Zak Kirk - Assistant Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Zak Kirk

Title:
Assistant Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track Coach
Email:
Phone:
951-343-4833

Krik joined Sean Smith's staff in August of 2024.

During the 2025 cross-country season, Coach Kirk assisted the men's team to a national ranking as high as 15th. The Lancers would sweep the WAC Championships bringing home trophies for both the men's and women's programs. For the men its was the sixth consecutive title and for the women it was their fifth overall since joining the conference in 2018. At West Regionals, the men would earn its first top-2 finish in program history, earning them an automatic bid to Nationals while also having four all-region placers. On the women's side they would place 6th for their best finish since 2023 with Ava Dyck and Mahaut Cooren earning All-Region finishes. At Nationals, the men would place 25th marking the team's third consecutive top-25 finish on the national stage.

In 2024, the men's cross-country team earned its second Nationals berth in program history and its highest finish ever at Nationals with a 13th place finish. CBU also earned its first-ever male Cross-Country All-Americans with Valentin Soca and Zouhair Redouane placing 26th and 33rd, respectively. At the WAC Championships in Orem, Utah the men hoisted the trophy for the fifth consecutive season in 2024 and placed 4th in the West Region behind only Oregon, Stanford, and Washington. The women's team were the WAC runner-ups for the second consecutive season and placed 10th at West Regionals. True Freshman Ava Dyck was an All-Region finisher and was named the WAC Freshman of the Year.

During his first Outdoor Season with the Lancers, Coach Kirk helped assist five Lancers to West Regional bids including one Nationals selection in Valentin Soca in the 5K. The CBU coaching staff oversaw 11 All-Conference finishers at the 2025 WAC Championships including two Individual Champions in the Women's 5K (Ava Dyck) and in the Men's 1500M (Valentin Soca). Multiple program records were set during the season including new marks set in the Men's 5K and 10K. Soca and the CBU Coaching staff made history by earning their first male First-Team All-American as Soca finished fourth at the National Championships in Eugene, Oregon with a time of 13:21.76.

Kirk coached one season at Toledo prior to joining Coach Smith's staff and would help the women win the MAC Cross Country Championship and the men finish runner-up in 2023.