Andrea Grove-McDonough - Cross Country Coach - Iowa State University Athletics

Andrea Grove-McDonough

Title:
Head Women's Cross Country Coach
Email:
andreagm@iastate.edu
Phone:
4-7345

Iowa State women’s cross country head coach and assistant track & field coach Andrea Grove-McDonough took the women’s cross country program to heights that have not been seen in Ames for nearly 30 years. Entering her sixth year at Iowa State, Grove-McDonough’s unique style has seen ISU make great improvement on the course and on the track.

Despite turning over half her cross country lineup in 2017, Grove McDonough was able to defend ISU’s Big 12 and Midwest Region titles, while finishing 20th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. That young core continued its success into the 2018 track and field season, as Grove-McDonough’s student-athletes contributed to ISU’s highest-ever point total at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. Two of her freshmen, Cailie Logue and Amanda Vestri, represented Team USA at the 2018 IAAF U20 World Championships.

Grove-McDonough ensured Iowa State maintained its status as one of the top cross country programs in the country in 2016, winning the Big 12 championship for a third time in her four seasons, and leading the Cyclone program to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for an eighth-consecutive campaign.

Despite a 2015 cross country season marred by injury, Grove-McDonough led a short-handed team to promising results all season. Under her guidance, Perez Rotich was the individual crown at the 2015 Big 12 Championship, while teammate Erin Hooker finished second. The Cyclone women's efforts culminated in yet another NCAA Championship appearance, finishing 24th overall.

The Cyclone women finished the 2014 cross country season with a second-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, its best finish since taking second in 1985. The Cyclones were strong on the road to Terre Haute, winning the Midwest Regional crown for a fifth-consecutive season and picking up a fourth-straight Big 12 Championship, with just 29 points, the best score since 2004 at the conference meet.

The NCAA’s saw Crystal Nelson and Katy Moen finish seventh and eighth, respectively to earn All-America honors. In the last two seasons, Grove-McDonough has guided the Cyclone women to four All-America honors, nine All-Region honors and 10 All-Big 12 awards.

In spite of being down All-Americans Bethanie Brown and Crystal Nelson for the 2015 season, Grove-McDonough still guided ISU to a second place finish at the Big 12 Championships and to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the third-straight season in her tenure, and seventh-in-a-row overall as a program.

On the track, Grove-McDounough has coached All-American Katy Moen (indoors and outdoors, 2015) and Jasmine Staebler (indoors and outdoors, 2017). Staebler’s 2017 saw her earn First Team All-American honors (indoor 800), Honorable Mention All-America honors (outdoor 800), Big 12 silver (indoor 800) and bronze (outdoor 800) medals and Iowa State’s school record in the indoor 800.

In 2016, while expecting the birth of her second child, Grove-McDounough coached a pair of steeplechasers, Grace Gibbons and Kelly Naumann, to top-six finishes at the USATF Junior National Championships. Naumann would go on to represent Team USA at the U-20 World Championships later that summer.

Grove-McDonough coached five seasons at UConn as an Assistant Track & Field Coach, including the last two as Head Women’s Cross Country Coach. Her 2011 Huskie team earned a national ranking for the first time in school history and last fall’s team finished eighth (one spot ahead of Iowa State) at the 2012 NCAA Championship.

UConn was second in both the 2012 BIG EAST Women’s Cross Country Championship and the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet prior to earning the school’s first-ever NCAA Championship bid. The Huskies also recorded their highest ever national ranking (14th) last fall.

Grove-McDonough earned 2012 NCAA Northeast Regional Coach-of-the-Year and BIG EAST Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors.

The UConn program made steady progress with Grove-McDonough’s guidance. Part of the growth included her team earning All-Academic recognition from the USTFCCCA three times.

On the track, the Huskies set school records in the 800m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m during her tenure. She coached five All-Americans.

Prior to becoming a coach, Grove-McDonough had an outstanding professional running career. A two-time national titlist, she won the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials in the 10,000 meters and ran the seventh-fastest time in that event in her nation’s history. She ran professionally for 12 years and was a seven-time National Team member.

Grove-McDonough was ranked second in Canada in the 5,000 meters in 2002, 2006 and 2007 and first in the nation in the 10,000 meters in 2008. Her personal bests include: 2:07.12 in the 800m, 4:11.04 in the 1,500m, 15:31.29 in the 5,000m and 32:29.86 in the 10,000m.

As a collegiate runner at Minnesota, Grove-McDonough earned All-America honors in the 1,500m with a fifth-place finish at the 1996 NCAA Outdoor Championship. She was team captain from 1994-96 and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. She earned her degree in Human Resource Management.

Upon graduation from college, she helped coach the women’s and men’s cross country teams at the University of Montana.

The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is married to former All-America decathlete Troy McDonough, and has two children.