University of North Georgia Athletics

Following an extensive national search, Chris England was named the head cross country and track & field coach at North Georgia on May 8, 2020. He now enters his sixth year as head coach of both the cross country and track & field programs.

In the last four years, England has led the Nighthawks to three second place finishes within the Peach Belt Conference and a top-11 or better placement in the NCAA Southeast Regional in cross country. In 2023, England guided senior Claire Mills to becoming the school’s first ever individual representative at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships. On the track side, England led senior Ella Stoudenmire to becoming an individual PBC Champion in the women’s 800-meter race in both 2022 and 2023. Stoudenmire made UNG history by setting the program record with a time of 2:12.03 in the 800m at the 2023 PBC Championship.

In his first season at the helm, England led North Georgia to a runner-up finish in the Peach Belt cross country championship, falling in a tiebreaker to Flagler. On the track side, he coached Journey Gurley to a national championship in the pole vault while also leading Bree Hammond and Abigail Kirkland to All-American finishes at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

England comes from Georgia State in Atlanta where he led the Panthers for 10 years. Under his guidance, GSU won three individual Sun Belt Conference cross country titles with the most recent coming in 2019 as Lotte Meyberg won the conference meet. The Panthers, under England’s direction, had multiple top-three team finishes in the Sun Belt Cross Country and Track & Field Championships throughout his tenure, including back-to-back second place finishes in 2014 and 2015.
 
England won the 2012 Sun Belt Coach of the Year award after guiding the cross country team to the league championship in the team’s inaugural appearance in the Sun Belt Conference. He led top runner Katharine Showalter to the conference’s individual championship as she went on to be the fourth Panther to compete in the NCAA Championship meet later that season.
 
Prior to coming to the Peach State, England served as head coach at Murray State where he got the Racers’ cross country team to runner-up position in back-to-back years, the highest program finish in nearly two decades. He also helped lead the track program at Murray State to third place showings at the indoor and outdoor league championships in 2009, coaching the OVC Athlete of the Year in both indoor and outdoor.
 
England has also served as an assistant at his alma mater, Ohio State, and was the meet manager for the Jesse Owens Classic and the director of the OSU Cross Country Camp. Prior to returning to the Buckeyes, he was a graduate assistant in the athletics department at Wyoming and a volunteer assistant at Boise State.
 
Competing at Ohio State, England was a two-time All-American in 1997 in the indoor 5K and the outdoor 10K, earning multiple All-Big Ten accolades along the way. England still holds the Ohio State record in the 5K with a time of 13:43.42 and is second all-time in the 10K with a 29:01.29 and an indoor 5K time of 13:58.94.
 
After college, England ran professionally and trained full-time for the Olympic Trials. He was nationally ranked and competed in distances from the mile to the marathon in elite races across the country and the world, winning a USATF national title in 2006.
 
England served three years on active duty in the U.S. Army. During his military service, he competed on the All-Army cross country and track and field teams and was a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), representing the U.S. Armed Forces in competitions around the world.
 
A native of Springfield, Ohio, England has two children, Ewan (15) and Nola (12).

Updated: June 2025