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Fort Lewis College Athletics

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Dalton Graham

Dalton Graham enters his second season as the head coach of the cross country and track and field programs in 2025-26.

Under Graham’s leadership in 2024, the men's cross country team produced two All-RMAC performers—Eli Smith and Caden Resendez, both earning Second Team honors. At the highly competitive South Central Regional Championships, Smith and Cebastian Marquez earned All-Region recognition, with Smith going on to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. There, he finished 49th overall, marking the second-highest individual finish in program history at the national meet.

The momentum carried into the track seasons (2024-25). During the indoor campaign, Skyhawk athletes broke three school records (800m, mile, and distance medley relay) and hit NCAA Provisional qualifying marks in the mile (Brady Burrough) and DMR (Brody Hubbard, Payton Whitehead, Aaron Busche, and Burrough). Freshman Payton Whitehead added to the accolades with a Second Team All-RMAC finish in the 800m, placing fifth overall.
The success continued outdoors, where athletes again shattered three program records (800m, 1500m, and 10,000m) and posted NCAA Provisional times in the 1500m (Brody Hubbard) and 10,000m (Alliyah Molina). Molina also delivered the program’s lone RMAC podium finish, taking second place in the 10,000m.

Graham, an assistant with the programs in the fall of 2023, returns to Durango after a stint as the head coach at Clarke University (NAIA) in Dubuque, Iowa. As a member of the Skyhawks coaching staff, Graham guided the men's and women's cross country programs to new heights. For the first time in program history, both teams advanced to the NCAA DII National Championships. The men placed 13th while the women earned a 20th place finish—both program bests. The teams compiled two All-Americans, one All-Region, and six All-Conference nods in 2023.

Graham was a decorated athlete for Lake Erie College and Adams State University from 2013-19. During his time competing for the Storm, he was able to break seven school records in his senior season and earned Second-Team All-Conference honors in the GLIAC. From 2017-2019, Graham ran for Adams State while pursuing a graduate degree. In his first season with the Grizzlies in 2017, Graham was part of a national championship team title in cross country. He would go on to be a three-time national qualifier in track. He placed sixth at the 2019 NCAA DII Indoor Championships in the 5,000m, earning him All-American honors and helping his team to a runner-up finish at the national meet.

Graham brings three years of Division II college coaching experience to Fort Lewis College. He spent two years as an assistant coach at Lake Erie College with full autonomy over the distance program. He coached five school records, recruited & coached the student-athlete of the year, and brought in very influential recruiting classes. He later served one year as the head cross country coach at Tiffin University. There, he coached nine school records, 22 provisional marks, four conference champions, 13 conference podium finishes, and the first women's distance national qualifier in school history. 

Graham earned a bachelor's degree in sports studies with a minor in coaching from Lake Erie College and completed his master's in applied sport psychology at Adams State University.