SUNY University at Buffalo Men's Cross Country

Mitchell enters her 17th year with the UB program in 2015-16 and serves as the director and head coach of the men's and women's cross country and track & field programs, a position she's held since 2002-03. Mitchell directs and supervises all components of the cross country and track & field programs. Mitchell manages the men's & women's budgets including OTPS and GIA, meet schedule, home event management for cross country and track & field meets and serves as the academic liaison. She continues to directly coach women's cross country, middle distance and distance events, while overseeing all other events. During the fall season, she has produced 12 men's and eight women's All-MAC cross country performers since 2002. As the director, Mitchell oversaw the coaching of Zachary Ahart to an individual men's MAC championship in 2013. In 2011, the men's squad clocked a program-best third-place finish in the MAC and a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. The team has placed in the top five at the conference championships five out of the last six years. Under Mitchell, Jenny Koeppel claimed a 2004 individual women's MAC championship and two seasons later Mary Veith raced to a runner-up finish. Koeppel became the first women's cross country runner in school history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The women's team had a program-best fourth-place finish at the 2004 MAC championships. Mitchell has led the track & field programs to new heights during her tenure. Twenty of UB's 21 All-Americans have been crowned during Mitchell's time as head coach, including UB's first NCAA Division I national champion in any sport, 2015 graduate Jonathan Jones. Jones won the 2015 outdoor men's shot put with a school-record heave of 20.78 meters in Eugene. Only 12 school records stand that have not been broken or matched under her guidance, including several records in events that are no longer contested. Mitchell's student-athletes set 28 school records in 2014 alone 19 men's records and nine women's and added another 19 in 2015 11 men's and eight women's. The Bulls, both men and women, placed fourth at the 2014 MAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Under Mitchell's tutelage, middle-distance standout Allison Laske competed in the 800 run at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship and went on to race at the 2004 US Olympic Trials. The women's T&F team had a program-best third-place showing at the MAC Outdoor Championships in 2013, while the 2010 season produced UB's first T&F All-American in over 10 years with Kristy Woods placing third in the outdoor shot put. Nineteen All-America finishes have followed, as well as numerous MAC champions and NCAA qualifiers. In addition, Mitchell has had several athletes qualify for the USATF Junior National Championships annually. Prior to arriving at UB in 1999, Mitchell served as the assistant cross country and track & field coach at William Jewell College in Kansas City, Missouri. Mitchell also spent five years at Holy Angels Academy in Buffalo where she taught physical education and was the head cross country and track & field coach. A native of Western New York, she is a 1987 graduate of Amherst Central School. A distinguished athlete and international competitor, Mitchell competed in the 1996 US Olympic Trials in the 10,000 run. She made her marathon debut at the 1999 Hong Kong Marathon, where she qualified for the 2000 US Olympic Marathon Trials. In 2001, she was invited to join the Fila Discovery USA training program, a program designed to develop American distance runners into elite marathon athletes able to compete with the best in the world. She has been a member of five USA national teams, including the 1993 World University Games and 1998 IAAF World Road Race Championship in Manaus, Brazil. Mitchell is the current Northeast NCAA Cross Country representative and has been an instrumental committee member in establishing the Buffalo Chapter of Girls on the Run, a national program for pre-teen girls that focuses on developing self-esteem, self-respect and healthy living through fitness and running. Mitchell also presented at the 2010 Illinois State Track Clinic, is a panel member of the Buffalo Medical Runner's Forum and is a regular speaker at several running camps each year. Mitchell received her B.S.E. in physical education from SUNY Cortland in 1991 and a master's in exercise physiology from North Carolina-Greensboro in 1994. While at Cortland, Mitchell was a seven-time NCAA champion and 10-time All-American in leading the Red Dragons to NCAA Division III national championships in cross country and track & field. In 2003, she was named Cortland's Western New York Alum of the Year, and in 2004 she was inducted to the Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame. In 2010, she was named to the Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame and was a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame class of 2014. 6/15

Witzleben enters his sixth year as the Bulls men's cross country and distance coach in 2015-16. He was elevated to associate head coach for the 2013 cross country season. He also takes on the role of recruiting coordinator for track events and foreign student-athletes. Under Witzleben's direction, Zack Ahart became the first men's cross country runner in program history to win an individual MAC Championship. In five seasons as the men's cross country coach, eight athletes have earned All-MAC honors. The Bulls had their best finish as a program in 2011 placing third at the MAC Championships. That same season, UB went on to claim a program-best seventh-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional. The men's track & field team set nine school records in the distance events during 2013-14. The team scored 16 points in the distance events at the Outdoor MAC Championships. Tyler Scheving qualified for the NCAA Championships, Round 1 in the 800-meter run and the DMR established a new school record while winning the event at the Indoor MAC Championships. During the 2014-15 season, Witzleben's Bulls clocked five new school records. Scheving recorded two indoors (800 & 1,000) and Brian Crimmins accounted for a pair outdoors (800 & 1,500). The duo was joined by Cameron Bruce and Tryvon Mask in winning the indoor DMR at the conference championships to tally first-team recognition. In 2013, Crimmins set a school record in the indoor 1,000. His time of 2:24.16 was the 14th-best time in the NCAA and the 22nd-best by an American that season. Later that year, Scheving set the 800 school record clocking a time of 1:50.32. He went on to place seventh at the USATF Junior National Championships. In 2011, Witzleben coached Ryan Bloom to a MAC title and a school record in the steeplechase. He also guided UB to a runner-up finish in the DMR and John Inzina to a second-place finish in the 3,000. Witzleben was assistant coach at his alma mater, La Salle, from 2007-10 assisting with the distance runners. He coached Sean Quigley to a third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5,000. Quigley went on to run a 28:03 10K, the seventh-fastest time by an American in NCAA history. In 2010, La Salle set a school record of 7:23 in the 4x800 relay. He also worked with Rachel Papin as she ran 33:15 in the 10,000. In 2006-07, Witzleben served as the head cross country and distance coach at Temple, helping to rebuild the distance program after a 20-year hiatus. He got his start in collegiate coaching as a graduate assistant at The College of New Jersey. During his tenure, TCNJ had Jeff Zodda win the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in the 800, while at the outdoor championships, Zodda earned a runner-up finish in the 800 and Brian Donovan had a second-place showing in the 10,000. A Western New York native, Witzleben graduated from Orchard Park High School where he won the 1999 state championship in the 3,200. He twice qualified for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships while competing in cross country and track & field at LaSalle University and won six individual Atlantic-10 Conference titles. He was also a four-time Academic All-American and was named the 2003 La Salle University Student-Athlete of the Year. Witzleben was a 2010 inductee into La Salle's Hall of Athletes. As professional runner, Witzleben was sponsored by Nike Team Run LA. He starred in Nike's Run Barefoot "Chariots of Fire" commercial and placed seventh at the 2005 Freescale Austin Marathon in 2:21.23. Todd earned his Bachelor's and MBA degrees in business administration from LaSalle. He and his wife, Megan, reside in Williamsville with their sons, Charles and Miles, and dog, Abby. 6/15