Veronica Graves completed her first year as head coach of the Chico State women’s track & field team in 2023, and in just one season at the helm, the longtime coach and former Wildcat athlete has already realized her goal of keeping the program among the best in the West.
Graves has made good her pledge of keeping the program’s standards at a very high level, as Chico State women’s track & field remains a major player on both the regional and national stage.
Under Graves’ tutelage, the Chico State women turned in an outstanding 2023 season. The Wildcats posted a strong second place finish at the CCAA Track & Field Championships while earning the No. 4 spot in the year’s West Region rankings. Marissa D’Atri (5,000-meter run), Chloe Taylor (400-meters hurdles), and the 4x400-meter relay team of Taylor, Savannah Bailey, Taylor Lee, and Danielle Bacon all set new program records, with D’Atri, Taylor, and Josie Peterson (javelin) all claiming CCAA championships. The ’Cats sent six athletes to the 2023 NCAA Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colorado, with D’Atri and the 4x400-meter relay team bringing home Second Team All-America accolades.
Graves ascended to the ’Cats’ head coaching job after serving for four seasons as a Wildcats assistant, training and mentoring decathletes, heptathletes, and hurdlers for the both men’s and women’s track & field teams.
Joining the Wildcats coaching staff in 2018, Graves helped guide numerous Chico State athletes to All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) performances, conference individual championships, and All-West Region honors. Graves was a key part of the Chico State coaching staff that steered the men’s track & field team to the 2019 CCAA Championship.
Graves brought a wealth of head coaching experience to the Wildcats’ program. She served as the head men’s and women’s track & field head coach from 2014–18 at William Jessup University in Rocklin, where her athletes racked up 12 Golden State Athletic Conference champions and 20 all-conference honors.
From 2013–14, Graves led the women’s track & field and cross country programs at Feather River College in Quincy.
Graves actually broke into the coaching ranks as a Wildcats assistant from 2002–04, following an impressive running career at Chico State. For ten years she held the school record in the 400-meter hurdles (and still ranks eighth all-time in the program’s history), and was a National Qualifier in both the 400 hurdles and the 1,600-meter relay.
Graves began her collegiate career at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.
Graves received her bachelor’s degree in physical education at Chico State in 2002, as well as her master’s degree in kinesiology in 2011.
