Bio

Fresno City College has a legacy of developing highly competitive men’s and women’s cross country teams. During Coach Bluth’s tenure, the men's and women's programs combined have earned over 20 Conference Championship titles, and produced an individual State Champion. In 1999, Michael Kasahun won that honor by placing 19 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. This margin of victory is a still a Woodward Park course record for a California Community College State Championship race. Michael eventually earned a full scholarship to attend the University of Oregon. 

A hallmark of the program has been the steady improvement of the individual runners under the guidance of Coach Bluth, who has over 40 years of collegiate coaching experience. Prior to his being hired at Fresno City College, Coach Bluth had coached very successful teams at University High School (San Francisco), Skyline Community College, and San Francisco State University. In 1990, Coach Bluth led the SFSU Women’s Cross Country Team to its first NCAA Div. II national ranking in the history of the program. Since 1991, he has been the Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach at Fresno City College. 

Fresno’s Woodward Park is ranked as one of the best cross country courses on the West Coast, and as such, it has become the annual site for the California Community College Cross Country State Championships. Coach Bluth has served as the Meet Director for this prestigious event since 1992. The same 5k course developed for the community colleges is also used annually by the CIF for the high school state cross country championships. 

Beyond athletic achievement, our athletes are always reminded that their first priority is to be students. In 1994, Shawn Young, a lifetime 4.0 GPA student, was named the California Community College Male Student-Athlete of the Year. Our highest cumulative team GPA was attained by our men's team in 2014 with a score of 3.38.

Highly respected among his coaching peers, the California Community College Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (5CTCA) honored him as the Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1997. In 2008, he earned that award as the Men’s Track & Field Coach of the Year. As a leader in his profession, he served as the Chair of the Nor-Cal Cross Country Rules Committee for six years, prior to becoming the Vice President of the 5CTCA in 2008 - 2009. He is currently the Track & Field President of that association and will become the Cross Country President in June, 2011. He then served as either the Track and Field or Cross Country President of that association from 2010 - 2013. Coach Bluth was extremely honored to be inducted into the 5CTCA "Hall of Fame" in 2014.