Stockton University Athletics

Jayson Resch is in his 14th year at Stockton, his alma mater, where he currently serves as director of cross country and track & field as well as head men’s track & field and cross country coach. Resch coordinates all six of Stockton’s cross country and track & field programs. Under Resch’s direction, Stockton competitors have earned 29 All-American honors and two of the squads have won a combined three NJAC championships (women’s cross country 2016 & 2021, women’s outdoor track & field 2017).
 
Resch has been the head men’s track & field coach and head men’s cross country coach since 2012. As head men’s track coach, Resch’s teams have finished third at nine of the 10 NJAC Championships that have been held since 2020. Resch led the 2019 team to second place at the NJAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships, equaling their best finish ever at each meet, plus Stockton’s highest point total ever at the NJAC Outdoor Championships (172 points).
 
In 2018, the men’s indoor team had its best finish ever at the NJAC Championships with second place while the outdoor squad tied its highest finish ever with second place and produced its highest point total since 2006 with 135 points.
 
As head men’s cross country coach, Resch steered Stockton to its best finish ever at NCAA Regionals with sixth place in 2024 while serving as the meet director for the NCAA Regionals that were hosted by Stockton for the first time. Resch also led the Ospreys to top-10 finishes at the NCAA Regionals in 2021 (eighth), 2022 (eighth) and 2023 (ninth).
 
While serving as head women’s cross country coach, Resch helped Stockton to 17th place at the 2013 NCAA Regionals, which at the time was the squad’s best finish since 2006.
 
Resch returned to Stockton in 2012 after three years as an assistant coach at California University (PA). He coached student-athletes in the jumps and multi-events at California, mentoring two all-region performers and four Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference runners-up and helping his charges set seven school records.
 
Resch was the head cross country and track & field coach at Clarion University from 2006-09. His squads earned NCAA Division II All-American honors in nine events and won PSAC individual titles in eight events. In 2006, Resch led the Clarion men’s cross country team to third place at the PSAC Championship that was the best finish in school history and helped Erin Richard become the Golden Eagles’ first individual PSAC champion in women’s cross country.

Resch’s teams at Stockton, California and Clarion all have excelled in the classroom. All six Osprey teams that he oversees have repeatedly earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team status. In addition, the Clarion women’s cross country and women’s track & field teams qualified for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award three times apiece and the California men’s and women’s track squads also netted USTFCCCA All-Academic Team slots during Resch’s tenure.

Resch, a Tuckerton, New Jersey native, had an impressive running career for which he was inducted into the Stockton Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. He reached the peak of his success by earning All-American status in the 400m with an eighth-place finish at the 1999 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Resch was a three-time NCAA qualifier in the 400m and the 1998 NJAC champion in the 400m and 800m. His time of 1:54.43 in the 800m that year stood as the Stockton record until 2016. Resch later won the ECAC championship in the indoor 400m in 1999.

While attending Stockton, Resch participated in the Army ROTC program at Princeton University. After earning his criminal justice degree, he performed a five-year stint as an officer in the United States Army. Resch served tours overseas in Qatar and South Korea before he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. He subsequently obtained a second bachelor’s degree, in secondary education from Clarion University, plus a master’s degree in exercise science from California University (PA).