Bio

My name is Angelina Ramos and I’m committed to the development of human potential through individualization, empathy, optimism, and command. I’m an advocate of nurturing tribe, cultivating curiosity and culture, prioritizing process, and encouraging holistic development. You can’t improve one area of your life without it affecting all others. I believe that you strengthen your voice by using it, that community is where you try confidence on, and that happiness is a practice. Curiosity empowers people to be in charge of their own learning. Courage and character are attributes upon which everything else lies.

Building self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-trust through sport and speech are my passion projects. This gets played out via co-creating, founding, and executing the USTFCCCA (US track and field cross country coaches association) female coaching mentorship program with Rhonda Riley and Janine Kuestner, where we partner novice and veteran coaches alike to share best practices, lived experiences, and offer mutual support through the sport to improve retention, student-athlete experiences, and to network great minds and encourage camaraderie in a male-dominated field. Kelsey Riggins and Melissa Ferry jumped on board to that women’s committee a year after it’s advent in order to help us further that mission of offering professional development programming for female coaches year-round (along with at the USTFCCCA annual convention each year through a targeted women’s session with a new theme each year). We support female coaching growth and development through social media outlets such as facebook’s passing the baton, by offering workshop series, interview panels, and more.

I’ve had the pleasure of serving University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ women’s cross country and track and field team as their NCAA Division I distance and middle distance track/ XC coach (800-10,000m) since September of 2018. I’m also an assistant coach to Brad Hudson and co-coach for the Las Vegas Gold Elite mile-marathon post-collegiate training group based out of Nevada, USA Track & Field Nevada’s distance chair, cross country meet director for the USATF Nevada 2021 race series, a keynote speaker, rhetoric coach, and a writer. I write memoir, fiction, non-fiction, short-story, speeches, flash fiction, articles, interviews, and essays.

As the NCAA Division 1 coach for UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), my most noteable influences on the program include doubling the distance roster size, recruiting in athletes focused on 800m-10,000m, coaching junior Agnes Mansaray back from tumor adversity and health battles to set the Sierra Leone national record and personal best 800m mark of 2:07 and onto the conference podium seven weeks after post-op surgery rest, and leading sophomore Avi’Tal Wilson-Perteete to a 3rd place NCAA All-American finish (2:02 800m in June of 2019), qualifying her for Olympic Trials, guiding her to a 1500m personal best NCAA West Region qualifier mark (4:25), improving her 6k cross country time by over five minutes, and leading her to the gold medal at her first international championship in Mexico at U-23 championships in July of 2019. The UNLV track and field team won the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championship team title in February of 2019, at which I led the distance medley relay (1200-400-800-1600m) to score points towards that total as well as advanced four 800m competitors from the prelim to the final, improving Emma Wahlenmaier from her high school marks of 2:22 to collegiate marks of altitude-converted 2:10.

I formerly held the NCAA distance and mid-distance position at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan 2015-2018. I was also adjunct faculty at SVSU (Saginaw Valley State University) where I taught public speaking and fundamentals of communication amongst other courses. Additionally, I was the strength coach for SVSU’s men’s and women’s distance and middle distance squads. I hold strength certifications through USTFCCCA Course 310 and USA Weightlifting Level 1.  In 2015, I lead the women’s distance medley relay to the NCAA National Championships to place third in the nation with an 11:31, shattering their previous school record. In 2016, I led the women’s team to score in every event at the conference championship GLIAC meet [800m, 1500m, 3k steeplechase, 5k, and 10k], rewrite two school records (800m/ 1500m), and guided individuals to achieve over ten personal best times in events ranging from 400m up through 10,000m! Recently, I coached athlete Allison Dorr of SVSU to qualify for cross country nationals (6k) after she ran a personal best 6k time of 21:16 (going through 5k in 17:42) at the regional championships in Indiana where she placed 15th. She was 60th at nationals in 21:52, her 2nd time ever breaking 22:00 for 6k.

In the past 15 years, I’ve coached 18 cross country and track programs consisting of youth, masters, and high school athletes alike, qualifying two athletes for the world championships stage and another to become the USA track & field club outdoor track championships 1500m gold medalist in 2015 (Mesfin Ferede in 3:50, a personal best by 5 seconds)! I led Niwot High School’s women’s cross country team to their first-ever regional championship title, led by Elise Cranny, and went on to produce a handful of all-Americans and recruit in top-tier talent at Metro State University’s cross country and track program as well.

I have an extensive background in sports journalism and sports interviewing, having worked for Trackshark.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Track and Field Colorado, and Bleacher Report for a number of years, covering both collegiate as well as elite cross country and track and field at conference meets up through Olympic trials. I’ve interviewed some of the best high school, collegiate, and professional athletes as well as coaches in the sport, and specialize in listening to and collecting their stories and lessons, finding unique perspectives, and sharing the best sides–from challenges to championships–of a competitor’s journey.

As a former medical assistant of physical therapy at Spine West (Boulder, Colorado), I developed an adept capacity to be pro-active towards preventing sports injury as well as knowledge of rehabilitation techniques.

As a tech sales specialist at the Boulder Running Company, formerly the top running technical store in the US, I spent years performing running gait analysis and helping prevent injuries through proper shoe fit.

As a former elite athlete selection team member and media team select for the Bolder Boulder 10k road race held annually on Memorial day in Boulder, Colorado, I’ve gained a unique insight into race director decision-making and the ways athletes can be self-promote and have had the privilege to prepare the elite-athlete media biographies for the race-day press five years in a row.

I acquired a background in sponsorship acquisition having worked with both non-profits Phoenix Multisport as well as the American Cancer Society on everything from Relay for Life in-kind sponsorship acquisition for 3000 participants to annual fundraising galas to drive sports and community programming for individuals in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse. I was fortunate to learn heaps and multitudes about building up a nonprofit and event planning from Scott Strode, the CEO and founder of Phoenix Multisport, a 2012 CNN Hero! I couldn’t have more gratitude for the time spent with the amazing individuals who work for the nonprofit Phoenix Multisport–some of the most heroic individuals I’ve ever met.

As a motivational speaker and keynote, I deliver talks ranging from goal-setting to NCAA recruiting all around the US.

I founded New Fairfield High School’s indoor track program (Connecticut) and then went on to compete in the middle-distance events at the NCAA Division I level in cross country and track & field at Florida State University (Tallahassee, Fl) for five years. During my time there, the men’s track and field team won four back to back national titles, and the women’s team podiumed in cross country two seasons in a row. Florida State has sent more track and field athletes to the Olympics than any other US university, and I  take great pride in coming from a program of excellence. As FSU’s SAAC representative (student-athlete advisory committee), I ensured the wellness and advocacy of the women’s team, and had a chance to learn from the Atlantic Coast Conference Coaches of the Year: Bob Braman and Karen Harvey.

After graduating from Florida State, I went on to pursue my master’s degree in communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where I also taught public speaking and academic advised over 900 integrative physiology students including but not limited to 150 NCAA student-athletes in a variety of majors, and coached the Leeds School of Business Real Estate International Case Competition undergraduate and graduate presentation teams to success. The University of Colorado Buffaloes boast the following accolades:

• 1^st place, NAIOP Challenge 4 years consecutively
• 1^st place, 2013 USC Team Challenge Case Competition
• 1^st place, 2013 ULI/Hines MBA CU/Harvard Dual-Team Competition

My approach is to meet someone where they’re at and from that point, instill connection, offer individualization, provide guidance/accountability, and direction to improve forward.

I couldn’t have accomplished any of the above without the guidance from my own mentors through the years– thank you for inspiring me Tim Murphy, Amy Legacki Manson, Bob Braman, Karen Harvey, Joey Zins, Marty Ogden, Terry and Jacqui Chiplin– and for those who gave me some of my first chances, thank you to John Supsic, Joseph Gargano, Rod Cowan, Doug Duffy, Ric Rojas, Steven Sashen, Scott Strode, Marc Plaatjes, Henry Guzman, Sherman Miller, Karen Tracy, Tom Borish, and Yvonne Wade– I wouldn’t be where I am today without your belief in me or without the opportunities that you presented me with– thank you sincerely. Additional thanks to individuals like William Merritt who taught me a passion for loving learning, and opened doorways to subjects I never would have known I was interested in.

Contact me at Angelina.Ramos922@Gmail.com or at 720-684-9315.