Director of cross country and track & field Travis Olson is in his 16th year at the helm of the track and field program. He previously served 12 years as an assistant track and field coach.
As Linfield cross country coach from 2010 until 2015, the Wildcat women placed among the top four teams at the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships three times, while the Linfield men finished in the upper half of the league twice.
He has coached three individual to six NCAA individual championships during his tenure, including Catherine Street (2012) and Olivia McDaniel (2019) in the women's pole vault and Jake Mihelich (2015, 2016) in the men's 400 meters. In 2022, Keaton Wood placed second nationally in the men's heptathlon (NCAA Indoor Championships) and men's decathlon (Outdoor Championships).
In 2012, Olson was recognized as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Head Coach of the Year. During his time as an assistant coach, he received the USTFCCCA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year three times, twice for his work with the Linfield women (2010, 2009) and once for his guidance with the men's program (2010). He helped coach a total of 24 All-Americans, including the national champion and two runner-ups in the decathlon. Olson is certified as a jumping event specialist through the USTFCCCA Academy.
Over his four-year career as a student-athlete at Linfield, Olson earned 10 varsity letters in track, basketball and football before graduating in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in finance. A six-time All-American in the javelin, decathlon and high jump, Olson twice placed second in the javelin at the NAIA championship meet. He still holds five top-10 marks in the Linfield record books, ranking third in the high jump (6-10), fourth in the javelin (203-02), sixth in the decathlon (6774), seventh in the discus (154-09) and eighth in the pole vault (15-01). Olson was inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
He and his wife, Maridee, live in McMinnville with their daughters, Bailee and Olivia.