Mike Nelson Last College: Truman State, 2003 Position: Head Coach-XC/Assistant Coach - Track & Field Experience: Second Year

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Nelson enters his third season as the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach. In 2008, Nelson helped senior captain Kyle Saginus become the first Marquette male runner to earn All-BIG EAST accolades in cross country after his 12th-place finish at the 2008 BIG EAST Championships. Saginus also just barely missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships after a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

At the Great Lakes Regional, Nelson helped the women finish seventh, while the men placed 16th. Leading the women at the Regional was junior Anna Weber who finished 25th overall in 21:57.7. Saginus and Weber were both named to the All-Great Lakes Regional Team.

On the track, Nelson oversaw cross country co-captain Jayne Grebinski's transformation into one of the best steeplechase runners in Marquette history in 2008. Grebinski, who stands 5-foot-2, is the school's record holder in the 5,000-meter run, but Nelson's mentoring helped the distance runner make the most of her athletic ability. Grebinski recorded the second-best time in school history in the steeplechase with a top time of 10:34.15 at Arkansas' John McDonnell Invitational.

With young rosters in his first season as cross country coach, both Marquette men's and women's cross country squads placed seventh in the BIG EAST Championships. In the 2007 NCAA Great Lakes Regional, the men took eighth place, while the women placed fourth. As assistant track coach, Nelson helps guide the distance runners, including Jayne Grebinski who claimed the best time in Marquette history in the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:45.96 in 2008.

Nelson spent two years at Saint Louis University where he was hired as the head cross country coach in 2005, and then founded the track and field program at SLU in the Spring of 2006. The Billikens encountered immediate success in both competition and the classroom, competing in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Before arriving at SLU, Nelson spent two years as a graduate assistant for the Emporia State University cross country and track and field teams. He also worked with ESU's distance runners on the track and field team and served as the recruiting coordinator for the squads. Nelson helped lead the Emporia State men to a second place finish at the 2004 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Cross Country Championships. His student-athletes won the men's 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter runs at the 2005 MIAA Outdoor Championships as ESU finished second in the team standings. Nelson coached women's school-record holders in the distance medley relay, the indoor 1,000 meter and a national qualifier in the 1,500 meter.

A 2003 graduate of Truman State University, Nelson was a four-time All-MIAA performer for the Bulldogs. He competed in the NCAA Division II cross country national championships as a junior and senior, and led his team to two top-10 finishes at the national meet. Nelson graduated cum laude from TSU with a degree in exercise science. He earned his master's degree in physical education from Emporia State in 2005.