Hillsdale College Women's Cross Country

Towne assumed head coaching duties of the Hillsdale College womens track and cross country programs. His appointment serves as a homecoming for the 2004 Hillsdale College graduate, who previously served as a successful assistant track coach for three years for the Chargers. In his first season leading the womens program, Towne guided the indoor team to a program-best fifth place finish at the 2012 Division II national meet in Minnesota. He coached distance runner Amanda Putt to an unprecedented three individual national championships in the 2012 calendar year, and saw his athletes earn a number of All-Region, All-Academic and All-American honors. Starting with the 2014-15 school year, Towne became the head coach of the Charger men's and women's track and cross country programs. Since then, he has led those teams to unprecedented levels of success. The Charger women's cross country team finished second at the 2014 NCAA Division II championships, the highest-ever finish at a national competition for a Hillsdale College team at the Division II level. His 2015 indoor track team repeated that feat in March 2015, which saw the distance medley relay team and Emily Oren each capture national championships. In the Fall of 2015, the Charger women's cross country team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for a month before eventually finishing third at the NCAA Championships. On Feb. 16, 2016, the women's indoor track team ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Division II national poll, another program first. Towne returned to Hillsdale from Miami University in Ohio, where he was an assistant coach from 2009-11 for the RedHawks. While at Miami, Towne specialized in coaching sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers, and coached three athletes to Mid-American Conference championships. Towne served as an assistant track coach at Hillsdale from 2006-09, and guided the careers of five different athletes who would go on to earn Division II All-American honors. He is a certified USATF Level II sprint/hurdles coach, and is an NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist, in addition to being a USATF Level II jumps coach. Towne is a 2004 graduate of Hillsdale College, where he earned his degree in physical education, while earning a minor in math. He competed for the Chargers from 1999-2004, but also filled the role of student-coach during his career. He was an All-GLIAC athlete for the Chargers, and earned GLIAC All-Academic honors during his collegiate career.

Lynn has guided the Chargers to unprecedented success, and has been recognized nationally for doing so. Lynn has captured every USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year honor, both at the regional and national level, in track during his two-year tenure with Hillsdale.  Lynn was the head men's and women's cross country coach at the University of Missouri for three years, and took the Tigers to high levels of success. His men's cross country team earned its first NCAA Division I national ranking in 12 years back in October 2012, and he guided Missouri's women's team to a 10-spot improvement in the Midwest Regional Rankings in just one year. "To me, Joe is one of the top distance coaches in the country," Chargers head coach Andrew Towne said. "He is a relentless recruiter and he works tirelessly to develop our distance student-athletes. With his help, I think our distance group will reach its full potential." Lynn served as an associate track and cross country coach at Grand Valley State University from December 2006 through August 2011, during which time the Lakers became an elite force nationally in the sport. By the end of Lynn's tenure in Allendale, the 2010-11 school year, Grand Valley State finished in first place across the board, with the women's team capturing conference titles in cross country, men's indoor track and women's outdoor track.