Murray State University Women's Cross Country

Swieton came to Murray State in July 2010 and has guided both programs to impressive achievement and progress. She was honored in 2013 as the OVC Womens Track & Field Coach of the Year after the Racers placed second at the OVC Outdoor Championship.    In 2015-16, Swietons student-athletes earned recognition as Ohio Valley Conference champions when Tamdra Lawrence won the OVC Outdoor 100M as a freshman and Vallery Korir won the 5000M title as a sophomore. Korir also broke the MSU record for the 10,000M that had stood 31 years.   Additionally, the Racers set school records in the mile (Brittany Bohn), 3K (Vallery Korir, Brittany Bohn and Ali Hester). Vallery Korir also broke the school record in the 5K. The Racers DMR (Britt, Jocelyn, Ali, Emma) broke the MSU record and won OVC championship in the event. The Racers had three runners that finished under the school record in the 3K in the same race. Bohn, Korir and Lawrence all finished top-3 in two events the OVC Indoor as well. Rebekah Priddy broke the MSU 2K steeple chase record in the outdoor season and Korir made her first appearance at the NCAA level.   Swietons cross country teams also had a successful 2016 when they hosted the OVC Championship at Miller Memorial Golf Course where the womens team saw Britany Bohn and Meagan Smith earn All-OVC honors.   The Racers set 10 school records in womens track & field team set and had 55 performances that ranked in the programs all-time top-10. The Racers had a pair of OVC Outdoor champions when Brittany Bohn won the steeplechase and Tonia Pratt set the OVC record in the discus. Vallery Korir set the school indoor record in the 5K and the Emma Gilmore set the MSU record in the mile. Gilmore and Bohn became the first Racers to break 5-minute threshold in the mile. The Racers became the only team in the OVC to score three runners in the mile in back-to-back years.   In 2014 cross country, the Racers were led by a pair of freshmen Meagan Smith and Caroline Grogan who led the charge of seven runners that moved into the MSU all-time list for the 5k.   The Coach Swieton era has produced some of the greatest success in Racer history. Combining cross country and track & field, she has coached 20 individual OVC Champions and 40 All-OVC selections/top finishers. Additionally, the Racers have produced 115 MSU all-time top-10 performances in indoor, 74 in outdoor, plus eight in cross country.   The Swieton era stars include Tonia Pratt, a multiple All-OVC selection thrower and 2012 OVC Freshman of the Year.  Alexis Love was OVC Track & Field Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013 OVC Athlete of the Outdoor Championship. She finished sixth at the NCAA Championships in the 100 and made it to the semifinals in the 200. Love was an All-America in both the outdoor and indoor seasons in 2013. She competed at the United States Olympic Trials in 2012 and 2016.   The Racers are also performing in the classroom. Men's cross country runner Neil Yockey and women's cross country and track and field athlete Rebekah Priddy were both named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District teams in 2016. In 2014, both MSU cross country teams were named as 2014 Division I All-Academic Teams by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The men's team posted the fourth highest team GPA in all of Division I and Jarred Koerner was named as COSIDA Academic All-District. The mens cross country has also won two OVC academic awards, with the latest coming in 2014-15. In 2010 Kristin Reffett was a CoSIDA Academic All-America selection.   Swietons teams have been honored four times with the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award. This included womens cross country and indoor track & field in 2011, outdoor track & field in 2012 and indoor track & field in 2015.   Swieton came to Murray State after spending four seasons as an assistant cross-country and track & field coach at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Prior to UNCG, she was an assistant coach at Dickinson College in 2005-06. Swieton got her coaching start at Mount Pleasant High School in Mount Pleasant, Mich in 2001.   A native of Flint, Mich., Swieton earned a bachelors degree in applied arts in 2002. She received a masters degree in sports administration from CMU in 2011. She holds a USATF coaching certificates in level-1 coaching, endurance event specialist and track & field management.   Swieton competed as a collegiate runner at Central Michigan and is still avid runner. She has competed in 15 marathons, including six at the Boston Marathon.   She resides in Murray, Ky. with her husband, Craig, and son Logan Michael.   

Kiesler primarily works with the sprinters, hurdlers, throws and multi-events athletes at Murray State.   In 2016, Kiesler coached freshman sprinter Tamdra Lawrence who won the Ohio Valley Conference championship in the 100m and 200m events.   He has also coached an American Olympic Trials qualifier Alexis Love. She ran in the trials in 2012 and 2016 in the 100m and 200m events. Love won three USTFCCCA All-America honors (200m Indoor, 100m Outdoor, 200m Outdoor, 2012) and was a NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier (200m dash, 2012) and NCAA Outdoor Championship qualifier (100m and 200m, 2012). Love was the OVC Track Athlete of the Year.   Coach Kiesler coached OVC Tonia Pratt (2011-14) who was the OVC Outdoor Athlete of the Championship in 2013. Pratt left MSU after setting multiple school records in the shot put, hammer throw, discus and weight throw.   Under Kieslers guidance, his student-athletes have set records in most events including the 60m dash, 200m indoor dash, 60m hurdles, 200m dash, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 4x100m relay, pole vault, indoor shot put, hammer throw and outdoor events (shot put, Discus, weight throw). The Murray State career top-10 list has 81 (47 indoor, 34 outdoor) Kiesler-led results which also includes 30 All-OVC honors and 16 OVC champions.   He came to the Racers after spending a season as a graduate assistant track & field coach at the University of Toledo where he oversaw sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-events. Before joining the staff at Toledo, Kiesler was an assistant womens track & field coach at Central Michigan University for two seasons. He helped produce nine CMU top-five performances, four All-MAC selections, and one NCAA Regional Qualifier.   A member of the Michigan track & field teams from 2002-2007, Kiesler competed in the long jump and multi-events.   The native of Rochester, Ill., he earned a bachelors degree in earth sciences in 2007 from Michigan and 2013 earned a masters degree in human development & leadership from Murray State.   Kiesler has also earned Level One and Level Two coaching certificates from the USA Track & Field Association. He has earned the status of Specialist certification from the USTFCCCA in all throwing events, sprints, hurdles, relays and jumps.