NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State track & field and cross country coaching staff has been finalized for the upcoming 2022-23 athletic season with the addition of two new assistant coaches and a director of operations.
Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee has announced the following additions to the staff:
The D'nara Jones File
Assistant Coach D'nara Jones comes to Illinois State after spending a season with the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. Jones will primarily work with the Redbird horizontal jumpers.
"D'nara brings a wealth of jumps knowledge to the Redbirds, having coached at both Loyola and SLU," Bovee said. "She was a talented jumper herself in the SEC, and because of her ability to recruit at a high level and a proven ability to develop talent, she will be able to help us expand our presence at the MVC and at national levels in the horizontal jumps."
In her one year as an assistant coach at Loyola, Jones' student-athletes totaled three school records, eight all-time top-10 school performances and 63 personal bests across the indoor and outdoor campaigns.
During the 2022 outdoor season, Jones guided long jumper Melissa Parella to an MVC title in the long jump, becoming Loyola's first women's long jump champion since 2017. Parella went on to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, where she finished 38th in the West Region. In addition, Jones coached the MVC runners-up in the indoor triple jump and 100m hurdles.
From 2019 to 2021, Jones served as an assistant coach at Saint Louis University, where she led the Billikens' sprinters and hurdlers. In her time as a coach at Saint Louis, Jones' student-athletes set 16 school records and achieved 37 personal bests. She led a trio of Billiken student-athletes to All-Atlantic 10 honors in the 60m hurdles, indoor 400m dash and 100m dash.
A Tacoma, Washington native, Jones spent time as a student-athlete at both Portland State and the University of Alabama. She still ranks ninth in school history in both the indoor and outdoor triple jump at Portland State.
Read more about D'nara Jones.
The Mollie Dalton File
Assistant Coach Mollie Dalton will work with the Redbirds' distance squad. She comes to Illinois State after a four-year stint at Elmhurst University, where she served as an assistant distance coach and graduate assistant.
"Mollie's passion for coaching and building relationships is a key to her success," Bovee said. "She has a proven ability to build a championship program from the ground up working closely with the entire staff at Elmhurst. She has recruited the top talent in the state of Illinois and the surrounding states and has developed excellent recruiting contacts that will benefit our program. I look forward to working together with Mollie to take the distance program to the next level here at ISU."
Under Dalton's guidance, the Bluejay women's cross country program captured the 2021 CCIW team title, marking its first team championship in 18 years.
Dalton and her fellow coaches were recognized as the CCIW Coaching Staff of the Year for the 2021 cross country and 2022 indoor track & field seasons. In her first season as a graduate assistant, Dalton also led five runners to All-Conference honors, including Emily Gilligan who captured a CCIW championship in the mile run.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Dalton was a standout student-athlete at Lewis University. Dalton qualified for the 2016 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, where she finished 32nd in a field of over 200 competitors. In 2017, she was runner-up in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in the Distance Medley Relay, third in the mile and All-Conference in cross country. Dalton also accumulated two Academic All-American awards during her senior season at Lewis.
Read more about Mollie Dalton.
The Phil Hall File
Phil Hall joins the Redbird staff after spending one season as a volunteer assistant coach at Illinois-Chicago, working directly with the Flames' track & field program.
"Phil is a positive and energetic force that provides a spark to all those around him," Bovee said. "He is organized and motivated to learn as much as he can from each person he interacts with. The fact that he has several years of division I experiences as a student-athlete and a volunteer coach only enhances his readiness to take on duties as our director of operations. I have known Phil since his high school days and look forward to him being a part of our team here at ISU."
Hall is a Danville, Illinois native and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he spent three seasons on the Fighting Illini track & field team before graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology.
Hall will serve as a graduate assistant for the Illinois State program, pursuing his master's degree in Recreation Administration in addition to his duties as the director of operations.
Read more about Phil Hall.
For all the latest news on Redbird track & field and cross country, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more
