2024 Pole Vault Summit College Coach of the Year Dan Lefever enters his seventh year coaching the Bears vertical jumps and multi-event groups in 2025-26.
In the 2025 season, the men’s outdoor pole vault (13th) and men’s outdoor high jump (20th) groups finished the year with national top-25 rankings, while pole vaulter Tyler Burns was ranked seventh indoors and heptathlete Seth Johnson 13th; both athletes also earned Second-Team All-America honors in the indoor season. Burns broke Cal’s indoor school record and finished third at the ACC Indoor Championships, then tied for second at the ACC Outdoor Championships. In total, Lefever’s athletes set seven indoor (six men’s, one women’s) and two outdoor (one men’s, one women’s) program top-10 marks and collected six total All-ACC honors.
In 2024, both Lefever’s women’s (8th) and men’s (13th) outdoor pole vault groups, as well as his men’s outdoor high jump (11th) and indoor heptathlon groups (6th), were ranked among the national top-25 squads. Skyler Magula starred on the men’s side by breaking Cal’s indoor men’s pole vault record and earning Honorable Mention All-America honors as the program’s first men’s pole vaulter to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships since 1997; he followed that up with a second-straight Pac-12 Championship title and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning First-Team All-America status. Two of Lefever’s other athletes – Jai Williams and Seth Johnson – earned Pac-12 medals, with Williams taking silver in the men’s high jump and Johnson bronze in the decathlon. On the women’s side, vaulter Amari Turner closed out her collegiate career with a school record and Big Meet record. Meanwhile, after competing unattached for the 2024 season and setting a Brutus Hamilton Invitational meet record, pole vaulter Tyler Burns earned a berth at the U.S. Olympic Trials and competed in the semifinal; Lefever also coached alumnus Hakim McMorris to a decathlon victory at the 2024 Thorpe Cup.
Lefever’s squad reached new heights in the 2023 season, establishing themselves as one of the most respected groups in the conference. Indoors, no fewer than four event groups were ranked within the national top-25, while three athletes appeared on the top-25 individual lists. Five facility records, courtesy of decathletes Hakim McMorris and Jono Pelusi, as well as 13 indoor program top-10 marks (including the high jump school record from Toby Lai) defined that indoor campaign, culminating with McMorris being named a Second Team All-American. In the outdoor season, four event groups and four athletes cracked the national top-25 lists, while pole vaulters Amari Turner and Skyler Magula each recorded a meet record. Seven different athletes recorded program top-10 marks, including Turner’s tie of the school pole vault record and Ali Sahaida’s program freshman pole vault record. Later, Magula won the Pac-12 pole vault championship, while both Turner and Tyler Burns earned bronze in the women’s and men’s event, respectively. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Turner was named Second Team All-American; Magula and McMorris also earned Honorable Mention nods.
The 2022 track & field season was a breakout year for several of Lefever’s athletes, including junior Hakim McMorris, who competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships after a campaign that established him as the nation’s No. 9 decathlete. McMorris set three of Cal’s outdoor program Top 10 marks during the season, along with classmate Amari Turner and freshman Tyler Burns. Under Lefever’s tutelage, both Turner and sophomore Paige Martin also each set indoor Top 10 marks for Cal earlier in the season.
In the 2021 season, five of Lefever’s athletes combined for a total of seven top-three event finishes. Under Lefever’s tutelage, Hakim McMorris took home the bronze medal for the decathlon in the Pac-12 Championships after notching a heptathlon win in the indoor season. Lefever also coached high jumper Hawa Wague and pole vaulter Amari Turner to wins in that year’s Big Meet.
Despite a shortened inaugural season for Lefever, his athletes reached new heights in 2020, the most notable being McMorris’ second-place finish in the heptathlon at the MPSF Indoor Championships. McMorris’ point total in that event also moved him up to third place in school history.
In his one season working with Johnson at BU, Lefever helped Gillian Morrison win the Patriot League Indoor Championship in the pentathlon. He also helped Ava Gruzen to a silver medal in the heptathlon during the conference outdoor championship. On the men’s side, Jason Biesma took third place in the decathlon and second in the heptathlon at the Patriot League Championships.
During his lone season at Stanford, Lefever helped Kaitlyn Merritt and Erika Malaspina accomplish something that had never been done in school history – both of the two Cardinal women's pole vaulters qualified for the NCAA Championships after taking second and third at the Pac-12 Championships.
Throughout his tenure at Missouri, Lefever contributed to 26 First-Team All-Americans, 10 Big 12 Conference champions, 37 NCAA Participants, 72 conference scorers, and 17 Missouri school records across the jumps, pole vault and multis events.
In his final year at Missouri, Lefever guided pole vaulters Alyssa Applebee (4.22m/13-10) and Matt Ludwig (5.46m/17-10) to school records and first and second team All-America performances, respectively. Applebee took seventh in the country and was a scorer at both SEC Indoors and Outdoors. Ludwig was the highest-placing freshman male vaulter in the country at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing in10th place. He also claimed third at the SEC Outdoor Championships and sixth at the Indoor Championships.
Lefever was also instrumental in the success of Katrine Haarklau. Haarklau collected four All-American honors in the pole vault. An Outdoor NCAA Championships qualifier for each of her four years, Haarklau placed 15th in 2012, fifth in 2013, sixth in 2014 and 12th in 2015. In 2013, she broke the school record in the outdoor pole vault and javelin throw. Haarklau was also a Missouri Top Ten performer in the pentathlon and heptathlon.
Under Lefever’s leadership, Morgan Whitson earned Second Team All-America honors. Additionally, Whitson held Missouri top-10 marks in the pentathlon and heptathlon. Pole vaulter Jennifer Bennett (13-7) also took home a school record, a Big 12 championship, and First Team All-America honors.
Brian Hancock, Lars Rise and Nick Adcock had a fantastic run at the conference, NCAA, and international levels. Included among the accolades were 13 First Team All-American honors, an NCAA Heptathlon Runner-Up finish, 10 Big 12 Champion/Runner-up performances, 20 All-Big 12 recognitions, six school records, a Big 12 Indoor Championship Meet record, Midwest Regional Athlete of the Year, USATF junior decathlon champion, USATF indoor heptathlon champion, and Norwegian heptathlon national record (5902). Additionally, Nick Adcock finished no lower than fifth at any NCAA competition and together with Lars Rise scored 52 points in eight NCAA championships. Brian Hancock became the first male Tiger in 50 years to be named an All-American in the pole vault.
Heptathlete Kaela Rorvig put together a strong finish to her collegiate career. Rorvig finished runner-up in the Big 12 heptathlon with a personal best of 5372 which also qualified her to compete at the 2009 Outdoor NCAA championships. This built upon her strong indoor season where Rorvig finished third in the pentathlon at the conference championships scoring 3922 points.
Lefever mentored 2004 Norwegian Olympian Hans Uldal, who broke both the indoor and outdoor combined event school records. His decathlon score of 8018 points was good enough to qualify him for the 2007 World Championships. Hans would finish his career with another All-America honor, three runner-up Big 12 Championship performances and four Missouri school records.
Lefever started at Missouri in 2002 and was promoted to a full-time assistant coach in the fall of 2005. He was named Associate Head Coach of the Missouri program in 2009 and remained in that spot until 2016. Lefever was also selected to coach the USA Track and Field Thorpe Cup Decathlon team in 2011.
A graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2000, Lefever studied exercise science and psychology. While at NWU, Lefever competed in the pole vault where he was competitive at the conference and national level. He also started a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis with emphasis in sport psychology at Missouri and holds a Master’s degree in counseling psychology from Boston College.
