Completed Event: Track and Field at Battle on the Bayou on April 3, 2026 ,
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Track and Field
at Battle on the Bayou
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Spence Named Assistant Track Coach
July 18, 2011 | Track and Field
July 18, 2011
NORMAN, Okla. – University of Oklahoma head track and field coach Martin Smith has announced the hiring of Michael Spence as an assistant coach.
“Mike has been a very successful athlete in the steeplechase, and we believe he brings a lot of energy and technical expertise to an event that is important in the success of our program,” Smith said. “He's another piece of the puzzle to make our program more comprehensive and successful. Mike is also a very gifted and talented, well-grounded individual and will be a wonderful connection for our student-athletes.”
Spence comes to Oklahoma from Utah State University where he was a graduate assistant and volunteer assistant coach for the past two years. While with the Aggies, he helped coached nine NCAA West region qualifiers, 10 Western Athletic Conference individual champions and produced 86 All-WAC Conference performers in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. Spence was also a member of five WAC championship winning coaching staffs in all three disciplines with the Aggies.
Spence was Team USA's captain and the top United States finisher at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya. He earned a silver medal in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He is a five-time USATF national team member and is a six-time top 10 finisher in USATF championship events. Spence finished sixth in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trails in Eugene, Ore.
"I'm very excited to be joining the University of Oklahoma track and field staff,” Spence said. “I have family ties to OU, and I grew up as a rare Sooner fan in Eastern Pennsylvania. Coach Smith has developed top tier track and field and cross country programs here that are poised to build upon the incredible successes of the past several years. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to an athletics department with a history and tradition as rich as Oklahoma's."
A 2000 graduate of Princeton University, Spence earned All-America honors in 1999 and captained the Tigers' cross country team that same year. He earned the Morgan Award in 2000 for exemplifying spirit, determination, integrity and sportsmanship on the track. He was the 1997 USATF junior national champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
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