Track & Field/Cross Country
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Cross Country Coach
- Email:
- aaron.kindt@usm.edu
- Phone:
- 266-6631
Aaron Kindt has been the Head Cross Country Coach for the Southern Miss Track & Field programs since August of 2014. He was promoted to Associate Head Coach for track and field in July 2021.Â
- Distance group was instrumental in helping capture the program's first Conference USA Indoor Championship in 2020, earning 46 of the Golden Eagles 109 points
- Best finish in school history with 2nd place at 2019 C-USA Women’s Cross Country Championship, 74 points
- First Women’s Indoor Conference Champion at Southern Miss in any distance event, DMR 2020
- Then-best finish in USM history with 2nd place at 2017 C-USA Women’s Cross Country Championship, 87 points
- 2014-2020 NCAA All-Academic Team (Women’s Cross Country)
- Finished in the top three for the past two years at Conference USA XC Championships.
- USTFCCCA All-South Region, Sandra Szpott 2018 (Women’s Cross Country)
- Three C-USA Freshman of the Meet, Kate Mattox 2017 (XC), Cassidy Teuscher 2020 (XC), Cassidy Teuscher 2021 (Indoor Track)
- Two First Team All-Conference, seven Second Team All-Conference, 11 Third Team All-Conference (Women’s Cross Country)
- One First Team All-Conference, eight Second Team All-Conference, four Third Team All-Conference (Women's Indoor Track & Field)
- Three Second Team All-Conference, two Third Team All-Conference (Women's Outdoor Track & Field)
Kindt's group found success once again during the 2020-21 season. Despite a shorten XC season, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kindt led the team to another top three finish at the Conference USA Championships. Cassidy Teuscher was named First-Team All-Conference and Freshman of the Meet, while Kate Mattox finished 15th at the meet to earn Third-Team All-Conference honors and Carlin Beal was named to the All-Academic team during the season. Kindt would have his group make four trips to the podium at the Conference USA Indoor Championships, collecting runner-up performances in the 3000m, 5000m and distance medley relay, while collecting the first Conference USA Indoor Title in program history. As a freshman, Teuscher set the school record in the 5000m, moved into second all-time in the 3000m and holds the freshman record in the 3000m steeplechase and No. 6 time overall under Kindt's direction. During the outdoor season, Teuscher continued to make moves in the Southern Miss record book, while fellow freshman Sarah Parnell joined her in the 3000m steeplechase with a top-10 all-time performance. Lina May would finish fourth in the 10K at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships to move her to second all-time in the event for the Golden Eagles.Â
The far-flying Golden Eagles of Southern Miss distance had a great season in 2019-20. Kindt led his cross country runners to the best school finish in history at the 2019 C-USA Cross Country Championships, finishing in second-place with 74 points, with three Second Team All-Conference members in Sandra Szpott, Lina May and Emma Kate Holdbrooks and one Third Team All-Conference in Kate Mattox. Szpott now holds the No. 2 time in school history for the 5k with a 17:08.76 from October. For Indoor track, Kindt coached David Patton Little to the new school-record 3000m run of 8:13.08. His DMR squad of Taylor Harris, Sarah McMillon, Savannah McMillon, and Sandra Szpott won the first Conference Champion title for Southern Miss’ women in the DMR, which was also the first distance event to earn a Conference Champion title for the Golden Eagles. They claimed first place with a time of 11:54.42. Sophomore Lina May finished in third place in the 5000m at the C-USA Indoor Championships, just the third distance runner to claim a third place title for Indoors for the women of Southern Miss. May’s time was also the third-best all-time in school history in the 5000m for Indoors. Szpott also ran to the No. 3 all-time spot for Southern Miss in the 3000m at 9:44.16. The 2020 season was cut short by the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, which caused the NCAA to cancel the rest of the season due to global health concerns.
Kindt guided his Golden Eagles well in the 2018-19 season. For cross country, he finished with three All-Conference members and the then-second-lowest team score for Southern Miss at the Conference Championships at 91. He also had one member of the team finish on the All-Region team: Sandra Szpott. During the indoor season, he coached Sandra Szpott to a new school record in the mile, the Distance Mile Relay squad to a second-place finish at the Conference Championships and six All-Conference performers. Szpott also finished in third place at the Indoor C-USA Championships, which was just the second time a women’s distance runner had made the podium earning bronze at Southern Miss. The outdoor season brought more success for the newcomer Sandra Szpott, with the No. 2 time in school history in the 800m and the No. 3 time in the 1500m. For the 3000m Steeple, juniors Monika Gebarzewska and Sarah McMillon secured the No. 2 and No. 4 times in school history at the Conference Championships, respectively. Sophomore Emma Kate Holdbrooks and freshman Lina May recorded the No. 3 and No. 6 times in school history in the 10,000m run at the C-USA Meet. This year, there were seven All-Conference performers - the most ever for distance for the Golden Eagles.
In the 2017-18 season, Kindt led the Cross Country team to a second-place finish at the C-USA Championships, and placing four athletes on the All-Conference Team. It was the best finish in school history with an 84 point finish. Kate Mattox was named C-USA Freshman of the Meet as well. He coached Courtney Filliben, the No. 2 all-time 800m Outdoor with a 2:09.57 time in 2017 and No. 2 Indoor 800m with a 2:09.37 in 2018. Kindt coached Kate Mattox to a school record 4:19.71 time in the 1500m in 2018. She was the first NCAA East Qualifier in school history and a No. 2 ranked freshman in the country on the season.
For the 2016-17 season, Kindt led the Cross Country team to its second-straight top-5 team performance finishing fourth, producing three All-Conference athletes. For the 2017 indoor season, his team set the DMR school record at 11:38 with Regen McGee, Adrianna Allen, Courtney Filliben and Dana Dillistone. The relay also finished second at the C-USA Indoor Championships. Dana Dillistone and Courtney Filliben highlighted the 2017 indoor season, Filliben with a runner-up finish in the 800m at the Indoor Championships and Dillistone running to the, at the time, No. 3 all-time mile mark indoors with a 4:54.52. Dillistone also ran the No. 3 all-time 3000m indoors at 9:45.97 while anchoring the DMR school record. In the 2017 Outdoor season, four athletes ran to top-10 all-time 1500m times. Dillistone, who held the school record before Kate Mattox, ran a 4:25.6, Regen McGee ran a 4:28, Courtney Filliben at 4:31 and Savannah McMillon at 4:32. Three athletes ran top-10 marks in the 500m. Dillistone also set the school record in the 5000m running 16:44. Theresa Harto ran a 17:22 5000m while Victoria Hoppe was at 17:31.
The Distance group would continue the momentum from the fall of 2015 into the spring of 2016, accumulating a number of all-time top-10 performances, All-C-USA performers and setting a new school record. Kindt help guide junior stand-out Kristin Zarrella to several top-5 ll-Time performances in the 800m, running 2:11.98 (i) and 2:12.85 (o) and also shattering the school record in the indoor mile, running 4:49.98. Courtney Filliben & Kristin Zarrella led the squad indoors, collecting all-conference honors in the mile and 800m respectively. The DMR indoor team continued its excellent history under Kindt, finishing Top 5 at the CUSA Indoor Championships and recording the No. 3 all-time performance at the Vanderbilt invite. The 2016 outdoor season wrapped a stellar year, with Courtney Filliben and Dana Dillistone running lifetime best at the C-USA Championships and finishing with All-Conference honors.
In his first season in 2014, Kindt’s athletes enjoyed substantial improvement in both the cross country and indoor and outdoor track seasons. Guiding Rebecca Ulrich to her first All-Conference performance in cross country and assembling a Women’s Distance Medley Relay Team that achieved the No. 2 all-time mark in school history and bringing home the runner-up trophy at the C-USA Indoor Championships last spring. By the end of Kindt’s first year with the Golden Eagles he had delivered the programs first ever top-5 team finish at the Conference-USA Cross Country Championships, while his athletes would also go on to achieve 17 personal bests, six top-8 finishes and three top-5 finishes at the C-USA Track Championships.
Prior to Southern Miss, Kindt served as assistant coach at the University of North Florida for two years. While at UNF, Kindt helped with the development of the women’s A-Sun cross country runner up in 2012 and distance medley indoor relay champion in 2014 while assisting with the men’s third place finish at the 2013 A-Sun Indoor Track Championship.
Kindt began his career at the University of Florida, serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the cross country and track programs from 2010-12. Kindt assisted with the training and development of the distance athletes.
The Orlando, Fla., native graduated from the University of Florida in 2010 with a Bachelors of Arts in geography. As a Gator, Kindt was a four-year letter-winner with the cross country and track and field programs. Kindt ran a wide range of distance events, including the 10,000m, 5000m, 3000m and 1500m.
He is currently pursuing his master's in Sport Management at Southern Miss.Â
