Leo Settle joined the Mustang staff in the Summer of 2019 working with sprints, hurdles and relays. Settle came to the Hilltop after one season as an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge. Settle assisted in coaching two hurdlers to NCAA Championship appearances while working with the Matadors.
In his first six years at SMU, which include cancellations to the 2020 outdoor season and the 2021 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships due to the COVID pandemic, the Mustang track and field athletes have garnered 10 All-American honors and have had seven conference champions. The team has claimed 15 program records and posted more than 100 marks which rank in the program’s all-time top 10 for an event. Settle’s athletes have heavily contributed to these numbers with nine of these records coming from sprinters and hurdlers, including this most recent season when freshman Kelis Jules became the school record holder in the 60mH and sophomore Kirin Chacchia broke the 400mH set by one of Settle’s previous athletes. Settle’s 4x400 relay teams also hold eight out of the ten top SMU times. SMU also had their highest team placement in 13 years at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2024.Â
In the Fall of 2024, Settle helped usher the team into a new era at SMU as they entered the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In their first year in the conference, the staff also brought track and field back to Dallas — hosting the first home track meet in 27 years with Settle serving as meet director.Â
Prior to Northridge, Settle spent seven seasons at UTEP where he served as an assistant coach in sprints, jumps and relays. At UTEP, Settle coached an Olympic Qualifier, three IAAF World Championships qualifiers and 12 Conference USA Champions. The Miners won six Conference USA titles including five consecutive indoor titles from 2013-17. Settle spent three years as an assistant coach at New Mexico, coaching 16 regional qualifiers three All-Americans, and 11 school record setters. His coaching career began as a volunteer coach at UTEP for four seasons.
Settle enjoyed a decorated student-athlete career at Arkansas-Little Rock. He is a member of the Little Rock Athletics Hall of Fame, a USA Track Indoors finalist in the 200 meters, and was named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Time Indoor Track & Field Team, winning 10 Sun Belt individual championships. He graduated from Little Rock with a master's in exercise science in 2010.
All-American Honors
Chelsea Francis: 60m Indoor (2020)
Ashton Woods: 4x400 HM Outdoor (2021), 400m Hurdles 2nd-Team (2021)
Annette Bolomboy: 4x400 HM Outdoor (2021)
Whitney Williams: 4x400 HM Outdoor (2021)
Chika Iwuamadi: 4x400 HM Outdoor (2021)
Jernaya Sharp: 100m HM Hurdles Outdoor (2021)
SMU Records - Outdoor
400m: Chika Iwuamadi 52.54 (2021)
100m Hurdles: Jernaya Sharp 13.11 (2021)
400m Hurdles: Kirin Chacchia 57.75 (2025)
4x 400m Relay: Ashton Woods / Whitney Williams / Annette Bolomboy / Chika Iwuamadi 3:34.28 (2021)
SMU Records – Indoor
60m: Chelsea Francis 7.17 (2020)
60mH: Kelis Jules 8.44 (2025)
400m: Chika Iwuamadi 53.21 (2020)
4x400m Relay: Camryn McPhaul / Ariana Sutton / Nea Sanders / Kirin Chacchia 3:38.81 (2025)
DMR: Leoni Mierswa / Kirin Chacchia / Emily Waller / Macey Hilton 11:13.13 (2025)
