Southern Oregon University Athletics

Chris Manuele enters his third season in 2017-18 on Southern Oregon’s track and field staff as a pole vault and jumps coach, having come to the Raiders with an impressive resume that includes high marks in the Pac-12 and Mountain West and training under an Olympic medalist.

A native of Visalia, Calif., Manuele attended Mt. Whitney High School and was a California Interscholastic Federation qualifier in the pole vault before heading to Cuesta Community College. There, he trained under Jan Johnson – an ex-world record holder and the 1972 Olympics bronze medalist in the pole vault – and ranked top-eight in the state of California while earning an associate degree in liberal arts. He moved on to spend one year at Boise State University, where he placed fourth at the Mountain West’s indoor and outdoor championship meets and still ranks fourth on BSU’s all-time pole-vaulting list. His third stop was at Arizona State, where he was a two-time point scorer at the Pac-12 Championships – placing eighth in the pole vault as a junior and seventh as a senior, and also taking the No. 6 spot on ASU’s career list. He graduated in the spring of 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and received All-Academic honorable mention.

Manuele has continued to learn from Johnson for the last six years, as last year he returned to coach at Cuesta C.C. and helped guide two athletes to conference and state championships.