Evan Gerish is entering his 18th year as a track & field coach. He joined the Spartans’ program as the sprints, hurdles, & relays coach in the winter of 2023.
The 2026 season was a highlight for the women’s program, as they finished 11th overall at the DIII outdoor national championships, the highest for women in program history. Jaide Flowers finished 7th in the 400m dash, setting the school record (54.87) along the way. She and Mackenzie Rader, Delisha Davis, and Kahlan Kearns also set the outdoor school record in the 4x400m relay (3:54.28). Rader and Kearns made their mark on the all-time list for 400m hurdles, currently sitting 1st (1:03.58) and 3rd (1:04.23), respectively. Nina Tomko ran to 5th (15.43) all-time in the 100m hurdles, and several other UD top ten times were set by the lady Spartan sprinters. Â
On the men’s side, Jaberrius Peake was awarded the Indoor A-R-C Championship’s Most Valuable Track Performer, taking 1st in the 400m, 2nd in the 200m, 7th in the 60m, and helping the 4x400m relay team to a 3rd place finish. Peake’s 200m (21.99), 400m (49.03), and 60m (6.92) dash times are currently 2nd, 4th, and 6th on Dubuque’s all-time indoor record board, and the team of Peake, Matthew Haerle, Kaden Miller, and Kali Freeman’s indoor 4x400m effort (3:19.36) is currently 4th all-time.
At the A-R-C Outdoor Championships, Peake took 1st in the 400m, 2nd in the 200m, and helped Haerle, Miller and Freeman finish 4th in the 4x400m relay.  Peake’s 400m (47.37), 200m (21.14), and 100m (10.57) times are currently 3rd, 3rd, and 7th in UD history. Â
The 2024/2025 seasons were highlighted by several athletes and moments. The 2025 men’s indoor 4x200m relay team of Nolan Lentz, Freeman, Peake, and Blake Hardison set the school record (1:28.73), and Lentz set the indoor 200m school record (21.94). At the 2025 A-R-C Indoor Track & Field Championships, Otis Patterson led Peake and Lentz in a podium sweep of the 200 meter dash. Patterson went on to score 36.5 points at the meet, winning the 400 meter dash and anchoring the winning 4x400m relay team (with Peake, Freeman, and Andrew Hutchinson), as well as scoring 2nd and 3rd in the high jump and long jump, respectively. At indoor nationals, Hardison (running in the fastest 60 meter hurdles race in Division III history) and the men’s 4x400m relay both earned 6th place, helping UD to secure a 10th place team finish.
The men’s program spent the 2025 outdoor season consistently ranked sixth/seventh - the highest national ranking in team history. At the A-R-C Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Peake and Patterson finished 1-2 in the 200 meter dash, with Patterson winning the 400 meter dash and anchoring the winning 4x400 meter relay. Hardison finished second in the 110 meter hurdles, helping UD to secure a second consecutive runner-up team finish. At outdoor nationals, Patterson (400 meters) and the 4x400 meter relay team each ran the 10th fastest times of the weekend. Hardison also finished 13th in the 110 meter hurdles, and Peake and Patterson ended 20th and 21st in the 200 meter dash, respectively.
In 2024, Keira Aliss, Grace Kahon, and Gianna Borzileri all achieved top ten times in school history in the women’s 100 meter dash. Borzileri, Kahon, and Jaide Flowers made their mark on the 200 meters list, and Flowers set the school record in the 400 meter dash, with Borzileri currently sitting 5th (59.38). Hurdler Victoria Zoltowska ran what is currently 6th (9.50) in UD history in the 60m hurdles, and the women’s 4x400m relay team ran what was then 5th place on the all-time list, showcasing the growing depth on the women’s side.Â
Blake Hardison set a school record (7.94) on the way to a national runner-up finish in the 60 meter hurdles, and the men’s 4x400m relay team broke the indoor school record (3:13.86) en route to an 8th place finish. The outdoor season saw Jojo Frost win the DIII outdoor national championship in the 400 meter hurdles with a school record (51.04), while the men’s 4x400 meter relay (setting an outdoor school record of 3:10.26) and 4x100 meter relay teams finished 5th and 10th at nationals, respectively, on the way to a 9th place overall team finish, the highest in program history. Hardison also set the outdoor school record in the 110 meter hurdles (14.05), and several other top ten program marks were set by the UD men’s sprint crew.
Before joining the Spartans, Gerish served as a volunteer assistant coach at Division II MSU Denver from 2020 to 2023. Charged with revitalizing the hurdles program, he saw over a dozen school records fall in the 60 meter and 100 meter hurdles during his tenure, between several athletes. Maya Ries placed third at the RMAC Championships in both 2022 and 2023, setting program records in both the 60m (8.71) and 100m (13.99) hurdles. The men’s program, which had no hurdlers in 2019/20, saw remarkable growth, with the 60m hurdles event squad being ranked 15th in Division II by February 2024. Anthony Martinez earned All-RMAC honors in both 2022 and 2023, becoming the second-fastest male hurdler in program history in the 60 meter (8.18) and 110 meter (14.61) hurdles.
Gerish also spent several years at the high school level. As a head coach, he spent the 2019-2021 seasons at Peak to Peak (CO) before starting a new track program at The Pinnacle (CO), a K-12 school system where he taught middle school English. Prior to moving to Colorado, Gerish served as an assistant coach from 2012-2018 at the all-boys Detroit Catholic Central High School (MI) under the legendary Tony Magni, and got his start at Northville High School (MI), his alma mater, in 2010.Â
Hurdle Tech is an effort Gerish began in 2010, working with hurdlers locally and then nationally on hurdle form, technique, and theory. Between the years of 2010-2018, he worked with over a dozen hurdlers who qualified and placed at Michigan’s D1 MHSAA State Championships. Many of those hurdlers went on to compete for universities all around the country, with several moving on to post-collegiate athletics. Gerish moved to Colorado in 2019, and began developing a new group of local hurdlers, as well as working with athletes virtually. From 2019-2023, Hurdle Tech celebrated five individual CHSAA state championships and three additional state runners-up across various divisions. In the 2023 season, he supported 16 hurdlers at state, with 13 making a podium. Many of those hurdlers went on to compete for university athletics and beyond. Gerish also supported masters athletes, including Roman Marenin, who won the USATF Masters Championship in the 60 meter hurdles in 2022.
Coach Gerish earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Michigan in 2018, and also attended Division I Winthrop, where he was All-Big South Conference in the 60 meter hurdles in 2009. He is certified USATF Level 2 in Sprints, Hurdles, & Relays. He is also a speaker at coaching clinics around the country, speaking primarily on hurdle development.Â
