Augustana College Men's Track

Thomas is also a nine-time NCAA All-American for his accomplishments in pole vault, long jump and the 100 meter. After competing in pole vault, long jump, triple jump, hurdles, sprints, and relays, Thomas received an all-conference honors 33 times. Thomas is currently in his 16th year of coaching at Augustana and has coached over 30 All-American pole vault honors. The Vikings pole vault coach resides in the Quad Cities with his wife and two children. He is currently a chiropractor in the Quad Cities area and he is the top consultant for high school pole vaulters.

Pettis is a native of Davenport, Iowa where he was a standout performer at Davenport Assumption High School. He currently works as an admissions counselor at Augustana.

Dewith, a 1976 graduate of Augustana, is one of the Vikings all-time great sprinters. A team captain in 1975 and a seven time CCIW champion, DeWith held the school record in the open 440 (48.2) and the mile relay (3:14.1). A firefighter with the city of Rock Island, DeWith has a degree in studio art and was an NCAA Division III All-American selection in 1974.

Gonzalez has been instrumental in the development of the Viking throwers since he began working for his former coach Paul Olsen in November of 2003. Gonzalez will be responsible for the strength and conditioning programs for both the mens cross country and track & field programs and he will still be the primary coach for the throwers. During his first nine years on the Augustana staff, he produced 30 all-conference throwers, 18 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin champions, 25 NCAA Division III national meet qualifiers and nine NCAA Division III All-Americans. He was instrumental in the Vikings being a consistent top five team in the NCAA Division III dual meet power rankings, including three years (2008-09-10) as the number one ranked team in the nation. He was a finalist for the mens Assistant Coach of the Year in the Midwest Region in 2009. He graduated from Augustana in 2003 with a major in psychology and a minor in physics. He was a Deans list student and was a four year letter winner as a thrower for the Vikings. He won four CCIW titles during his career, three in the 35 pound weight throw indoors (2001-02-03) and once in the shot outdoors (2003). He still ranks in the top 10 on Augustanas all-time list in three throwing events. He is sixth in the shot (52 4 ¾ in 2003), sixth in the hammer throw (161 3 in 2003) and eighth in the discus (161 2 in 2003). He has worked at the Robert Young Center and the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc., since graduating from Augustana. Prior to taking the full-time position at his alma mater, he was the social service coordinator at ManorCare. During July of 2009 Gonzalez was invited to attend the Emerging Elite Coaches Clinic at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. He also attended the National Throws Coaches Associations annual throwing coaches conference three times.

Olsen. The Vikings have placed second 33 times under his tutelage. Only once during the last 47 years has one of his teams finished as low as fourth in the conference. Five individual Augustana runners have won a total of seven league titles and in national competition the Vikings have garnered 24 All-America certificates and three individual national titles.   He has served as meet director of the NCAA Division III national meet five times and his team has hosted the Midwest Regional 23 times since 1979. In 1996 and 2001 the Vikings hosted both the NCAA Midwest Regional and the NCAA Division III national meet.   His track & field resume is just as impressive. He has led Augustana to 14 CCIW titlesincluding both indoor and outdoor championships in 2016and 44 runner-up finishes, 33 in the outdoor meet and 11 during the indoor championships. In the spring of 2010 the Vikings won the CCIW title for the second time in three years and finished the year ranked third in the NCAA Division III Power Rankings. In addition, Olsen was named the NCAA Division III Midwest Regions Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He was that organizations Division III National Coach of the Year in 2008.   A total of 275 individuals and 44 relay teams have won league titles in indoor and outdoor track & field during Olsens tenure.   Olsen has also coached a total of 243 NCAA Division III All-America selections in both indoor and outdoor track and 25 times Viking athletes have been crowned national champions. The Blue and Gold has placed in the top 10 in a national meet 19 times including second place finishes in 1975 and 1981. In 2016, his team was 16th at the indoor national championships and 60th outdoors. Olsen was inducted into the Illinois Track & Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January of 2004 and went into the Augustana Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame in October of 2005. Olsen was also a member of the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame class of 2013. A native of Onamia, Minnesota, Olsen came to Augustana after a teaching and coaching stint at Lincoln High School in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. During his first couple of years at Augustana he served as an assistant in both football and basketball before assuming full time duties in track and cross country. Olsen is a man of many talents and interests. As a professor in the English Department at Augustana, Olsen ranks as one of the most popular teachers in the entire school with his classes in Black Literature and the Sacred and Profane consistently filled to capacity. In 1989 Olsen was one of just 120 teachers nationwide who were honored at the American Association for Higher Education convention in Chicago. He was the only Augustana faculty member named to the elite group. He has been selected by the seniors at Augustana to give the final lecture 11 times during his career. At one time he used to perform a one-person play entitled Pilgrimage with Poets that was highly acclaimed. Olsen is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he was captain of the track team and a starter for the football team as a defensive back. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Oregon. He resides in Bettendorf, Iowa with his wife Jeanne, who is a hospital Chaplin in Davenport. The couple have a pair of sons - David, a former United States Navy S.E.A.L. who currently works in Los Angeles as an entrepreneur for the U.S. State Department, and Eric, who is an actor and a graduate of Pepperdine University. Eric has appeared in several movies, including Pearl Harbor, Not Another Teen Movie and Arthurs Quest, and television shows, such as ER, Smallville, and Get Real. He is currently starring as lead detective Marty Deeks in CBSs NCIS-Los Angeles.   THE PAUL OLSEN RECORD AT AUGUSTANA    

Furlong, who at one time was both the head baseball and football coach at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, has been a fixture at Augustana since 1990. He coached the defensive backs and was the recruiting coordinator for the football team from 1993 until 2003. He now serves as the athletics department recruiting coordinator and is the junior varsity baseball coach and will work with the hitters. Furlong is a graduate of Central College in Pella, Iowa and during his eight year stint as the head football coach at St. Ambrose he had the Fighting Bees in the NAIA playoffs three times.

Reade, Mark brings a plethora of experience to the position. He held coaching positions on the football staffs of Rice, Clemson, Concordia and Eastern Illinois as well as a two year stint at LaSalle-Peru High School. He served as the head men and womens head track & field coach at Concordia for two years. He also spent time in the private sector, working for Country Insurance and The Home Depot. A Phi Beta Kappa student at Augustana who graduated Magna Cum Laude with degrees in business, finance and economics in 1993, Reade has also done graduate work at Clemson, Eastern Illinois and Rice. He was a two sport standout in track & field and football with the Vikings, serving as team captain of the 1993 track team and qualifying for the national meet in the 400 hurdles.