Ryan Foster Joins Tennessee Track & Field Staff

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Director and Head Coach of Track and Field/Cross Country Beth Alford-Sullivan announced the addition of Ryan Foster as the program's new recruiting coordinator and assistant coach for the distance events.

Foster was an All-American middle distance runner for Coach Sullivan at Penn State and later served on staff as an assistant coach and director of operations. He comes to the Vols from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he has spent the last two years as the head cross country coach and assistant coach for the middle- and long-distance runners.

He will be joined on the Volunteer coaching staff by his wife, Kara Foster, who also ran for Coach Sullivan at Penn State and was a 10,000-meter All-American. She will be a volunteer assistant coach for the distance events.

"It is with great excitement to announce the hiring of Ryan Foster as our recruiting coordinator and to assist me in coaching the distance events," Coach Sullivan said. "Ryan was a standout All-American runner on my team at Penn State and has entered the coaching ranks with great success. Ryan brings to the table a great energy for the job of recruiting and filling out our squads at here at Tennessee as well as continuing to help develop our middle distance and distance program. I'm thrilled to join ranks with him again and have his expertise as a young coach among my staff.

"Along with Ryan is his wife, Kara Foster, also an All-American 10K athlete for me at Penn State, will join our staff as a volunteer coach and will be helping in many capacities as we move this program toward the podium. Together, they're a great team."

Foster has earned recognition from fellow NCAA Division II coaches over the last year at Edinboro. He led the women's cross country team to the 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship with five freshmen scoring. He was named both the PSAC and the USTFCCCA women's cross country coach of the year.

Last week, he also earned USTFCCCA regional men's track and field assistant coach of the year.

During his career, he has coached 24 conference champions and four runners who earned freshman of the year honors.

"I am very excited to work with Coach Sullivan again," Foster said. "The time I have spent working with her has been a great experience, and I'm looking forward to joining her staff. What really stood out to us in the quality of the people. Coaching is a privileged position getting to work so closely with young adults and help them achieve their goals. To work with such talented men and women at Tennessee is an exciting opportunity for us. We're grateful to Coach Sullivan and Donna Thomas for the opportunity. Their vision for the future and direction of the track and field program is so easy to buy into."

A native of Hobart, Australia, Foster received his degree in Economics at Penn State in 2011.

He was a four-time Big Ten champion for the Nittany Lions, notably placing third in the 800 meters at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships and third in the mile in 2011.

As a professional runner in 2011-12, he set Australian national indoor records in the 800 meters and 1,000 meters and also competed in the IAAF World Indoor Championships, placing 19th in the 1,500 meters.

Foster served as a volunteer assistant coach for Penn State for two seasons before joining the staff as an assistant coach. Away from the track, he also spent a year with the Tasmanian state government as the project manager for disability sports and served as chief of staff for Partners Financial Group, LLC. His non-profit work with Partners Financial and the Kevin Dare Foundation resulted in organizing a 10-person, 1,000-mile road race over seven states as a fundraising initiative.

Foster will assume the position of Layne Anderson, who has served as the recruiting coordinator and distance assistant coach the last two years.

"Coach Layne Anderson has impacted the Tennessee Vols track and field and cross country program in 1,000 different ways," Coach Sullivan said. "His daily high energy and his positive attitude and his unrelenting work ethic has helped grow our squad in volume and talent and result. I'm thrilled that he has found an opportunity in a new direction in the business world, giving him many opportunities in his professional life and family life as he moves forward."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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