Daniel Gooris enters his fourth year as an assistant coach for the Illinois State track and field program, specializing in high jump, multi events and women's hurdles.
In three seasons leading ISU's high jump and multi-event student-athletes, Gooris has coached 12 individual MVC champions, 30 All-Valley performances, six NCAA West Prelims qualifiers and two NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships qualifiers.
Highlighting the 2021 indoor campaign, Gooris led Kameesha Smith to new heights as a Redbird. Smith secured her third consecutive MVC High Jump title and broke her own school record in the process with a jump of 1.83 meters (6-0 ft.). With her record-setting mark, Smith qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, becoming the first female at ISU to qualify since 2013. At the championship meet, Smith finished the season 10th in the nation, as she cleared 1.76 meters (5-9.25 ft.) to earn Second Team All-America honors. Along with Smith, Gooris also guided Caleb Miedma (heptathlon) and Mya Robinson (60 meter Hurdles) to MVC championships.
At the 2021 MVC Outdoor Championships, Gooris guided Grace Daun to a championship in the high jump and Jordyn Bruce to championships in both the heptathlon and 400 meter Hurdles. Bruce, alone, scored 26 team points after winning two MVC titles and was named the MVC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Most Valuable Athlete. Bruce now ranks second in school history in the heptathlon with a score of 5,439 points.
Gooris also found success in his first year leading the women’s hurdles at ISU, as both Bruce and Robinson notched championships.
Highlighting the 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships were Gooris' two MVC Champions and six All-Valley performances. Jordan Wilkerson, who won his second-straight Valley heptathlon title, broke the Illinois State school record with 5,255 points. In route to his second Valley gold medal, Wilkerson set personal bests in the shot put, high jump and pole vault. Joining Wilkerson on the podium for the heptathlon was Caleb Miedema, who finished second with 5,231 points, earning him his first All-Valley honor.
Jordyn Bruce led the Redbird women, who finished 2-4-6 in the pentathlon. Bruce's personal-best 3,849 points set a new school record and was the fourth All-Valley performance of her Redbird career.
In the high jump the Redbird women went 1-2 with Kameesha Smith taking the title with a clearance of 1.73 meters (5-8 ft.) and Grace Daun finishing second, clearing 1.70 meters (5-7 ft.). Smith's performance at the MVC Championships capped off an exciting indoor campaign where she finished 28th in the nation, earned MVC Athlete of the Week honors twice (Jan. 28. and Feb. 18), won all five high jump competitions she competed in and moved up the ISU indoor top-10 list to a tie for the No. 4 spot with her personal-best clearance of 1.78 meters (5-10 ft.). On top of all of her success in the high jump, Smith also earned All-Valley honors in the long jump with a second-place finish with a mark of 5.91 meters (19-4.75 ft.).
Gooris' squad led the team with four of the nine MVC Athletes of the Week for Illinois State. Kristin Higgins was named MVC Female Field Athlete of the Week during the week of Jan. 21 after breaking a 15-year high jump meet record at the Coughlan-Malloy Cup with her clearance of 1.73 meters (5-8 ft.). Miedema's win in the heptathlon at the Jack Jennett Invite earned him his first MVC Male Field Athlete of the Week honor during the week of Jan. 28. Smith earned the title of MVC Female Field Athlete of the Week twice during the indoor campaign. First during the week of Jan. 28 after recording a then-personal-best clearance of 1.77 meters (5-9.75 ft.) at the Notre Dame Invitational and then again during the week of Feb. 18 for breaking her personal-best again at the Iowa State Classic with a clearance of 1.78 meters (5-10 ft.), which is currently tied for fourth all-time in ISU indoor track & field history.
In his first season as the high jump coach for the 'Birds, Gooris helped Smith to qualify for the first NCAA Outdoor Championships of her career after clearing 1.75 meters (5-8.75 ft.) at the NCAA West Prelims in 2019. She became the first female student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2015 and went on to earn Second Team All-America honors.
At the 2019 MVC Outdoor Championships, Gooris' women's high jumpers swept the event, finishing 1-2-3. Smith took home the title after finishing second to teammate Kristin Higgins at the indoor conference meet, while Higgins finished second and Tessa Holland placed third, respectively. Higgins and Smith went 1-2 at the MVC indoor meet to help the women's team to its second Valley Championship in as many years.
On the men's side, Francis Ehigbai and Derek Wegman split the top three in the high jump at the MVC Indoor Championships, placing first and third, while Jordan Wilkerson won the heptathlon title to help the men's team to its second-straight team title.
Gooris joined the Redbird coaching staff after serving as an assistant coach at North Dakota State for four seasons.
In his time with the Bison, Gooris guided the men’s multi-event and men’s and women’s pole vault groups to sustained success at the conference level and on the national stage. He coached nine Summit League Conference Champions and assisted in 41 Summit League All-Conference performances. He also led five student-athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary Round and two student-athletes to the USATF Junior Nationals.
During the 2018 season, Gooris helped the Bison’s men’s team to their third-straight indoor Summit League title and their 10th outdoor conference championship in the past 11 years. The Bison’s women’s team also excelled, claiming their 11th-consecutive Summit League title on both the indoor and outdoor circuit, helping NDSU to the sweep.
Gooris’ men’s multi-athlete squad played an integral role in these championship victories. The Bison men finished 1-2-4-5 in the heptathlon for a total of 27 team points at the Summit League Indoor Championships, with every athlete capturing personal-best scores that rank in the top-10 in Bison history.
All four Bison decathletes once again finished with personal-best scores en route to a 1-2-4-6 finish at the Summit League Outdoor Championships. At the conclusion of the outdoor season, the Bison were ranked third in the decathlon on the USTFCCCA’s Event Squad Rankings, averaging a score of 6,806 points. The Bison utilized strong performances in the high jump to receive these honors, with four of Gooris’ men’s multi-athletes clearing over 2.03m (6-8 ft.) during the 2017-18 season.
In 2016 and 2017, the Bison men swept the top five places in the decathlon at the Summit League Outdoor Championships. Since Gooris arrived at NDSU in 2015, all eight conference titles in the men’s multi-events were won by Bison.
While at NDSU, Gooris also coached a quartet of Bison women’s pole vaulters into the NDSU all-time top five list. In addition, Gooris guided 10 Summit League place-winners in the men’s 60 meter hurdles and 110 meter hurdles. He also helped Jerome Begin to the 110 meter hurdles school record (13.78) in 2016.
Prior to his time at NDSU, Gooris served as an assistant coach at Western Illinois University for the 2013-14 season and had also been a volunteer assistant at Columbus State University in 2014-15. In his coaching career, Gooris has directed athletes in the sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault, javelin and multi-events.
Gooris competed in college for UNI, where he earned NCAA Division I Second Team All-American honors in the multi-events three times over the course of his career. He was a seven-time MVC Champion and 14-time All-Valley performer, still standing as one of the top multi-event athletes and pole vaulters in school history. Gooris also notched a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the 2014 USATF Indoor Championships.
Gooris graduated from UNI in 2013 with a major in exercise science and a minor in psychology. He and his wife, Krista, have one son, Silas.
