Jeff Petersmeyer was appointed as the head men’s and women’s cross country and women’s outdoor track and field coach at San José State in the summer of 2013.
He begins his fourth year guiding the jumps, multis and throwers after being inducted to his alma mater Baldwin Wallace College’s hall of fame honoring his historic career there as a sprinter and hurdler.
In the short three-year history of SJSU’s women’s track and field program, Petersmeyer has recruited and coached nine Spartan individuals to NCAA West Preliminary Championships. In 2015, the first year to include competitive jumping events at SJSU, Petersmeyer coached freshman Kelsey Johnson-Upshaw to a Mountain West championship in the long jump.
Five San José State track and field athletes have been selected to the Mountain West All-Conference Team across both indoor and outdoor seasons.
Under Petersmeyer’s direction, women’s track and field student-athletes have also thrived in the classroom – to the tune of 24 Academic All-Mountain West honorees and 20 Mountain West Scholar-Athletes.
His athletes have been honored nationally for their academic prowess, including: Distance runner Rebecca Garcia who was a 2015 Capital One Academic All-America Third Team honoree. Jennifer Beckingham, who was an Academic All-District 8 honoree and advanced to the All-America ballot. Multis athlete Jade Childs and triple jumper Nicole Iloanya were 2014-15 USATFCCA Division I All-Academic Track & Field honorees.
Alongside the achievements at San José State, Petersmeyer has maintained global success, coaching individuals to track and field medals all over the world. Most recently, he coached Roderick Townsend to a pair of gold medals in the long jump and high jump at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Townsend also set a new International Paralympics Committee (IPC) world record in the high jump.
In 2012, Petersmeyer coached Kurt Felix, the NCAA Division I Champion in the decathlon. Petersmeyer served as the Olympic Team Coach for Felix and the country of Grenada at the 2012 London Games and the 2013 World Chanpionships in Moscow, Russia. In 2014, Felix was the decathlon bronze medalist under Petersmeyer’s watch at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Prior to joining the Spartans, Petersmeyer spent four seasons as an assistant cross country and track coach at Boise State (2009-13). While with the Broncos, Petersmeyer coached three All-Americans, 17 conference champions and one NCAA Champion.
2013 was an impressive year for Petersmeyer and the Broncos.
While serving as the interim head coach Petersmeyer and Boise State captured eight individual Mountain West Championship titles, which included a sweep of the women’s long distance events (5,000-meters, 10000-meters and 3000-meter steeplechase).
Preceding his time at Boise State, Petersmeyer coached three seasons at TCU where he trained all jumpers and hurdlers and assisted with sprint events. In similar fashion to his arrival at San José State, TCU’s track and field program instantly began achieving at an all-time best level.
In his first year, Petersmeyer helped Jonathan Jackson become the first athlete in TCU history to win league titles in both the long jump and triple jump. Jackson was a back-to-back All-American in 2007-08 under Petersmeyer with a pair third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.
He coached Whitney Gipson and Neidra Covington to All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. That same year, Gipson finished third at the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Covington finished her career as a three-time All-American under Petersmeyer's guidance. Gipson later went on to set the NCAA women's outdoor record in the long jump.
Petersmeyer spent 2002-04 as an associate professor and assistant track and cross country coach at Columbia University. He coached the school’s first female Ivy League Champion in the field events and recruited or coached over 10 qualifiers for the NCAA East Regional Championships.
From 1999-2002 Petersmeyer was an assistant coach at Northern Arizona where he helped guide the team to seven Big Sky Championships and five top-12 team finishes in cross country at the NCAA Championships.
His coaching career, which spans now nearly two decades began at Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn., where he was a graduate-assistant for the 1998-99 school year.
As a collegian, Petersmeyer was a two-time NCAA All-American and nine-time Ohio Athletic Conference Champion at Baldwin Wallace College. He still holds the school record in 400-meter hurdles, an event in which he earned All-America honors.
Petersmeyer returned to his alma mater Baldwin Wallace for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons where he was the assistant track and cross country coach. The women's team won the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships in indoor and outdoor track both seasons.
The native of Delphos, Ohio, earned bachelor's degrees in political science and history from Baldwin Wallace College in 1996, and a master's degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona in 2002.