Eastern Oregon University Women's Cross Country

Welch enters his 26th year at the helm of the men's and women's cross country teams and 14th as head coach of track & field team in 2016.    During Welchs tenure, the Mountaineers have come to be known for their dominance in cross country. His men's teams have gone to the NAIA National Championships 19 out of the last 24 years, where they have finished in the top-20 16 times and the top 10 on nine occassions, including a second-place finish in 2002 and a fourth-place finish in 2014. The top-10 finishes include: fourth in 2014, sixth in 1993 and 2000, seventh in 2004, eighth in 1994, and tenth in 2001 and 2003. The women have made the trip to nationals as a team nine times. In those trips, they have finished in the top 10 on four occasions. The women finished third in 1999, sixth in 1997, seventh in 2002, and ninth in 1998.   Welchs cross country success extends beyond the national level, as the Mountaineers have been one the top teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC). The men have won 12 team titles and finished second on another 10 occasions. The women have won seven titles and finished in the runner-up spot another five times.   Because of his teams successes, Welch has picked up 12 mens CCC Coach of the Year honors. On the women's side, he has added eight CCC Coach of the Year awards. In addition, Welch has mustered NAIA District II Coach of the Year plaudits twice for the men and four NAIA Regional Coach of the Year honors. In 1997, Welch received the prestigous honor of being named the NAIA Womens Coach of the Year.   Welch has produced 26 NAIA cross country All-Americans during his time at EOU. Seven times EOU runners have finished in the top 10 at nationals, including Karlee Coffey second in 2011 and third in 2012, Damion Flores second in 2014 and sixth in 2010, Eric Griffiths sixth in 2004, Alex McGladrey eighth in 2004, and Abby Peters eighth in 1999.     His success has also carried over to the track both as head coach and with his distance runners. On the track, EOU distance runners have collected 42 individual CCC titles and two NAIA national championships, Tim Riley, 10,000, and Karlee Coffey, 3000. Welch has had forty-two of his middle distance and distance runners earn all-American honors in indoor and outdoor track including six this past year.   As a head coach, Welch has helped raise the quality of the program including winning two Cascade Collegiate Conference Track & Field titles on the mens side, while finishing in the runner-up spot five times and another five on the womens. These finishes have garnered Welch Cascade Collegiate Conference Coach-of-the-Year honors twice (men both times).   On the national level, the Mountaineers have finished inside the top fifteen at the NAIA Track & Field Championships seven times at the indoor meet and three times at the outdoor meet on the mens side and four times indoors and four outdoor on the womens side.   Thirty-nine times EOU athletes have earned all-American honors on the track or field under Welchs guidance. Ten times a Mountie has won an individual national title, including Robbie Haynie, decathlon, high jump, pole vault (outdoors), heptathlon, pole vault (indoors, two times), Karlee Coffey, 3000 indoors, Tim Riley, 10,000, Shawn Trimble, pole vault.   Welchs success has not been confined to the track and trails. In the classroom the Mountaineer athletes have also excelled. EOU student-athletes have picked up 127 Cascade Collegiate Conference Scholar awards. Eighty-two times EOU student-athletes have collected NAIA All-Scholar Athlete recognition. In addition, the Mountaineers have collected 22 NAIA Scholar team awards.   Prior to coming to EOU, Welch spent three years as the men's cross country and track coach at Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. At Highline, In Welchs three seasons his men cross country teams won three conference titles and his mens track and field team collected one title. He was also named coach-of-the-year three times.   Before Highline, he spent two years at the University of Kansas in Lawrence as a student assistant cross country and track coach.    Welch and his wife, the former Talia Hackney, the EOU school record holder in multiple events, live in La Grande and have three children: Nick, Amanda, and Bennett.