BERKELEY – California Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Robyne Johnson announced the hiring of Kayla Ferron as the program's new assistant distance and cross country coach on Thursday.

"I am excited to welcome Kayla to the Cal family," Johnson said. "She will bring an immediate impact to our young team with her strong running background and wealth of knowledge. I'm excited to watch her continue developing our student-athletes into leaders and competitors."

Ferron spent the previous two seasons as the volunteer assistant for cross country and distance at Grand Canyon University under head coach Sara Slattery. She helped the GCU men to a third-place finish at the 2020-21 WAC Championships, the program's best finish at the meet, while the women came in fourth.

During her time at GCU, Ferron helped train the WAC Freshman of the Year, Joseph Skoog, the Lopes' top finisher at the conference meet with a sixth-place finish to earn All-WAC first team honors.

Ferron will join Cal cross country head coach and track & field distance coach, Bobby Lockhart, who is set for his third season with the Golden Bears in 2021-22.

"I'm very excited to start working alongside Kayla," Lockhart said. "She's a wonderful fit to our program and her level of experience as a collegiate coach and student-athlete add great value to the direction we're heading. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming year."

A native of Torrance, California, Ferron attended Redondo Union High School and ran track/cross country before competing collegiately at the University of Arizona.

Ferron made two NCAA Cross Country West Regional appearances with the Wildcats and holds the No. 5 spot in the school record book in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:29. She also earned several accolades in the classroom at UA, including two Academic All-Pac-12 honors.

"I am excited to be coming to Cal as an assistant cross country and track & field coach," Ferron said. "I'm grateful to be returning to the Pac-12 to work with such an elite team. I look forward to working with Robyne and Bobby and I'm eager for the opportunity to create something great in Berkeley."

Ferron graduated from the University of Arizona in May 2018 with a degree in Elementary Education.