University of Texas Arlington Athletics

UT Arlington alumnus John Sauerhage has led Mavericks' teams to 33 conference championships during his coaching career, the most by any coach in any sport in school history. Sauerhage, who took over the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs in 1996, has also been recognized as his conference coach of the year an athletic department-record 33 times.

After his 30th season with UTA, Sauerhage and both cross country teams finished sixth at the WAC Championships in Orem, Utah as the men accumulated 167 points while the women totaled 182. There, Matro Jepkemboi led the charge for the Mavs with a top 10 finish, placing ninth with a time of 20:39.71 to earn All-WAC First Team honors for the second year in a row. Sophomore Winnie Kipsang finished 22nd overall, just missing All-WAC Second Team honors, with a time of 21:39.34. 

Sauerhage guided the Mavericks to eight selections at the 2025 NCAA West Preliminary Round in College Station with five on the men's side (Alex Kalmar, Kash Powell, Randon Gray, Calen Jones, and Hayden Wilson) and three on the women's side (Adeyemi Talabi, Winnie Kipsang, and Zaire Moore).

Brady Shadrick was named the winner of the Stan Bates Award by the WAC in July as the honor stems from former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates and is given to the WAC's top male and female scholar-athletes. It recognizes athletic, academic and community accomplishments. The award includes a $10,000 postgraduate scholarship. Off the track, Shadrick was very active within the community, volunteering with Miracle League, an inclusive baseball program for children with disabilities, and Cards for Cubs, which sends uplifting messages to children in foster care. He's supported hazing prevention programs, Fresh Check mental health events with CAPS, and helped collect thousands of food items through canned food drives. He's also supported clothing drives and volunteered at the Trail or Treat Halloween event, among others.
 
In the classroom, Shadrick graduated with a 3.88 GPA a degree in clinical and applied physiology from UT Arlington in 2025. Shadrick was included on the Academic All-WAC team in both the winter and spring seasons in 2024 and 2025 and was included on the Sun Belt Conference Commissioners List in 2022. Shadrick also received the B.G. Wilson Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award from UT Arlington in 2024, which is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete who best epitomize the 'student-first' and 'athlete-second' mantra. He has also been named to the Dean's List, UTA Student-Athlete Honor Roll, UTA Super Scholar, and earned Texas Trust Credit Union Academic Student-Athlete of the Week honors. Shadrick serves as a Senior Advisor in our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
 
On the track, Shadrick claimed four first team All-WAC citations in multis events, earning first team honors in the decathlon from 2023-25 while adding a first team heptathlon scroll in 2024. Shadrick added second team accolades in the javelin (2023 and 2025), the heptathlon (2023) and the pole vault (2025).

In 2023, Sauerhage led the women's cross country team to its best finish at the 35th running of the Chili Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas claiming a fourth place finish. As a true freshman, Matro Jepkemboi garnered WAC Athlete of the Week twice across the course of the cross country season before being named the 2023 WAC Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year. Out of the six races on the cross country schedule this season, Jepkemboi has ran in all but one, the John McKenzie Invitational hosted by TCU at the very beginning of the season. During those five races that she's competed in, Jepkemboi has finished in the top-10 in every single race, including a pair of second place finishes in her first two career races. Finishing fourth overall with a time of 20:33.5, she helped lead the team to a third place finish after they were selected to finish fourth in the pre-championship coaches polls.

Sauerhage guided Jepkemboi to the best individual finish in program history after finishing third at the NCAA South Central Regional, punching her ticket to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia where she finished 85th overall in the 6k with a time of 20:33.8. To round out her rookie campaign, Jepkemboi was named to the All-Region and Academic All-American teams.

Sauerhage's 2022 season included his men's track and field program being named the best in the nation in 2021-22 at a D-I institution that does not sponsor football as UTA claimed the NCAA Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) trophy thanks to finishing in a tie for 25th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

It marked the second-straight year that UTA has finished atop a DI-AAA ADA All-Sports Standing in track and field as in 2020-21 the Mavs claimed the honor for men's indoor track and field.

At the NCAA Championships, UTA had three individuals reach the podium – its most since 1996 – as the 13 total points accumulated also was the most for the program in 26 years. Lucas Van Klaveren (4th place, decathlon), Arthur Petersen (6th place, javelin) and Bryson DeBerry (6th place, high jump) led the charge for the Mavs.

Petersen, DeBerry and Van Klaveren all went on to earn First Team All-American honors, while Joel Bengtsson – who also reached the NCAA Championships – garnered Second Team All-American accolades in the 110-meter hurdles. A total of 10 All-Americans were named during the outdoor season while three took home second team honors in the indoor season in DeBerry, Van Klaveren, and Jade Bontke.

Later that month, Iyana Gray took home a silver medal in the 4x100 relay at the U20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia. Anchoring the third leg, Gray and teammates Jayla Jamison, Autumn Wilson, and Swanti Jackson ran a time of 43.28, setting a new U20 national record. The U.S. was just off the mark of Jamaica, who won gold and set a new U20 world record of 42.59.

It is believed to be the first international medal in UTA track & field history and the first medal in any international event since the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Lanny Bassham won gold in rifle. 

Gray was one of three individuals to compete in summer competition as Adeyemi Talabi represented Ireland in the World Championships, while Joel Bengtsson represented Sweden in the European Championships.

Sauerhage's success began immediately, as the Mavericks claimed league championships in women's indoor, men's indoor and men's outdoor track in his first season. UTA followed that up by winning four conference titles (men's indoor, men's outdoor, women's indoor and women's cross country) in year two. And that success has continued for more than two decades.

Four times his squads have collected conference "triple crowns" by sweeping the cross country, indoor and outdoor track championships in the same academic year. The women's team accomplished the feat in 1997-98 and again in 2000-01 in the Southland Conference. The men's team secured triple crowns in 2013-14 and 2016-17, the first and only two recorded in Sun Belt Conference history.

His team championships have been well balanced throughout the sports, with the men winning seven indoor, six outdoor and six cross country titles, while the women have nabbed six indoor, four outdoor and four cross country crowns.

During his tenure, Sauerhage has coached 45 athletes who have received All-America honors, including seven in the 2018-19 school year alone. Highlighting the all-time list is Alexus Henry, who became the school's first female, and third-ever, national champion when she won the high jump title at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In 2019, Justin Domangue became the first Maverick ever to earn cross country All-America accolades.

Since 1989, when he was serving as a UTA assistant and the head cross country coach, Sauerhage has coached 11 athletes to individual conference championships in cross country. UTA student-athletes have also won more than 100 league track titles in mid-distance and distance events ranging from the 800 meters to the 10,0000 meters. His program has succeeded off the track as well. The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has honored the men's and women's teams and individuals numerous times over the years.

Sauerhage earned perhaps his biggest individual accolade when the USTFCCCA named him the 2007 Division I Outdoor Track and Field Men's South Central District Coach of the Year. In 2013, Sauerhage was recognized for his achievements by being the only coach named to the Southland Conference's All-Time Indoor Track & Field Honor Roll on both the men's and women's side. The list honored the greatest athletes and coaches in the league's first 50 years.

The decade from 2010-19 included some of the top performances in school history.

In 2018, the UTA women's team was named the 2018 Division I-AAA National Team of the Year after finishing the season ranked 27th nationally, the program's highest-ever placement. The 2015 men's outdoor track squad also ranked 27th in the USTFCCCA national rankings, while in 2012, the men's indoor track team placed 26th, the third-best showing by any school without a Division I football program.

Additionally, the 2016 men's cross country team registered the school's highest regional finish ever, as the Mavs placed third at the NCAA South Central Regional. UTA also had two athletes advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the same year for the first time in school history.

UTA made its presence known in its first year in the Sun Belt Conference (2013-14) by winning all three men's titles. Along the way, the cross country squad placed five runners among the top seven finishers at the league meet, while the indoor team smashed a 20-year-old SBC record with 185 points in the championship.

UTA athletes have performed on the highest levels of international competition as well. Former athletes Jared Connaughton (for Canada in 2008 and 2012), Takeshi Fujiwara (for El Salvador in 2004) and Elston Cawley (for Jamaica in 1996) have competed in the Olympic Games. Sauerhage has also coached five athletes who have earned trips to the IAAF World Championships.

Sauerhage, a former UTA standout, returned to his alma mater in 1989 as an assistant coach, a role in which he filled for seven years prior to being named the head coach in the fall of 1996. In addition to his collegiate experience, Sauerhage has also coached on the international level as the head coach of the El Salvadorian national team at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

Sauerhage began his collegiate athletic career at LSU, where he placed sixth in the Southeastern Conference in both the 1000-yard run and indoor mile. He also ran a personal-best time of 3:45.36 in the 1500 meters.

In 1982, he transferred to UT Arlington. As a member of the UTA track and field team, Sauerhage won the SLC title in the mile and was a member of the school record-holding 6000-meter relay team. For more than 30 years, he ranked among the top five in UTA history in the 1500 meters in both indoor and outdoor with times of 3:51.50 and 3:49.35, respectively.

As a prep, Sauerhage was a six-time state qualifier for Arlington High School, and won the Class 5A state title in the mile run in 1979. Sauerhage graduated from UT Arlington in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He received a master's degree in education from Louisiana-Monroe in 1988 while serving as a graduate assistant coach.

An avid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, Sauerhage and his wife, Lisa, reside in Arlington.