Men's Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Year at Mizzou:
- Fourth Year
- Alma Mater:
- Tennessee, '08
- Email:
- lylesc@missouri.edu
Carjay Lyles enters his fourth on the Mizzou Track & Field coaching staff and oversees the men’s sprints, hurdles, and relays group. Since arriving in Columbia, Lyles has helped rewrite the Mizzou record book as he has helped guide Tiger student-athletes to 13 school records, five All-SEC performances, two individual SEC Championships and two World Junior finalists. In his first three seasons with the Tigers, his athletes have garnered 16 All-America honors, while three (Markesh Woodson, John Warren, Kahmari Montgomery) have represented the United States on various national teams over the past two years.
In 2015-16, Mizzou sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers reached unprecedented success under the direction of Lyles. As a team, the Tigers reached a program-record ranking of No. 9 in the USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll. Between the indoor and outdoor season, he coached athletes to 43 top-10 performances while 11 school records were broken. Lyles coached freshman Kahmari Montgomery to one of the most impressive debut campaigns in program history, as Montgomery won two individual SEC Championships in the 400m, recorded top-15 times in the world in the 400m, finished sixth in the 400m at the World Junior Championships, was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Athlete of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year. Markesh Woodson earned All-SEC honors for the fifth time in 2015-16 as the veteran Tiger finished runner-up in the 60m in indoor and sixth in the 100m outdoor to earn All-America honors. Valerie Thames broke three school records over the year and was the only hurdler (male or female) to make the finals in both hurdles competitions at the SEC Outdoor Championships. For all of Mizzou’s success in 2015-16, Lyles was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Assistant Coach of the Year for women, the second time he has been given the honor.
Lyles coached 10 athletes to all-time performance lists in 2014-15. Markesh Woodsen set school records in the 60m and would go on to finish fifth at the NCAA Indoor National Championships to earn All-America honors while earning second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Laquisha Jackson became the first Mizzou women to make a sprint final in SEC history and first to make a conference sprint final in over a decade.
Lyles came to the Tigers from San Diego State University, where he assisted in developing the best team in program history, culminating in an eighth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Named the 2013 West Region Assistant Coach of the Year, Lyles coached six NCAA All-American finishers during his four years with the Aztecs, including the 2013 NCAA triple jump champion, Shanieka Thomas. Thomas was also one of the four San Diego State School Record holders who excelled under Lyles' leadership.
Prior to his position at San Diego State University, Lyle worked as an Undergraduate Assistant Coach at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee (2007-2008), was an athlete and coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (2007-2009), and has been a private coach since 2004. Through these positions, Lyle has worked with multiple world-class coaches and athletes, including 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Al Joyner, two Pan-American Games medalists, and two high school national record holders.
Lyles was an All-American triple jumper while at the University of Tennessee, helping the Vols to the 2007 SEC Championship title and three top-five NCAA finishes. He graduated in 2008 with a degree in Sociology. He is a USATF Certified Coach for the sprints, hurdles, and jumps.
