Kathleen RaskeTitle: Dir. of Track & FIeld/Cross Country Experience: 5th Year Alma Mater: Southern Illinois, '90 Email:raskek@csus.edu Bio: In just five years on the job, Kathleen Raske, Sacramento State’s Director of Track & Field/Cross Country, has taken the Hornets from the bottom half of the Big Sky Conference to league champions.
Raske’s team-oriented and family-focused philosophy has nurtured in a new era at Sacramento State. In the five years Raske has led the Hornets, she has been named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year four times, produced three NCAA All-Americans, five USATF Junior All-Americans, 15 NCAA National Championship participants, 68 NCAA West Region competitors, 61 conference champions, 145 all-Big Sky performers, 65 event school records have been established, and 276 all-time top five event marks have been recorded.
Raske led the Hornets to prominence in 2007 when the men’s team won the Big Sky indoor title. In doing so, Raske became the first female head coach in NCAA Division I history to win a men’s team conference title and was also named Big Sky Coach of the Year. She added three more conference championships in 2008 when the Hornets swept the indoor championships and nearly did the same outdoors with the women finishing first and the men second. Based on the team’s performances, Raske won three Big Sky Coach of the Year awards.
In 2008, the Hornets set numerous firsts. Individually, Raphael McFarlane joined Dan O’Brien as the only two men to be named both track and field athlete of the meet at the Big Sky indoor championships, and Emilio Hernandez garned the field athlete of the meet award at the outdoor championships. There were also a record 22 Big Sky event titles won, 20 entries to the NCAA West Regional and five to the NCAA Championships (three outdoor, two indoor). Raske also had success after the season as freshman Ronald Brookins finished third at the USATF Junior Nationals in the 110-hurdles and 11th at the IAAF Junior World Championships in Poland.
The 2007 individual accomplishments included 20 school records, 16 conference titles, 35 all-conference honors, 11 NCAA West Regional participants in 15 events, and a record-setting four NCAA National Championship participants. Raske coached Nancy Searcy to the NCAA Championship meet and the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Championships. Searcy won three Big Sky titles and had six all-conference finishes. While doing so, she broke a 22-year old school record when she ran 13.35 in the 100-hurdles at the prestigious Mt. Sac Relays.
In 2006, the honors continued to pile up for Sacramento State. Dave Nichols finished sixth at the NCAA Championships making him the first Hornet to be named All-America two times. Awarded the Big Sky Conference Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet, Roshena Duree became the first Hornet to garner a conference championship most outstanding accolade. During the year, eight conference championships and 23 all-conference finishes were collected by Sacramento State.
The 2005 campaign was a banner year for Raske’s programs. An unprecedented three student-athletes competed at the NCAA Championships. While there, all three (Geoff Fong, David Nichols and Brandon Parker) advanced to their event finals and two were named All-America — Parker in the long jump and Nichols in the shot put. Both also claimed their event conference title at both the Big Sky indoor and outdoor championship meets.
In 2004, Raske’s Hornets had a solid first year under her guidance. The men and women had their highest team finishes at a Big Sky championship meet, men (third) and women (fifth). Eight conference championships were won and 19 all-conference honors were attained. Fourteen athletes qualified for the NCAA West Regionals and two advanced to the national championship meet. Dave Nichols began his great career in 2004 when he earned two USATF Junior All-America certificates in the shot put and discus.
Raske, hired in August of 2004, came to Sacramento State from Central Michigan University where she served as the head coach of the women’s track & field and cross country programs for six years.
While at CMU, Raske coached 19 conference champions, 49 all-league recipients, 20 NCAA championship meet qualifiers, three All-Americans and 53 school records were established.
In 2002, she led CMU to its first Mid-American Conference championship. For her efforts, she was named MAC Coach of the Year, Great Lakes NCAA Regional Coach of the Year and Central Collegiate Coach of the Year. Two NCAA All-Americans were garnered that year. High jumper Suzy Bozin and heptathlete Maria Derezinksi each earned the accolade. Bozin was a three-time MAC champion in the high jump and was the top freshman to compete at the 1999 NCAA Indoor championships. She qualified for the championship events four times in her career. The Chippewas won their first outright MAC Cross Country title under Raske’s direction in 2000.
Prior to working at Central Michigan, Raske was an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) and Southern Illinois. While at Miami, she coached both the men and women in sprints and hurdles. She had six athletes win MAC titles and three advanced to the NCAA Championships between 1992-97. One of her top athletes with the Redhawks was Becca Williams. The hurdler was a two-time NCAA All-American and was ranked 20th in the world in the 400-hurdles.
From 1989-92, Raske coached at Southern Illinois where she had two athletes win Missouri Valley Conference crowns and two qualify for the NCAA Championships. While at SIU, she oversaw the team’s sprinters, hurdlers, and relay teams.
A renowned teacher, Raske has not only coached at the collegiate level but also in regional and national competition. In the summer of 2006, Raske served as the head women’s coach for the United States team in its quadrangular meet against Great Britain, China and Russia in Birmingham, England. She was recently tabbed to serve as the head coach for the for the USA at the 2009 World University Game.
The event was not the first USATF experience for Raske. In 2005, she was an assistant coach for the United States team at the Junior Pan-American Games. In that role, she worked with the team’s high jumpers and hurdlers.
She was also named the coordinator for USATF Olympic Hurdle Development in July of 2003 after serving as the assistant coordinator for three years.
In the summer of 1999, she was a manager for the United States team that won the gold medal at the Junior Pan-American Games.
Off the track, Raske is the secretary for the USA Track and Field Coaches Advisory Committee. She previously served as secretary for the U.S. Women’s Track Coaches Association for nine years and was on the USTCA Rules Panel Committee.
In addition to her committee responsibilities, Raske has also been a speaker on the topic of hurdling and sprinting at major coaching clinics throughout the United States and internationally.
Raske is also involved with Athletes in Action. In the summer of 2002, she led a U.S. team to Thailand and Laos.
Raske competed at Southern Illinois and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. As a sprinter and hurdler, she was an All-American in the 100-meter hurdles and held the conference record in the 200-meter, 55-meter hurdles and 100-meter hurdles. Raske was named MVP of the Decade by the Gateway Athletic Conference.
She has also competed in five U.S. National Championships, including the 1992 Olympic Trials in the 100-meter hurdles.
Raske is a certified strength and conditioning specialist with the NCSA and has earned Level I and Level II USA Track and Field coaching education certification.
She graduated from Southern Illinois in 1990 with a double major in education and zoology.
Kathleen Raske
