Edward D. Eyestone (born June 15, 1961) is a two-time Olympic marathoner, long distance runner, and a NCAA coach for the BYU Track Team. Eyestone was named National Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2024, after leading his NCAA D1 men's cross country teams to NCAA championships.

Running career

High school

Eyestone graduated from Bonneville High School in Washington Terrace, Utah and was the Utah State High School State Champion in cross-country and track and field.

Collegiate

Eyestone attended Brigham Young University (BYU) earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in psychology and a Master of Science (M.S.) in exercise science. He served a two year mission in Spain, but returned to BYU in 1982. At BYU, he became a 10-time NCAA All-American and in 1984 went undefeated in NCAA cross-country events. Eyestone is one of only four runners, along with Gerry Lindgren, Edward Cheserek, and Suleiman Nyambui, to capture the NCAA "Triple Crown" by becoming the 1985 NCAA Champion in cross-country, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. In 1985, the Academic All-American and recipient of the NCAA Top Six Award set a then-NCAA record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 27:41:05. As of 2018, it was still the third-fastest official 10,000 meter time in NCAA history. He finished his collegiate career with four NCAA Championships. In 1986, Eyestone won the San Francisco Bay to Breakers 12 km race, defeating an estimated 110,000 competitors in what the Guinness Book of Records considers the world's largest footrace. He remains the last American to have won this race, and the only American to have done so since 1981.

International racing career

IAAF World Cross Country Championships

Olympic and International Distance Races

Post-racing career

After putting up his shoes, Eyestone has become a noted distance and road racing expert, serving as a columnist for Runner's World magazine and television commenter for ESPN's "Race of the Month" series. Eyestone served as an analyst for NBC Sports coverage of Track and Field and Race Walking at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Coaching career

Eyestone returned to BYU as both head coach of the cross-country team and men's track assistant coach in 2000 and was later promoted to head track coach in 2013. Coach Eyestone has been named "Coach of the Year" for NCAA D1 Men's Cross Country twice (2019, 2024), "Coach of the Year" for the West Coast Conference (WCC) seven times, and "Coach of the Year" for the Mountain West Conference (MWC) six times (2002, 2004-2008). He is a BYU Hall of Fame Inductee. Previously he served as assistant track coach at Weber State University (1996–98). Coach Eyestone was named head coach of Team USA at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda. On November 23, 2019, the BYU men's cross-country team (coached by Eyestone) won the NCAA D1 Championship race in Terre Haute, Indiana. Eyestone also became the first male to have both won an individual NCAA D1 Cross Country title and coach a Division 1 team to a national title. Eyestone was subsequently named the "Men's National Coach of the Year" (2019) by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Eyestone was also named the State of Utah's Governor's State of Sport Award for Collegiate "Coach of the Year" (2020). As Conner Mantz transitioned from BYU to marathon racing at Chicago and Boston, Eyestone stayed in the coach role and his name continued to be mentioned throughout running media.

Personal life

Eyestone is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was one of three return missionaries to participate in the 1988 Summer Olympics along with Henry Marsh and Doug Padilla.