College of St. Catherine Women's Cross Country

Alexa Boderman enters her eighth season as head dance coach of the Wildcat Dance team. Boderman joined the Wildcat staff in the fall of 2017 following a successful four year career on the Wildcat dance team. The two-time captain earned the St. Catherine University Brady Williams Spirit Award in Spring of 2017 during her senior year at St. Kate's.  In 2024, Boderman led the Wildcats to an impressive 4th-place finish in the nation in the DII/DIII Jazz division at the USA College Dance Championships—the highest ranking ever achieved in the program's history. In 2022, Boderman guided the Wildcats to a remarkable 5th-place finish in the nation in the 4-Year College POM division at the USA College Dance Championships—marking the program's first-ever top 5 national finish. In 2019, Boderman led the Wildcats to victory as POM Champions at the DX Americup Championship—securing the first championship title in the program's history. In 2018, Boderman guided the Wildcats to a 6th-place finish in the nation in the 4-Year Dance division at the USA College Dance Championships—achieving the program's first top 10 national finish. A former standout dancer herself, Alexa was awarded the title of "Most Spirited Dancer" four times during her time at St. Catherine University. She also served as a three-time WSAAC representative, showcasing her leadership abilities early in her career. During her time at Minnetonka, she was recognized as the "Most Dedicated Dancer" twice and earned All Conference honors in the highly competitive Lake Conference in 2012, with an honorable mention in 2013. Beyond her coaching achievements, Alexa brings over 24 years of dance experience to her role. She has shared her expertise as an instructor at Dance Revue until 2019 and at QC Dance until 2021. Her professional journey includes significant performances at the Show Me Showcase in 2018 and 2019. Alexa holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sports Science from St. Catherine University, graduating in May 2017. She also earned minors in Athletic Coaching and Psychology and was inducted into the PSI CHI International Honor Society for Psychology in 2017.  

Houlihan's fourth season as the Head Track and Field Coach at St. Catherine University. She will now serve as an Assistant Cross Country Coach. In 2014-15, the track and field program had its best finish at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships in the past five years at both the indoor and outdoor meets. Two student-athletes claimed MIAC individual titles at the outdoor conference meet in 2015.  Houlihan spent two seasons serving as an assistant coach with the Wildcats, coaching the sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers on the track team before taking over the program in 2012-13.  During that time, the Wildcats set five school records in the sprint events and had five All-MIAC performers and one conference champion.  Prior to joining the Wildcats, Houlihan spent two seasons as an assistant track and field coach at Smith College.  She was the event coach for the sprints, hurdles and jumps.  While at Smith, Houlihan also earned a Master of Science in Exercise and Sport Studies. Before working at Smith, Houlihan was an assistant track and field coach at Williams College. As the jumps coach at Williams, she was a part of the of 2007 NCAA Women's Indoor National Championship team and coached four NESCAC Individual Champions and three NCAA All-Americans. Houlihan's coaching career began in Pennsylvania where she served one year at each Washington & Jefferson College and Lafayette College. Combined at both institutions, Houlihan worked with five conference event champions and four national qualifiers. Houlihan graduated from Oberlin College in 2004 with a degree in art history.  While at Oberlin, she was a two-time national qualifier in the triple jump and was captain of the track and field and field hockey teams. 

Paulson begins her first season Head Cross Countray Coach in 2015 adfter serving three seasons as an assistant with the program writing workouts and recruiting. She will also serve as Assistant Track and Field Coach working mainly with the distance runners. Since joining the Wildcat staff, the cross country program has consistently placed ninth at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships. She also coached Ailee Larson to an NCAA Championship appearance in 2013.  Paulson brings a wealth of experience to St. Kates after spending 12 successful years as head coach of both the mens and womens cross country and track and field programs at Bowling Green State University. While at Bowling Green, she coached 101 all-conference finishers, 17 all-conference award winners and nine school record holders.   Prior to her tenure at Bowling Green, Paulson spent two seasons as the Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track and Field Coach at Wichita State University, where she coached two conference champions and one NCAA national qualifier in cross country.   Paulson has spent the last year as Head Coach of boys and girls cross country, track and field and Nordic skiing at the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury, Minn. After graduating from Drake University, Paulson went on to earn her master's in sport administration from Wichita State. While at Drake, she was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion in track and field, eight-time all-conference in both cross country and track and national qualifier for cross country. Paulson also competed at the 2014 Boston Marathon.