Hall of Fame
One of the most decorated track and field athletes in school history, Damon Martin was a two-time NAIA All-American and a seven-time All-AIC middle distance runner at UAM from 1981-85, dominating the 1500 and 5000 meters for most of his four-year career.
As a senior, he placed second in the nation in the 1500-meters at the NAIA National Track and Field Championships.
Since leaving UAM, Martin has established a track and cross country juggernaut at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. Martin became the women’s cross country and track coach in 1989 and added the men’s teams in 1996. He has since coached a total of 26 National Championship teams (17 women’s cross country, 6 men’s cross country, 1 women's indoor track & field, 1 men's indoor track & field, 1 men's outdoor track & field), including a stretch of nine straight women’s cross country titles from 1991-99, another stretch of seven straight women's titles from 2003-09 and a stretch of three straight men's cross country national titles (2008-10). He has also guided athletes to 874 combined all-America honors and 91 individual national championships while coaching seven national championship relay teams.
In 2012, Martin guided the ASU men's outdoor track & field teams to the NCAA DII title, the first outdoor national title in the history of the Adams State. Also during the 2012 season, the women's squad climbed atop the national rankings for the first time in program history on April 25.
Martin has also guided his men’s XC and track & field teams to four straight USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Program of the Year honors, awarded to the school with the best combined finish at the national championships in cross country, as well as indoor and outdoor track & field. The award, which was handed out for the first time following the 2008-09 seasons, has never benn given to a men’s team besides Adams State. The ASU men's five points in the Program of the Year standings at the end of the 2011-12 seasons were the best score in the award's history (runner-up finishes in XC and indoor track & field and an outdoor track & field national title). His women’s teams during the four-year existence of the Program of the Year Award have claimed four runner-up honors.
