Redshirt junior Aidan McCarthy has been named the Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, while Ryan Vanhoy, Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Cal Poly, was recognized as Big West Men’s Track Coach of the Year. The announcement was made by the conference office on Friday.
The honors come after a notable season for Cal Poly men’s track and field. McCarthy, along with teammates Rory Devaney and Travis Martin, received All-American honors. This marks only the third time in school history that at least three athletes have achieved All-American status in a single season for Cal Poly, and only the second time on the men’s side since 1979.
McCarthy is receiving this recognition for the second time but wins it outright for the first time; last year he shared it with John Clifford from Cal State Fullerton. For Vanhoy, this is his second consecutive year being named Big West Men’s Track Coach of the Year. Last season he also earned both men’s and women’s coaching awards after leading Cal Poly to sweep both team titles—a feat not accomplished by any other Big West school in 14 years. Vanhoy now holds six Coach of the Year awards across track and cross country disciplines.
In his third full year as head coach, Vanhoy guided his team to repeat as Big West Champions using strong performances from distance runners who contributed 114 points—securing just their second ever conference title. His squad claimed five individual conference titles: 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.
The program also set a new record with 14 entries at NCAA West Preliminaries and matched its Division I-era best by qualifying three athletes for NCAA Outdoor Championships—the highest since joining Division I alongside their performance in 1979. These results helped secure their fifth-best finish ever at NCAA Division I meet with eight team points.
Vanhoy coached McCarthy to First Team All-American honors indoors and outdoors this year. McCarthy placed fifth overall in the men’s 800-meter event at NCAA Outdoor Championships—earning First Team All-American status outdoors for a second time—and finished third at NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year. He became just the eighth athlete in program history to be named an NCAA Division I First Team All-American three times.
This award marks McCarthy as only the ninth recipient from Cal Poly to win Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year; he joins Kaaron Conwright (1998, 2000) as a multiple-time winner from Cal Poly.
McCarthy capped off his season by earning “Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet” after scoring 20 points during Cal Poly’s championship run. He broke Jack Rose Track’s facility record in the 800 meters (1:46.62), winning his third career conference title in that event—an achievement matched only by Mark Schilling (1973-77). He also set a new Big West meet record in men’s 1,500 meters (3:39.35) and became just the fifth athlete ever to win both events at one meet.
Over this past year McCarthy broke school records across several distances—including outdoor/indoor 800m—and ran what was recognized as fastest indoor collegiate American mark over that distance (1:45.19) during BU Last Chance National Qualifier.
McCarthy returned to competition following recovery from a stress fracture that sidelined him throughout most of last year’s indoor/outdoor seasons; he retains one more year eligibility each for indoor/outdoor track but none remaining for cross country.
