Jennifer Nanista is in her 15th year as an assistant coach at San Diego State. In the fall, she heads the Aztecs[apos] cross country team, while during the track season, Nanista is in charge of the team[apos]s middle distance and distance runners. In addition, Nanista is involved with every facet of the Aztec program, including academics, recruiting, fundraising, meet management and all administrative aspects.
One of the best middle distance runners to ever wear the scarlet and black, she finished second in the 800 meters at both the 1989 and 1990 Big West Conference championships. She also helped lead the Aztecs to a third-place team finish in 1990. Her career-best time of 2:11.83 in the 800 was one of the fastest times in school history. Nanista also competed at Mesa Junior College under former Aztec great Arnie Robinson, before transferring to SDSU.
That competitive spirit has carried over to her coaching.
For the second straight year, Nanista guided a young team through a 2007 season in which great improvement was made. Despite having just one senior, the Aztecs posted four top-10 finishes, highlighted by a runner-up effort at the Big Wave Invitational in Hawaii.
Nanista coached senior team captain Lisa Naucler to SDSU[apos]s best time in each of the `A[apos] team[apos]s seven races and an eighth-place performance at the Big Wave Invite. In all, Naucler finished with the Aztecs[apos] top 4K, 5K and 6K times and three of the top 10 5K and 6K marks of the season.
During the 2007 outdoor track season, Nanista helped Naucler and Mandy Upuu qualify for the NCAA West Regionals in the 800-meter run. The pair, who were two of SDSU[apos]s school-record 16 qualifiers, were both finalists and earned all-West Region accolades from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Upuu also was a Mountain West all-conference performer in the indoor and outdoor 800 and joined Naucler, Celeste Tyson and Priscilla Chapu to take third place in the distance medley relay at the MWC indoor meet.
In 2006, she took a relatively young squad and got them to improve as the season progressed. Evidence in the team[apos]s progression can be seen on the season-best times chart as over half of the team[apos]s top 5K and 6K times combined were achieved in the last two meets of the regular season.
With the help of Nanista, senior Celeste Tyson set a personal best in the 5K and held SDSU[apos]s top time in both the 5K and 6K. In addition, Tyson joined Meryl Follosco as the only Aztecs to garner Mountain West Conference athlete of the week honors.
In 2005, she directed SDSU to one of its finest seasons in school history as SDSU made its first-ever appearance in the cross country regional polls. During the breakthrough campaign, the Aztecs captured the Santa Clara Invitational and posted a school-best seventh-place finish at the NCAA West Regional championships.
Under Nanista[apos]s tutelage, sophomore Lital Azulay recorded three of the school[apos]s top-10 fastest times in the 6K races and became just the second SDSU runner to garner first-team all-conference accolades after finishing fifth at the MWC Cross Country Championships.
Azulay also became just the second Aztec to earn MWC Runner of the Week honors twice in the same season and was an NCAA all-West Region selection.
After a successful cross country campaign, she coached a pair of juniors, Celeste Tyson and Lisa Crampton, to the 2006 NCAA West Regionals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
During the 2005 outdoor track campaign, she helped junior Nicole Carmier set a personal best in the 800 meters with a time of 2:08.50, which qualified for the NCAA regional meet and ranked fourth on the school[apos]s all-time list.
In 2004, Nanista tutored junior Christal Cuadra to a 14th-place finish at the MWC Cross Country Championships, an improvement of 28 spots from 2003. The 2004 track season, she saw Marie Nilsson post regional qualifying times in the steeplechase and the 5,000 and four school records as the Aztecs climbed to No. 14 in the national rankings.
In 2003, she led the SDSU cross country team to another fine season, helping the Aztecs make improvements at both the Mountain West Conference and NCAA regional meets and finishing in the top six in seven of their 10 races. The year was highlighted by the program[apos]s first team title in three seasons, as five runners finished in the top 11 at the Long Beach State Invitational.
Individually, Nanista coached Nilsson to three of the school[apos]s top-four 6K times in 2003, including an SDSU record of 21:04 at the NCAA regional meet. Nilsson was the team[apos]s top finisher in every race in which she competed, tallying five, top-seven individual finishes.
Nilsson also became the first Aztec to earn MWC Runner of the Week honors twice in a season. She followed that up with a spot on the seven-runner MWC first team by placing fourth, a first in program history, and made the NCAA all-West region squad.
During the 2003 track campaign, Nanista helped coach the Aztecs to their first-ever MWC outdoor track and field crown. SDSU ended Brigham Young[apos]s streak of 21 consecutive outdoor titles, which was the longest active streak in the nation in the sport of women[apos]s track and field. Individually, Nanista guided Jamillah Titus and Jennifer Stakiw to regional qualifying times in the 800. The Aztecs also had a record six student-athletes earn All-America honors at the 2003 NCAA outdoor championships where the team placed 29th overall.
San Diego State has shown dramatic improvement in the MWC since 1999, going from eighth to second in a span of only two years at the MWC indoor track and field championship and from fifth to first in just three years at the outdoor meet.
In 1999, Nanista coached Sophia Hawker to an NCAA Cross Country Championships qualifying berth, becoming the first Aztec to compete at the national meet in 18 years. Hawker was also a 1999 first-team all-region selection.
Nanista is a former member of the Sheffield Elite Track Club. She has won races at the Occidental Invitational, the UC San Diego Invitational and was a runner-up at the Baldy Castillo Invite. Her personal record in the 800 meters currently stands at 2:08.10. Nanista[apos]s résumé also includes a runner-up finish in the Arturo Barrios 5K Road Race in nearby Chula Vista, Calif. This past October, she ran the Nike Women[apos]s Half Marathon and set a personal record by completing the course in 1:45.34.
A native of Golden, Colo., Nanista earned a bachelor of science in financial services in 1990 and in 1997, completed her master[apos]s of science in marketing at SDSU.