Vahrenkamp has been at the helm of the Royals track and field and cross country programs since the 2012-13 season.
The Queens men's and women's track & field and cross country programs have emerged as powerhouses in the southeast region and the 2018-19 season proved to be one of the best for the Royals who now have a combined total of 13 cross country conference championships, 10 cross country regional championships, 12 indoor and outdoor conference championships, and nine individual national championships. Additionally, the Royals have appeared in at least one of the NCAA Championships each of Vahrenkamp's seven years at the helm.
This season, the Royals started the year grabbing SAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country titles and NCAA DII Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Southeast Regional titles before the men finished 9th and the women finished 10th at the NCAA Championships. One runner, Anthony Raftis, earned all-American honors at the Championships.
Queens then swept the SAC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships where Elise Ulseth and Stefan Jungmichel were named Male and Female Freshman of the Year and Hanna Wolkenhauer earned Female Track Athlete of the Meet. Additionally, the Royals saw four new school event records set and a record-setting 28 athletes recognized on the all-region team across 44 events. Vahrenkamp also earned his ninth Southeast Region Head Coach of the Year honor after being named SAC Coach of the Year on the men’s and women’s side for the indoor season. At the national championship, three Royals earned all-American status while Felix Wammetsberger won the men’s mile individual championship. As a team, Queens ranked 13th overall on the men’s side which was the highest finish in program history.
During the 2019 outdoor season, the Royals saw nine new program event records set and 20 earn all-region honors across 37 events. Additionally, Ulseth and Ricko Meckes were named USTFCCCA Southeast Region Field Athletes of the Year. It was the second straight year that Meckes had earned the honor who also earned USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Week after opening the outdoor season with a javelin toss of 74.25m (243-7¼) at the Charlotte 49er Open. His mark set a new school record and ranked Meckes as the sixth-best all-time performer in the event in NCAA DII history.
Queens’ men repeated as SAC Outdoor Track & Field Champions and Vahrenkamp earned men's coach of the year honors for the fourth straight year while Ulseth and Jungmichel repeated as freshmen of the year. Additionally, Martin Knauer earned SAC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Meet honors. Seven Royals advanced to the national championships where the men finished 14th and Meckes won the men’s javelin individual championship.
At the close of the season, Queens’ men ranked third in the USTFCCCA Men’s Program of the Year Standings. The group had also collected its second straight triple crown, winning the SAC cross country, indoor, and outdoor championships.
Queens Highlights
Prior to leading Felix Wammetsberger (2019 Indoor Mile) and Ricko Meckes (2019 Javelin Throw) to the first men’s national individual national championships in his tenure at Queens, Vahrenkamp coached Nikia Squire to a pair of NCAA DII National Championship titles. Squire won the 2016 indoor 60-meter championship and outdoor long jump championship setting new school records in both events that still hold today. Her appearance at the USATF championships was a first in program history and she graduated from Queens a seven-time all-American.
Additionally, Vahrenkamp has earned Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors nine times and South Atlantic Coach of the Year honors 10 times. Additionally, through his leadership, the Royals have earned 39 All-American honors.
Coaching Before Queens
Vahrenkamp has been at the helm of the Royals track and field and cross country programs since the 2012-13 season.
The Queens men's and women's track & field and cross country programs have emerged as powerhouses in the southeast region and the 2018-19 season proved to be one of the best for the Royals who now have a combined total of 13 cross country conference championships, 10 cross country regional championships, 12 indoor and outdoor conference championships, and nine individual national championships. Additionally, the Royals have appeared in at least one of the NCAA Championships each of Vahrenkamp's seven years at the helm.
This season, the Royals started the year grabbing SAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country titles and NCAA DII Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Southeast Regional titles before the men finished 9th and the women finished 10th at the NCAA Championships. One runner, Anthony Raftis, earned all-American honors at the Championships.
Queens then swept the SAC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships where Elise Ulseth and Stefan Jungmichel were named Male and Female Freshman of the Year and Hanna Wolkenhauer earned Female Track Athlete of the Meet. Additionally, the Royals saw four new school event records set and a record-setting 28 athletes recognized on the all-region team across 44 events. Vahrenkamp also earned his ninth Southeast Region Head Coach of the Year honor after being named SAC Coach of the Year on the men’s and women’s side for the indoor season. At the national championship, three Royals earned all-American status while Felix Wammetsberger won the men’s mile individual championship. As a team, Queens ranked 13th overall on the men’s side which was the highest finish in program history.
During the 2019 outdoor season, the Royals saw nine new program event records set and 20 earn all-region honors across 37 events. Additionally, Ulseth and Ricko Meckes were named USTFCCCA Southeast Region Field Athletes of the Year. It was the second straight year that Meckes had earned the honor who also earned USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Week after opening the outdoor season with a javelin toss of 74.25m (243-7¼) at the Charlotte 49er Open. His mark set a new school record and ranked Meckes as the sixth-best all-time performer in the event in NCAA DII history.
Queens’ men repeated as SAC Outdoor Track & Field Champions and Vahrenkamp earned men's coach of the year honors for the fourth straight year while Ulseth and Jungmichel repeated as freshmen of the year. Additionally, Martin Knauer earned SAC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Meet honors. Seven Royals advanced to the national championships where the men finished 14th and Meckes won the men’s javelin individual championship.
At the close of the season, Queens’ men ranked third in the USTFCCCA Men’s Program of the Year Standings. The group had also collected its second straight triple crown, winning the SAC cross country, indoor, and outdoor championships.
Background
Before joining the collegiate world of coaching Vahrenkamp was the 2001 South Dakota State Champion in 300-meter hurdles and in 2002 he became the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology school record holder in the pentathlon.
He then went on to attend the University of South Dakota where he was part of the North Central Conference Championship team during the 2005 indoor season and the 2006 indoor and outdoor seasons. He also became the 2005 NCC Champion in the pentathlon. The Coyotes finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2006. Vahrenkamp holds a bachelor‘s degree in education which he obtained from The U in 2006. He also received his master’s degree in history from there in 2008. In addition, he has earned the USTFCCCA Head Coaching Certification and a Certification in Sprints and Hurdles along with the Track and Field Technical Certification and the USATF Level One Track and Field Coaching Certification.
Tom Scott joined the Royals as the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach in 2018-2019 after most recently serving as the head cross country and track and field coach at Coker College.
During his first year with the Royals, Scott led the men’s and women’s cross country teams to SAC Championship titles and NCAA DII Southeast Regional Titles. Following the Regional Championship, the Royals who ranked as high as sixth nationally in the men’s poll and 24th in the women’s went on to compete at the NCAA Championships with the men finishing ninth and the women earning 10th place. Scott’s efforts at the helm earned the head coach SAC Coach of the Year on the both the men’s and women’s side. Daniel Wallis was named SAC Runner of Year, SAC Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the SAC Presidents Award recipient, while Lucie Noall was named SAC Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Additionally, Anthony Raftis was named an all-American.
During the track and field season, the Royals captured SAC Championships in men’s and women’s indoor track and field and in men’s outdoor track and field. The Royals also had successful track and field post seasons as the men grabbed their highest finishes in program history at both the indoor and outdoor national championships. Queens took 13th at the indoor championships walking away with three all-Americans (Seb Anthony, Daniel Wallis, Felix Wammetsberger) and a national title in the men’s mile. At the outdoor championship, three all-American honors were earned by distance runners (Daniel Wallis, Felix Wammetsberger) as the men took 14th place. Additionally, Scott was named USTFCCCA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year during the indoor season.
In his one year leading the Cobras, Scott coached the first cross country all-American in school history, the first indoor track and field all-American in school history, and the NCAA Division II record holder in the women's 800 meters during the outdoor season. Last season under Scott’s direction, Coker produced 34 new school records during the indoor season, 27 new school records during the outdoor season, and three NCAA qualifying marks during the outdoor season.
Prior to his time with Coker, Scott led the program at his alma mater Ashland University for two years, where in 2017 his team finished as the national runner-up in indoor track and field and took third-place nationally in outdoor track and field. Previously, Scott also spent two years as an assistant at Michigan Technological University.
Scott graduated from Ashland with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology. As a student-athlete, he was three times named an all-American, twice in the 800 meters and once in the 4x400-meter relay.
Vincent Schneider joins the Queens coaching staff after competing for the Royals from 2014 to 2018. As a former multi-event athlete, Schneider will work across the sprint, jump, and throws groups assisting coach Vahrenkamp.
At Queens, Schneider holds the school records in the Decathlon and the Heptathlon. In 2016, he competed at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Bradenton, Florida. During Schneider’s athletic career, the Royals were able to claim four straight SAC outdoor championships, as well as the inaugural SAC indoor championship in 2018.
Schneider is originally from Pliezhausen, Germany. He was born on April 9, 1992. After graduating in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Communication, he is currently working on his MBA at Queens.
Daniel Wallis joins the Royals staff after wrapping his collegiate career in track and field and cross country in the Spring of 2019 as a five-time all-American.
During the 2018 cross country season, the two-time SAC All-Conference first-teamer was named SAC Runner of the Year and earned all-region honors. In 2017, he helped lead the Royals to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships which was their best finish in program history. In his final season, Queens won its sixth NCAA DII Southeast Regional Championship and its seventh conference championship.
On the track, the distance runner helped Queens capture two indoor SAC Championships and two outdoor SAC Championships. The 13-time all-region honoree also contributed to Queens recording its best team finishes in program history at the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships where the Royals took 13th and 14th place, respectively. At the Championships, Wallis turned in all-American performances in the 2018 indoor mile and the 2019 indoor mile, indoor 3000m, outdoor 1500m, and outdoor 5000m. His runner-up finish in the 2019 indoor mile trailed fellow Royal Felix Wammetsberger who won the national title in the event.
Additionally, Wallis earned all-American honors academically and was named SAC Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also named the SAC Presidents Award winner.