Oswego State Athletics

Juan Martinez enters his sixth season as Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field Coach at SUNY Oswego for the 2026–27 academic year.

Since taking over the program, Martinez has guided the Lakers to unprecedented success across both cross country and track & field. Under his leadership, the women’s cross country team earned a third-place finish at the 2025 SUNYAC Cross Country Championships, tying the highest finish in program history, before going on to place among the top 10 teams at the Niagara Regional Championships. The track & field programs have consistently performed at a high level, recording top-10 finishes at conference championship meets each season.

Martinez has also elevated the men’s cross country and track & field programs, with the Lakers earning top-10 team finishes at the SUNYAC Championships during every season of his tenure.

Since 2021, athletes under Martinez’s guidance have accumulated over 15 school records, 32 All-SUNYAC selections, nine All-Region honors, one SUNYAC individual conference champion in track & field, and two NCAA Cross Country National Championship qualifiers. 

The defining moment of Martinez’s tenure came during the 2025 cross country season. The women’s team delivered a historic third-place finish at the SUNYAC Championships in Plattsburgh, N.Y., highlighted by three student-athletes placing among the top five finishers and earning induction into the SUNYAC Cross Country Hall of Fame. Building on that success, the Lakers followed with a top-10 finish at the Niagara Regional Championships, while two student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships.

In 2022, Martinez played a pivotal role in the development of a new cross country course in Fallbrook, Oswego, N.Y. The venue served as the host site for the 2022 SUNYAC Cross Country Championships and provided a premier championship-caliber course for the conference.

An accomplished distance runner himself, Martinez has qualified for the Boston Marathon on 11 occasions and has competed in several major marathons, including the Richmond and Toronto Marathons. He owns a personal-best marathon time of 2:37:14, achieved at the 2011 Richmond Marathon.

Martinez is a United States Navy veteran who served from 2000–2004. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Everest University in 2016 and is a USATF Level 1 Certified Track & Field and Cross Country Coach.