Katie Bretscher is in her sixth season as the head women's track and field coach at St. Olaf in 2020-21 and also serves as an assistant coach for the Ole women's cross country team. She was named the head women's track & field coach on Aug. 20, 2015.
Through Bretscher's six seasons at St. Olaf, the program has had 15 national qualifiers, eight All-Americans, 50 all-conference performances, 30 all-region accolades, 14 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champions, three MIAC champion relays, and 20 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honorees. Under her watch, St. Olaf student-athletes have broken 18 school records as well.
This past spring, Paige Woldt became St. Olaf's first College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District honoree since 2003 and posted the program's best-ever finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Woldt finished seventh nationally to claim All-America honors in the event and was one of two Oles to finish in the top-10 nationally along with Ellen Mickelson, who was ninth in the 1,500-meter run.
In 2020, Bretscher led the Oles to a second-place finish at the MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, which was the program's highest finish at the meet since 2013. At the conclusion of the meet, senior Mackenzie Schoustra was named the MIAC Outstanding Field Athlete, making her the third Ole to collect the award since it started in 2003.
The second-place finish also marked the fourth time in the last five MIAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships that St. Olaf has finished third or higher.
Before coming to St. Olaf, Bretscher coached the sprints, jumps and hurdles and was an assistant cross country coach at Cornell College (IA). Prior to her time there, she was an assistant track and field coach for two seasons at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where for one year she also served as a compliance assistant.
Bretscher has a USA Track and Field Level 2 (sprints, hurdles and relays) certification and is a member of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Bretscher was a track and field student-athlete at DePauw University. She was the team's most valuable track performer in 2007, a coach's award winner in 2006 and broke five school records in her career. Bretscher stayed at DePauw as an assistant coach in 2009-10 and was an intern for the 2010 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.
She graduated cum laude from DePauw with a B.A. in mathematics. She earned her M.Ed. in educational leadership from St. Lawrence in 2012.
A graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy, Katie and her husband, Daniel, live in Northfield with their sons, Noah and Eli.
