Former NCAA All-American Joe Delgado joined the Navy track and field staff in the summer of 2018. Delgado’s primary focus is coaching the Midshipmen’s multi-event athletes.
In his first three seasons with the Midshipmen, Navy has won seven Patriot League team titles (men’s indoor – 2020; women’s indoor – 2019, ’20; men’s outdoor – 2019, ’21: women’s outdoor – 2019, ’21), as well as capturing eight Stars in the Army-Navy Star Meet (men’s indoor – 2020, ’21; women’s indoor – 2020, ’21; men’s outdoor – 2019, ’21; women’s outdoor – 2019, ’21), which is part of the overall Star Series presented by USAA.
Despite COVID difficulties throughout the year, Navy went undefeated in 2021. The Midshipmen won the indoor and outdoor Stars for both the men’s and women’s teams against rival Army. Navy swept the Patriot League Outdoor Championships for the third consecutive season, while sweeping the IC4A / ECAC Outdoor Championships for the first time in program history.
During the 2021 season, Delgado instructed four All-Patriot League performers and 11 All-East honorees. Navy’s multi-event athletes dominated the Patriot League Outdoor Championships. On the men’s side, the Midshipmen claimed four of the top five spots, including Thomas Johnstone (’21) who won the decathlon and Baynes Autrey (’23) who earned All-Conference distinction with a second-place finish. In the heptathlon, Navy claimed three of the top four stops at the conference meet with Katie Halbert (’22) winning the event. Cole Bailey (’22) – who finished his season as one of Navy’s 16 student-athletes who competed at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor East Preliminaries – won the high jump to earn First Team All-Patriot League accolades. At the IC4A / ECAC Outdoor Championships, Navy once again thrived in the multis and high jump. Autrey won the decathlon, while Markus Bynum (’24) and Casey Tow (’24) also finished in the top 8 to earn All-East recognition. Halbert, Sabrina Sokol (’24), and Annie Taylor (’24) each claimed All-East honors in the heptathlon. In the high jump, Bailey, Spencer Eves (’23), and Eli Lake (’21) earned All-East credits on the men’s side, while Molly Chapman (’23) and Darryl Langford (’22) claimed the honors on the women’s side.
Delgado worked directly with Annie Taylor (’24) who set the school record in the women’s pentathlon during the indoor season. During the outdoor season, Delgado’s heptathletes claimed seven of Navy’s top 10 marks on the year, missing out on the program record by one point.
The 2019-20 season saw Navy capture both the Patriot League Men’s and Women’s Indoor Championship titles. For the men, it was the 11th win in program history and the seventh time in the last eight years that the Midshipmen won the title. On the women’s side, it was the fifth indoor title in program history and marked the second consecutive win for the Mids.
As a team, Navy scored more points on the men's side (245 pts) in the conference meet than any other Division I school in the country, and as a collective team, the Mids scored more points combined between the men's and women's side (449.5 pts) in the conference meet than any other Division I school in the country. The Navy men won 11 of 18 events, including eight individual events and three relays. The women's team was able to finish with 204.5 points, claiming first or second in 10 of 18 events.
In addition, Clayton Thompson (’21) was the Top Point Scorer on the men’s side at the 2020 Patriot League Indoor Championship. Thompson won a pair of events (10 points each), while scoring points in two other events for a meet-best 24 points, which was 9.8-percent of Navy's 245 points. He earned First Team All-Patriot League in the 60m hurdles and the heptathlon, winning both events. Thompson scored the sixth-most points in Navy history in the heptathlon to win the event with an overall score of 5,259 points by a of 118 points over second place.
Aside from winning the 2020 Patriot League Indoor Championship, the Midshipmen also claimed a pair of indoor Stars winning the annual Army-Navy Indoor Star Meet, which is part of the overall Star Series presented by USAA. The men’s team won 13 of 17 events to post a 109-71 victory over Army West Point. The Midshipmen recorded maximum points in eight events to cruise to the victory in America’s Meet. The women’s team posted a 93-80 victory over the Black Knights. The indoor victory was the first for the Midshipmen since 2014.
In the classroom, Navy had a five student-athletes named to the 2020 Patriot League Indoor All-Academic Team. The men’s team posted a league-best three student-athletes, Ashwin Briggs (’22), Jake Brophy (’20), and Sean Casey (’22), while Kara Kakascik (’20) and Sam Orie (’21) were selected to the women’s team.
Navy competed in one meet during the 2020 outdoor season before competition was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mids swept the San Diego Collegiate Championship at Triton Stadium on the campus of UC San Diego.
During the 2018-19 campaign, the women’s team capture the Patriot League Indoor Championship for the first time since 2011. The outdoor season saw the men’s and women’s team sweep the conference championship for the second consecutive season. The men won the PL Championship for the sixth-straight year, recording a conference-best 289 points, winning 15 of 22 events at the meet, while the women’s win marked the second consecutive title.
Delgado worked directly with Benjamin Stewart (’19) who won the heptathlon (indoor) and decathlon (outdoor) at the Patriot League Championships. In addition, he helped Cat Goss (’20) earn First Team All-Patriot League for the first time in her career by winning the women’s heptathlon during the Outdoor Championship. Delgado also worked with Clayton Thompson (’21) and Lindsay Lewis (’22) who finished second in the heptathlon and pentathlon, respectively, during the PL Indoor Championship. Stewart and Lewis broke long-standing indoor school records in the heptathlon and pentathlon, respectively.
Off the track, Stewart was awarded the men’s Coaches’ Calvert Award, which recognizes a graduating varsity letterwinner who displayed leadership, consistent effort, loyalty and dedication to the sport and who has taken their abilities beyond the expectations of the coach, peers and themselves.
Delgado competed at the University of Oregon (2014-17) for Navy Director of Track and Field Jamie Cook before transferring to the University of Louisville (2018) for his final season of competition. He finished his collegiate career as a four-time All-American in the multis, as well as a CoSIDA Academic All-American in the classroom.
In his final season of competition, Delgado moved up four spots on the final day of the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships to finish fourth in the decathlon with 7,852 points, setting a new Louisville school record and earning first team All-American accolades. Delgado broke his previous record of 7,655 points set earlier in season at the Texas Relays. He was the indoor ACC Heptathlon Champion and finished third at the ACC Outdoor Championships in the decathlon. Delgado finished ninth in men's heptathlon at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. His personal best total of 5,730 points bettered his own school record by 77 points to earn second team All-American honors.
Prior to Louisville, Delgado earned two All-American honors in decathlon at Oregon. He finished 12th in 2017 NCAA Championships with score of 7,590, and placed 14th in 2016 NCAA Championships. In addition, he posted a top-20 finish in his first NCAA appearance, placing 17th in 2015 NCAA Championships. Delgado finished in second place at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships with score of 7,432. He took third in 2016 Pac-12 Championships and sixth at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships.
Delgado was a CoSIDA Academic All-American in urban planning at Louisville, while also being a Red & Black Scholar and a member of the AD Honor Roll. At Oregon, Delgado majored in general social science, receiving his bachelor’s degree in June of 2017. Delgado was named to Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention and received the 2017 University of Oregon Coach’s Award.
