UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State track & field team, and head coach John Gondak, announce three staff promotions ahead of the 2023-24 season. Ryan Foster becomes the program's Associate Head Coach, Kara Foster is elevated to Assistant Coach – Distance, and Jenna Gearing will handle Director of Operations duties along with various assistant coaching responsibilities.
"I am thrilled to have our coaching staff finalized as we head into the new season," said Gondak. "We have an outstanding group of coaches and operations staff within the program, and we look forward to starting year two together as a team."
Ryan Foster is elevated to the position of Associate Head Coach ahead of the third year of his second coaching stint in Happy Valley after a stellar competitive career with the Blue & White.
Foster's Penn State career began when he was a student-athlete, earning All-American honors three times in the middle-distance events. Upon his graduation in 2011, Foster joined Penn State's coaching staff before he and his wife Kara made coaching stops at Edinboro and Tennessee before re-joining the Nittany Lions and coach Gondak in 2021. In his most recent season, Foster mentored Penn State's middle-distance squad to four All-America finishes, four Big Ten titles, and three school records, and was named USTFCCCA Women's Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2023 indoor campaign.
Kara Foster takes on the role of Assistant Coach – Distance on Gondak's staff in her third year back at Penn State.
The former Kara Millhouse also began her track career as a Nittany Lion, earning All-American status as a distance runner in the outdoor 10K for Penn State. Foster's 11-year old 10K school record still stands to this day. Following her graduation from Penn State in 2012, Foster joined the Nittany Lions as a volunteer assistant coach before she and her husband Ryan were tabbed to coach at Edinboro. Kara and Ryan moved together from Edinboro to Tennessee, and then back to Happy Valley where she begins her first year as an assistant coach under Gondak following two seasons as the program's director of operations.
Jenna Gearing enters her first full competition season on staff at Penn State where she inherits the Director of Operations title along with various coaching responsibilities.
Gearing signed on with the Nittany Lions midway through last season as an operations assistant following her outstanding competitive career where she ran distance for Clemson and Kentucky. Gearing earned All-America accolades and was a two-time First Team All-SEC honoree spanning both cross country and track during her two graduate seasons at Kentucky. During her time on Penn State's staff in 2023, she was able to witness her sister Rachel break Penn State's outdoor 800m record in one of the most dominant middle-distance seasons in school history.
The newly-minted trio will begin their first full season together with the cross country group in just about three weeks when the Nittany Lions travel to Lock Haven to run in the annual Dolan Duals on September 1.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateTFXC) and Twitter/Instagram (@pennstatetfxc).
