Young named assistant cross country/track and field coach

Courtesy: Michigan Tech Huskies

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech head men’s and women’s track and field/cross country coach Kristina Owen announced the hiring of Robert Young as assistant coach for the 2021-22 season Thursday.

Young brings nine seasons of high school coaching experience to the Huskies from Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he also taught a myriad of high school science courses. Young has served as head boys and girls cross country coach since 2012 as well as head track and field coach for the past six years.

Mentoring and teaching between 70 and 90 student athletes on the roster in a given year, Young’s teams have won nine team conference championships and achieved six team state top-10 finishes. He has also coached one individual state champion, two state runners-up, multiple all-state performers, seven individual cross country conference champions, and 41 track and field individual conference champions.

“I am incredibly excited to welcome Robert to our coaching staff,” Owen said. “He comes to us from a large and incredibly successful team at Rampart High School. He brings coaching experience in all event groups and large-scale athlete management Tech and I believe his abilities as a teacher, focusing on physics, chemistry, and engineering classes will help him relate to our athletes studying in STEM fields as well. Robert brings a wealth of actionable knowledge about how to develop strong mental skills to boost athletic performance. We have big goals for our team and I am confident that Robert is going to be a key component in how we reach them.”

Young holds a master’s of education from the University of Missouri with an emphasis in positive coaching. He earned his bachelor of science and teaching certificate from Grand Valley State University in 2008 and graduated with honors. Young taught high school science, physics, chemistry, and practical science and engineering for 12 years.

As a student-athlete at Grand Valley State, Young competed for the Lakers cross country and track and field teams from 2003-08. Among his accolades includes being named NCAA Division II All-American for both cross country and track and field. He set the school record in 3000 meter steeplechase and was a conference champion in the event. After college he continued to train and compete, garnering sponsorships from Boulder Running Company and Adidas.

Young’s official start date is July 26.

Michigan Tech cross country did not compete in 2020-21 but readies for full competition this fall. Men’s track and field finished sixth at the GLIAC Outdoor Championships in May while women’s track and field placed ninth.