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Carla Criste Position: Head Coach Experience: 19th year at Navy Alma Mater: Penn State '86

Carla Criste has enjoyed terrific success over her 19-year tenure as Navy's head coach, guiding her teams to a 244-50-1 (.827) mark, including three undefeated seasons and a 78-1 record in dual-scored meets dating back to the 2004-05 season.

In addition to its regular season successes, Navy has also stepped up at the postseason championship level, claiming three Patriot League titles since 2001 and posting four top-20 efforts at the ECAC Championship over the last six seasons.

At the helm in 2008-09, Criste guided the Midshipmen to one of their most memorable seasons in program history. After being picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League's preseason poll, Navy rode its distance corps and a spirited underclassmen group on its way to claiming the program's second indoor track championship. For her efforts, Criste was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year for the third time in her career and the first time since 2001.

The Midshipmen concluded the year with a perfect 17-0 combined indoor and outdoor mark in dual-scored meets, which included the program's seventh Star Meet sweep of rival Army.

In 2007, Navy recorded a ninth-place team score at the ECAC Championship during the outdoor slate, its highest finish since moving up to the Division I ranks in 1991-92. In that same outdoor season, the Midshipmen also scored at the NCAA East Region Championship for the first time since the regional was added in 2003.

In addition to her team's performance on the track, Criste's student-athletes have also done their part in the classroom.

The Midshipmen have produced both the Patriot League's Indoor and Outdoor Track Scholar-Athletes of the Year in three-consecutive years, with distance standout Erica Ziel claiming the honor during both the winter and spring slates a year ago.

Before Ziel, it was Vicki Moore, the Class of 2008 Valedictorian with a perfect 4.00 GPA, who was named the conference's top track student-athlete in 2007-08. The year prior, Kirsten Andrews ('07) became the first Navy women's track & field member to be selected Patriot League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports. Andrews would graduate as one of the Academy's most decorated student-athletes, having twice earned Academic All-America honors during her career.

It would, thus, come as no surprise that Criste's track & field team would be awarded the Naval Academy Athletic Director's Cup for being the most successful all-around team on The Yard for the 2007-08 athletic season.

Criste came to the Academy in 1991 after spending three years as an assistant with the women's program at George Mason, where she oversaw the jumps, sprints, hurdles and multi-events. There, five athletes earned All-America status and two became NCAA champions under her tutelage. The Patriots also captured the ECAC Division I Championship in each of her three seasons.

Criste has also been recognized on the national scene. She was selected as the field events coach for the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival and coached the East team to victory, marking the East's first-win in the history of the festival. In 1999, Criste was named head coach for that year's Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada.

She also served as head coach of the 1995 U.S. National Track & Field Team, which consisted of men's and women's junior and senior teams that came together for a series of meets against Canada. Criste guided the U.S. team to wins in all four meets that were contested.

A standout performer in her own right, Criste was a four-year letterwinner in track at Penn State, serving as captain of the Nittany Lion women's squad in 1985-86. She was an NCAA qualifier in the triple jump and was a national qualifier and ECAC record holder in both the pentathlon and heptathlon.

After graduating from Penn State with a degree in nutritional science in 1986, she went on to earn her master's degree in exercise physiology from West Virginia in 1988. While at West Virginia, Criste served as an assistant track & field coach, handling the Mountaineers' jumps, sprints, hurdles and multi-events.

After concluding her own collegiate career, Criste continued competing at the national level. For three years (1986-89) she competed at the U.S. Olympic Festival and was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1986-91. She was nationally ranked in both the triple jump and multi-events, representing the United States in several international team competitions.

The daughter of Joan and Dave Criste (USNA `60), Criste also serves as an Assistant Athletic Director and professor at the Academy.

Year-by-Year Record

Year Ind.  vs. Army  Out. vs. Army

1991-92 0-1 L, 69-49  0-1 L, 93-61

1992-93 2-1 L, 65-53  3-1 L, 81-73

1993-94 1-1 L, 82.3-35.7 6-1 L, 89-65

1994-95 3-3 L, 64-54  8-0 W, 83-71

1995-96 3-6-1 T, 74-74  5-3 L, 80.3-73.7

1996-97 10-0 W, 73-63  5-0 W, 82.5-71.5

1997-98 8-6 L, 74-71  2-3 L, 103-60

1998-99 7-2 W, 93-88  5-1 W, 103-100

1999-00 8-2 W, 113-68  5-0 W, 118-85

2000-01 9-2 W, 100-81  9-2 W, 107-96

2001-02 17-2 W, 93-88  9-2 W, 109-94

2002-03 10-2 L, 97-81  4-1 L, 106-97

2003-04 11-2 W, 94.5-86.5 10-1 L, 112-91

2004-05 11-2 L, 92-89  14-0 W, 110-92

2005-06 9-0 W, 99.5-81.5 5-0 W, 104-99

2006-07 7-0 W, 107-73  10-0 W, 107-96

2007-08 7-0 W, 93.5-87.5 4-1 L, 119.5-83.5
2008-09 13-0 W, 92-88 4-0 W, 116-87

Criste's Career Totals (Entering 2009-10)
Indoor Record Pct.
Overall 136-32-1 .807
Vs. Army 9-7-1 .558

Outdoor Record Pct.
Overall 108-17 .864
Vs. Army 10-7 .588

Overall Record Pct.
Record at Navy: 244-50-1 .827
Vs. Army 19-14-1 .573

Criste's Coaching Timeline

*Navy (1991-Present) - Head Coach

• Compiled a 244-50-1 (.827)

• Three-time Patriot League Coach of the Year
• Three Patriot League titles (2001 (ind), 2003 (out), 2009 (ind)
• Four top-20 teams at ECAC Championship

*U.S. Olympic Festival (1993) - Field Coach

*U.S. Olympic Festival East Team (1994) - Head Coach

• Guided team to first victory

*U.S. Pan Am Team (1999) - Head Coach

*George Mason (1989-91) - Assistant Coach

• Coached five athletes to All-America honors, two to national titles

*West Virginia (1987-88) - Assistant Coach

• Earned master's degree in exercise physiology