Octavious Gillespie-Bennett enters his sixth season as head coach of the WOU track and field program - his 10th year overall in Monmouth in 2025-26.
Gillespie-Bennett has led the men to a top-three GNAC finish each year he's been coach - including an indoor conference championship in 2023. He's guided the Wolves to a pair of women's GNAC titles (the 2022 outdoor title and the 2023 indoor title) while finishing no lower than fourth over the previous four seasons seasons. Three times he's been named GNAC Coach of hte year.
Gillespie-Bennett has guided numerous athletes to conference titles and a half-dozen plus national championship appearances to go along with the team success.
Gillespie-Bennett arrived at Western Oregon University as the assistant head coach in the fall of 2016. The Hillsboro High School alum returned to Oregon after spending four seasons as the head cross country and track & field coach at Cal Poly Pomona.
Before arriving at WOU, Gillespie-Bennett was already putting together a strong background fitting of a head coach at the collegiate level. While at Cal Poly Pomona, some of his top accolades included four outdoor school records, 91 top-10 performances, an NCAA Division II National Champion, nine NCAA Division II outdoor track and field All-Americans, 24 NCAA Division II national qualifiers, three cross country All-Americans and two cross country individual national qualifiers. Gillespie-Bennett helped set the school record for the number of NCAA outdoor national qualifiers with eight in 2013 and 2015 and his teams did well in the classroom consistently holding an average above 3.0. Some of his top standout performances included Jill Schmidt (two-time NCAA Division II All-American in the high jump and heptathlon), Justin Ellerbee (2015 NCAA Division II national champion in the pole vault, CCAA Athlete of the Year, CCAA Academic Athlete of the Year and school record holder), Lizette Huerta (fourth in the women’s 1,500m in 2016 and school record holder. He was also part of guiding the men’s cross country team to three straight national qualifications, including an eight-place finish in 2013.
With more than 20 years of competitive and coaching experience in the track and field community, Gillespie-Bennett brings with him experience from stops at Cal State Los Angeles, the University of Tulsa, the University of California Los Angeles, and Brentwood High School. Throughout his career at the collegiate level, Gillespie-Bennett has produced 26 All-American athletes as well as four NCAA national champions (last: Justin Ellerbee, pole vault 2015). Most recently, Gillespie-Bennett had two cross country All-Americans and five track & field athletes qualify for nationals in Bradenton, Fla.
Gillespie-Bennet is a Level 2 certified coach by USA Track & Field in throws and jump while also earning certification as strength and conditioning coach from the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association. He has served as meet director for events at UCLA, Tulsa and the Pomona Preview while being a multiple time presenter at coaching clinics for the LA84 Foundation.
Gillespie-Bennett's return to the state of Oregon is a well-deserved homecoming for one of the most decorated throwers and decathletes to compete. As a student-athlete, he competed for Lane Community College, US Santa Barbara and UCLA. For the Bruins, he scored in the javelin and decathlon events at the 2002 Pac-10 Conference Championships.
Professionally, Gillespie-Bennett was the Guatemalan national record holder in the javelin (65.87 meters) and decathlon (7,448 points) and was a Pan-American competitor in 2003 and 2007. He was the Central American Champion in the high jump in 2004 and in the pole vault in 2007. He was also second in the long jump and third in the javelin in 2007.
He earned his bachelor's degree from UCLA in 2003 and was a UCLA Student-Athlete Academic mentor from 2003 to 2005. He also served as the Assistant Athletic Tutorial Director for UCLA during the 2005-06 academic year.
Born in Guatemala and raised in the Portland, Ore., area, Gillespie-Bennett lives in Salem with his wife and their two children
