Coach Cook is beginning her 18th year of coaching and 10th season at Fossil Ridge as the Head Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach.

Dani Cook's coaching career began at her Alma Mater, Bloomington South HS (IN) where she spent 3 years coaching the girl’s program to their highest team and individual finishes in school history, including a state individual runner up.

In 2011 she moved to the college ranks coaching women at the NCAA Division I level (Western Michigan, IUPUI). In four years, she coached conference champions in the 800 and DMR, All-Conference 5k and 10k performances and school records in the DMR and 4x800. Dani led 4 women to 2:10 or under in the 800 (2:07, 2:08, 2:08, 2:10), a sub 17:00 5k and two women at 35:30 in the 10k. 

After getting married in 2015, she moved with her husband to Fort Collins, CO. She took over the helm at Fossil Ridge in 2016, overseeing both boys and girls programs. In the last few years, the team has doubled in size and continues to grow.

Under her leadership, Fossil Ridge has moved up the state ranks and both programs have a cross country state meet appearance streak lasting over a decade. She has coached every boys and girls distance school record at Fossil Ridge (800-1600-3200-4x800, 5k) and the SaberCats are continually rewriting the FR top 10 lists.

In the spring of 2025, the lady SaberCats won the 5A State Track and Field State Title, by a large margin (25 points). This was the first state title in program history. The distance group score with a 2nd place finish in the 3200 (Tatum Berg), a 4-6 finish in the 1600 (Tatum Berg, Mia Williams), 3rd place in the 800 (Mia Williams) and 3rd in the 4x800 (Samantha Geraets, Maya DiGiallonardo, Lily Wale, Mia Williams). The boys were represented in the 4x800 and finished 12th.

The 2024-2025 cross country season saw the girls win their 4th consecutive Region title, followed by a 3rd place team finish at the state me. The Sabercats were led by Tatum Berg's 4th place individual finish (highest in school history), Mia Williams (13th), Samantha Geraets (23rd), Avery Breitigam (29th) and Ia Reistad (44th). 

The boys team made their 17th consecutive appearance at the state meet and finished 9th overall. This was the highest finish ever by the Sabercats and were the top Fort Collins area school at the meet. The team was led by a 13th finish by Ryan Ruffer.

In the post season, our teams race at the Nike Southwest Region meet were the ladies finished 3rd and qualifying them for Nike Cross Nationals for the first time in program history. The lady Sabercats went on to finish 8th in the Nation! The boys made a trip to the Garmin RunningLane Championships in Alabama and placed 8th in the Gold (Elite) Division.

In the 2023-2024 season, the lady SaberCats finished 2nd in 5A XC and Track. The distance program was led by a 2nd place finish in the girls 4x800, 5th place 4x400 and individual podium finishes by Tatum Berg (3rd-1600, 4th-3200) and Mia Williams (4th-800). 

Originally from Indiana, Dani ran collegiately for Indiana State University and spent a few years running for a professional Brooks training program. She continues to train competitively, primarily in the marathon and was a 2020 Olympic trials qualifier in the marathon. She resides in Fort Collins with her husband and fellow coach, Jordan, and her two young children, Cameron (5) and Myla (3) and French Bulldog, Pippa.