SCSU Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field Head Coach Melissa Stoll enters her 13th year as the Owls’ head coach in 2024-25.
Melissa Stoll Highlights
- 57 All-Americans (24 indoor, 33 outdoor)
- 299 East All-Region selections (132 indoor, 153 outdoor, 4 cross country)
- Two NCAA National Champions (4x400-meter relay team, 2015, Destiny Coward, Weight Throw, 2018)
- First NE10 Cross Country Championship in program history (2023)
- First women's program to win the NE10 cross country, indoor and outdoor championships in the same season (2023-24)
- Two-time Northeast 10 Outdoor Champion (2015, 2024)
- Northeast-10 Indoor Champion (2024)
- Northeast-10 Cross Country Champion (2024; first in program history)
- One-time New England Outdoor Champion (2015)
- One-time Northeast 10 Indoor Coach of the Year (2014)
- Two-time Northeast 10 Outdoor Coach of the Year (2014, 2015)
- One-time East Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year (2014)
- One-time East Region Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year (2015)
- Four Northeast 10 Indoor Field Athletes of the Year
- One Northeast 10 Indoor Track Athlete of the Year
- Three Northeast 10 Outdoor Field Athletes of the Year
- One Northeast 10 Outdoor Track Rookie of the Year
- One Northeast 10 Outdoor Field Rookie of the Year
- 42 Northeast 10 Academic All-Conference selections
- Two CoSIDA Academic All-American selections
- Six CoSIDA Academic All-Distract selections
- 29 individual USTFCCCA All-Academic selections
- 11 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team selections
A multiple Northeast-10 Conference and USTFCCCA Coach of the Year honoree, Melissa Stoll is in her 13th season as the head women’s cross country/track and field coach at Southern Connecticut State University in 2024-25.
Over the course of Stoll's 12 seasons, the Owls have thrived athletically and academically under Stoll’s watch. Southern claimed its first-ever New England outdoor championship in 2015, along with the Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Championship. The 2024-25 season saw Stoll lead the Owls' program to the NE10 Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Championships to become the first NE10 women's program to accomplish the feat.
On the individual front, Stoll has coached two NCAA national champions, three NCAA national runners-up, 53 All-America selections, multiple New England champions and 299 All-Region performers.
The 2020-21 year saw the Owls compete as one of the youngest rosters in the region while navigating through the difficulties of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With 18 underclassmen and just nine upperclassmen, Southern was able to finish in the top half in the New England Outdoor Championships and finished seventh in the NE10 Championships. Rachel Fleischer highlighted the Owls' Championship meets by winning both the NE10 and New England Triple Jump titles, the first New England Triple Jump Championship in program history. Southern also had seven members earn a total of 11 All-Region honors. The Owls also received USTFCCCA All-Academic Team accolades, while Fleischer was named as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete and she and Elaina DiSalvo were named to the Outdoor Track & Field Academic All-Conference Team.
During the 2019-20 cross country season, Meghan Delaney and Emilie Noreika both earned NE10 Second Team All-Conference status. Elaina DiSalvo was named to the NE10 Winter Academic All-Conference Team while the Owls recorded a top five finish at the NE10 Indoor Championships.
The 2018-19 indoor track season saw the Owls place in the top three of the Northeast 10 Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Begotty Laroche also competed in the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, while Brianna Burt competed in the Outdoor Championships. Disalvo was named to the NE10 Indoor and Outdoor Academic All-Conference team.
Southern Connecticut finished as the NE10 runner-up during both the indoor and outdoor championships in 2017-18. The Owls also finished as the top Division II squad at both the New England indoor (ninth place overall) and outdoor (sixth place overall) championships. The Owls totaled four All-America selections. During the cross country season, Laura Morrison qualified for the NCAA Championships.
In addition, both the cross country and track and field teams were recognized by the USTFCCCA for academic success. Christine Volz was a finalist for the NE10 Woman of the Year Award, while Katie Heacox and Adriana Carrasco captured CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.
The 2016-17 academic year saw SCSU place second at both the Northeast-10 Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Owls were third at the New England Indoor Championships and fourth outdoors. In addition, the squad captured a total of nine All-America selections between the indoor and outdoor campaigns, with five separate student-athletes earning All-America laurels.
Stoll's squads - both cross country and track and field - also received year-end recognition from the USTFCCCA for their academic success, while Christine Volz and Adriana Carrasco were named Academic All-Americans by CoSIDA. The Owls also had a combined six individual selections to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams.
During the 2015-16 academic year, SCSU finished second at both the Northeast-10 Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The squad captured a total of 16 All-America selections between the indoor and outdoor campaigns, with six student-athletes earning All-America laurels.
In addition, both the cross country and track and field teams were named USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams for their work in the classroom. Two Owls earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, with Crystle Hill taking home Academic All-America honors for the second straight year. The Owls also had three individuals recognized by the USTFCCCA for academic success.
In total, Stoll mentored a total of 10 All-America selections in 2014-15, including the NCAA indoor champion 4x400 relay, the first national title for SCSU since 2002. The Owls' 26 All-Region selections during the outdoor campaign was tops in Division II.
As a team, SCSU finished second at the 2014 New England Outdoor Track and Field championships, where it was edged by Division I Rhode Island by one point. The Owls have also recorded three team runner-up finishes at the NE-10 Track and Field Championships.
For her efforts, Stoll was selected as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Association’s East Regional Coach of the Year during the 2014 indoor campaign. She was also named the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year,
Stoll’s squads have also thrived in the classroom over the last six years. Prior to the aforementioned academic success in 2017-18, 2016-17 and 2015-16, in 2014-15, the cross country team earned All-Academic Team status by the USTFCCCA for the third straight year. In 2013-14, both the cross and country and track and field squads were granted All-Academic Team status by the USTFCCCA. The year prior, the cross country team was recognized with this same honor. In addition, a total of 13 USTFCCCA All-Academic individual honorees have been tabbed under Stoll’s guidance. Elizabeth Bashir was also honored as a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District performer in 2013-14 and Crystle Hill earned the same honor in 2014-15.
The cross country team has also been selected as the Northeast-10 Conference Women’s Cross Country Team Academic Excellence Award recipient twice under Stoll's watch. They are also a three-time recipient of the SCSU Academic Team of Champions Award.
Stoll joined the Owls with more than a decade’s worth of Division I experience as a student-athlete and coach, including stints in the Big 12, Big West and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Stoll spent four years as assistant cross country/track and field coach at Manhattan, where she was involved in all facets of the program, including practice and competition oversight, alumni relations, academic monitoring, compliance and equipment. She also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator and helped the Jaspers to 11 combined MAAC Championships.
Stoll also mentored more than 100 MAAC individual champions and a dozen NCAA Track and Field Regional qualifiers. Academically, Stoll coached two Academic All-Americans, six USTFCCCA All-Academic selections and was a part of six teams that earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.
She also served as Assistant Meet Director for the Manhattan College High School Cross Country Invitational, the largest high school competition in the United States with more than 13,000 participants.
Prior to joining the Jaspers staff, Stoll spent one year at Iowa State as an assistant coach. While with the Cyclones, she took part in recruiting, daily planning and program implementation and also coordinated team travel, equipment and compliance.
Stoll broke into coaching at her alma mater, the University of California-Riverside, during the 2006-07 academic year after a decorated four-year career as a student-athlete. She served as a two-year team captain for the Highlanders and was a member of the team’s nationally ranked 4x800 meter and distance medley relay units.
Stoll is a member of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy and the National Association of Collegiate Women’s Athletics Administrators (NACWAA). She was previously selected to participate in USA Track & Field’s Emerging Elite Coaches Camp and is certified through USA Track and Field (Level I) and the USTFCCCA (Endurance).
She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC-Riverside and a master’s degree in teaching from National University.
