Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Women's Cross Country

Year at Saint Mary's: 5th With more than three decades of experience developing championship-caliber programs and athletes, Darren Schneider has established a remarkable record of success in collegiate track & field and cross country. His teams have consistently achieved national prominence, producing All-Americans, conference champions, and record-holders under his leadership. Throughout his coaching career, Coach Schneider has guided his men’s and women’s teams to 30 NCAA Top-25 finishes at national championships in both track & field and cross country since 1995. His programs have reached the podium on numerous occasions, including: 2004 Men’s NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Runner-Up (2nd Place) 2004 Men’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Third Place (3rd Place) 2006 Men’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Third Place (3rd Place) His squads have captured two NCAA Division III MF Athletic Power Rankings National Championships — earning the 2004 Indoor and 2006 Outdoor titles. In addition to these national team honors, Coach Schneider’s has directed his athletes to extraordinary individual success: 133 First Team NCAA All-American honors earned under his guidance 128 Conference Champions since 1995 12 NCAA Individual National Champions 2 Drake Relay Champion Relay teams (Men’s and Women’s Distance Medley Relay) His teams have also been recognized for their excellence in the classroom, consistently earning  USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Awards across both men’s and women’s track & field and cross country.  A two-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Coach of the Year (2002, 2007), he is known for cultivating programs that combine athletic excellence with academic achievement and personal growth. Coach Schneider has an extensive background in coaching, including head coaching positions at University of Wisconsin-Platteville, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Texas A&M-Commerce (East Texas A&M University) and Minnesota State University-Moorhead. To begin his collegiate coaching career, Schneider had stints as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University and Northeast Missouri State University (Truman State University).  Coach Schneider holds a Bachelor of Science (Exercise Science) degree from Northeast Missouri State University (Truman State) and he earned a Master of Sports Management Degree from the United States Sports Academy  

Berndt's cross country teams have earned 11 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors, and his 2005 Cardinal women's squad owned the highest Division III GPA in the country (3.74). Berndt has coached four All-Region performers, 10 female and six male CC athletes who have placed on the Top 10 all-time performance list, while helping Saint Mary's to its highest MIAC team in women's program history, and the highest regional finish in men's program history. On the track, Berndt is credited with coaching 6 All-Americans, 17 NCAA national championship participants, 37 NCAA provisional qualifiers, and 2 NCAA automatic qualifiers. Berndt's cross country and track and field teams have broken 67 event and school records including a pair of school-record, All-MIAC performers and two All-Region runners in 2013. Prior to his arival at SMU, Berndt worked at Minnesota StateMankato for two years as a graduate assistant, where he had the opportunity to help with the mens cross country team and work with the mens and womens track & field teams. While coaching at Minnesota State, Berndt had 14 athletes/relays on the Div II National list, three national qualifiers, one All-Americans and two conference Champions. Prior to that, Berndt spent seven years at UW-River Falls as an assistant mens and womens cross country and an assistant in the womens track and field program. While at UW-RF, he helped guide the womens track and field team to and eighth-place finish at the NCAA Division III national Championship. As an athlete, Berndt was a captain and four-year letter winner. At UW-River Falls, Berndt focused on the 1500 and Steeple Chase on the Track as well as competing in Cross Country. Berndt currently holds a Level I coaching certification from USA Track and Field.