Chadron State College Athletics

2017 - Brad Gamble, one of Chadron State College's former track and field national champions, enters his fourth year as head track and field coach in 2017-18.

The native of Eagle, Colorado, has been on the CSC coaching staff since the fall of 2011. During that time he has seen the Eagles soar to runner-up finishes six times and one first-place showing at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.

In only three years leading the program, Gamble has recruited and developed six individual NCAA champions and has coached up 26 All-Americans and 36 RMAC Champions since being named interim head coach in July 2014 and proceeding into the job permanently the following year.

In 2017 he guided the CSC women's team to its best indoor season in program history, culminating in a third-place finish and the first NCAA team trophy in any sport in Chadron State history.

In 2016 Gamble garnered Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Eagle women to their first conference championship, and Stachia Reuwsaat and Shelby Bozner became Chadron State's first two female NCAA champs, in the indoor long jump and outdoor heptathlon, respectively. Both benefited directly from Gamble's tutelage in their events.

Also that same year, on the men's side of the program, Gamble saw Damarcus Simpson repeat as outdoor long jump champion and finish eighth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

It was a banner season for CSC track and field, as a school record 15 All-America honors on both the men's and women's teams, indoor and outdoor combined, were added to the Eagles' long and growing tradition.

Individual school records have fallen more than 60 times, in all phases and events of track and field, under Gamble's watch. Four are held by Simpson, who burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2015, in Gamble's first season at the helm, earning gold in the men's long jump at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

That began an unprecedented run of success for the program. At the time, Simpson was only CSC's third individual title all-time in track and field, while Gamble himself was the second, winning the men's indoor heptathlon in 2011.

Aside from purely athletic accomplishments, Gamble's student-athletes excel in the classroom like no others. Eagle track and field has grabbed nearly a quarter of all the RMAC All-Academic First Team slots up for grabs over the past three years, producing 29 first teamers, and has made the conference honor roll 119 times. The CSC athletes have also earned four Summit Awards for the individual having the highest grade point average at each of the championships sites.

In 2016 alone there were five Academic All-District members from Chadron State, and three Academic All-Americans.
Reuwsaat was twice named the league's Academic Athlete of the Year and Alejandro Garcia was awarded the same title during the outdoor season. Both Reuwsaat and Garcia were CSC's Scholar Athlete nominees for the academic year, and Reuwsaat went on to become the conference's overall nominee for the national award.
 
Despite only competing for the Eagles’ track and field team one year, Gamble distinguished himself both indoors and outdoors under former head coach Ryan Baily, whom Gamble names as a "close friend and mentor". Gamble set a Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championship meet record while winning the heptathlon and he followed that up with a runner-up finish in the decathlon at the outdoor national championships.

Prior to Chadron State, Gamble had a solid career at Hastings College, becoming a two-time All-American before graduating with a degree in physical education in 2010. Following his graduation, he taught at Eagle Valley High, his alma mater, and coached the throwers. 

He is the 25th track and field coach in Chadron State’s history.
  
Gamble graduated with a master’s degree in organizational management with an emphasis in sports management from Chadron State in May 2014.