Jess Riden named director of operations for UW track & field team...

While the Huskies were in Madison for the Wisconsin adidas Invitational,  University of Washington coach Greg Metcalf put out a message on his Twitter account stating:

Who is Jess Riden?

Riden (left/photo by Mike Scott) comes to the UW from Penn State where she was the director of track & field operations for the men's & women's track & field teams under Beth Alford-Sullivan.

At Penn State, the former Nittany Lion distance runner oversaw numerous administrative duties, including meet management, alumni relations, and overseeing PSU's Officials' Group, along with assisting Alford-Sullivan & the coaching staff with daily tasks involved in running a track & field program.

In a short text exchange with Metcalf, he said that Riden will become the point person for the Huskies' successful series of meets at Dempsey Indoor.

The UW has not posted anything on its athletics web site officially announcing the hire. Riden becomes the second Penn State track & field staffer to join the Huskies, after throws coach TJ Crater left State College in November 2011.

Though associate head coach Jason Drake has done most of the work of an operations director in his role as meet director, Riden's hiring makes her the first operations director of the UW track program.  That position is one that many schools in the Pac-12 have in their track & field/cross country programs, with Washington State, Oregon State, and Utah the only schools in the conference without that position on their staff.

Here's a link to Riden's Penn State bio.