collegiate All-American while at Cal Baptist. He was the national runner up in the indoor 800 and ran on four national champion 4x800 and distance medley relay teams. He has a personal best of 1:49 in the 800 and 47.2 in the 400. His other career highlights include winning five NAIA National Championships in the 4x800 and distance medley relays and winning back-to-back 800 meter titles in 1999 and 2000.

Browne graduated from CBU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with information systems emphasis. He was a Golden State Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete.

Browne attended Victor Valley HS, where he graduated in 1995. He was a CIF Finalist in the 800 in 1:54.

In his free time he enjoys reading, playing basketball and working with youth groups. He is a member of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He is also involved in the mortgage business. He resides in Riverside.