Olivet College Women's Cross Country

Lutzke is in her seventh season at Olivet College, serving as the head men's and women's track & field coach in 2016-17. She also serves as head coach of the men's and women's cross country programs. In her second stint at Olivet, Lutzke has mentored two All-American selections on the track. The first to earn All-American honors was Jalen Weaver in the 800-meter run during the 2015 indoor season. She then coached Andrew Benkovsky to All-American honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor season. At the 2014 and 2015 MIAA Field Day, her male middle distances runners won the 800-meter title, while Connor Bauserman won the 800-meter MIAA indoor title in 2016 and was named to the Great Lakes All-Region team for his performance. On the womens side, Lutzke coached Allyson Schultz to second-team All-MIAA honors during the 2015 cross country season.  Schultz was the first womens cross country athlete to earn those honors since Kathy Hughes did in 1998, who was also coached by Lutzke. She has also coached four women to All-MIAA honors in track and field. The Comet track & field and cross country athletes have also excelled in the classroom. Three athletes have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors after being selected to the CoSIDA Academic All District VI teams. Three individuals earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors individually in the past two years. In addition, six of Lutzkes cross country teams have received the MIAA Team GPA award and more than 20 student-athletes have been selected to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. Lutzke came to Olivet with an extensive coaching background. She began her collegiate coaching career as head womens cross country/assistant womens track and field coach at Michigan State University (MSU) from 1990-98 and coached two cross country All-Americans. Lutzke then spent a year as Olivets head mens and womens cross country/head womens track and field coach. After leaving Olivet, she was at CMU for 10 years. From 1999-2003, Lutzke was assistant womens track and field/cross country coach and from 2003-2009, she served as head womens track and field/cross country coach. At CMU, Lutzke coached three Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship teams and was named MAC Coach of the Year three times. She was also selected as the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Regional Coach of the Year. Overall, she coached 30 All-MAC selections in track and field and eight All-MAC selections in cross country. Lutzke earned a bachelors degree in physical education from MSU in 1985. She participated in cross country and track and was a member of the cross country team, which placed fourth at the 1981 NCAA Division I National Championships. Individually, Lutzke was an NCAA All-American in 1981. After her collegiate career, she was a USA Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10,000 meter (1984 and 1988) and 5,000 meter (1984) runs. Lutzke lives in Williamston with her husband, Mitch. They have three children, Matt, Greg and Laura.