SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco State cross country head coach Tom Lyons has announced the hiring of Sam Ahlbeck as his top assistant for the 2012 season.  In addition to his cross country duties, the Renton, Wash., native will also help tutor the distance runners during the track and field season.
 
Ahlbeck arrives at SF State after spending the past two seasons as a volunteer assistant with the UC Davis cross country and track and field programs.
 
During his tenure with the Aggie track squad, Ahlbeck aided the development of 15 Big West Conference meet scorers, including Jonathan Peterson, who captured individual titles in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in 2012, along with Calvin Thigpen, the reigning league champion in the 10,000 meters.
 
Out on the cross country course, Ahlbeck helped coach three All-Big West honorees, two NCAA All-Region performers and one All-American in Peterson, the conference's male runner of the year who placed 14th at the NCAA meet in 2010.
 
“I am thrilled to bring Sam's energy and enthusiasm into our program,” Lyons said.  “He is very smart, organized and eager to break into the collegiate coaching ranks. I feel he is the right person to help us in our quest to become a perennial national caliber distance program.”
 
Prior to his appointment at UC Davis, Ahlbeck was a standout distance runner at Washington State where he qualified for the 2009 NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing 17th in the preliminaries at Fayetteville, Ark. Alhbeck also competed in three West Regional meets for the Cougar cross country program and served as team captain in the fall of 2009.
 
Ahlbeck earned his bachelor's degree in humanities from WSU in 2010 with a concentration in communications studies, administrative business and anthropology. In addition to his coaching pursuits, he also worked as a computer engineer in the oil industry in 2011-12.