Steve Travis
Head CoachAlma Mater: Wis.-Whitewater '93
E-mail: steve.travis@wlc.edu
Office Phone: (414) 443-8872
Steve Travis is in his 20th season as head coach of the Wisconsin Lutheran College men's and women's cross country programs. Travis also handles the head coaching duties for the track & field teams during the spring.
The 2012 season marks the ninth year that Travis has been working full-time in the athletics department after serving for 11 years as a residential life counselor on campus. Travis joined the Warriors in August 1993, working as coach of the cross country club team before the program gained intercollegiate status in 1994. He has been the only head coach of the intercollegiate track & field program at WLC since it began in the spring of 1994.
In 2011, Travis coached Katie Schommer to a second consecutive win at the NAC Cross Country Championship as she became the first women’s runner in conference history to repeat as champion at the event. In addition to coaching Schommer to NAC Runner of the Year honors, Travis also coached freshman Sarah Frelich to NAC Freshman of the Year honors, while leading WLC to a fifth-place finish. He also coached the men's team to an eighth-place finish.
The 2010 season marked the first time that a Warriors women’s cross country student-athlete qualified for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship. Junior Katie Schommer, who was named NAC Runner of the Year, placed 47th out of 279 at the event. Schommer's time at the NCAA Midwest Regional (21:49.6) was the fastest 6K time in conference history. She also set a NAC Championship record for the fastest time of 22:23.40.
In 2008, Zach Shiels became the first student-athlete in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship, placing 24th overall in a field of 280 runners at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional. The women's cross country team finished 24th out of 43 teams at regionals, the highest team finish ever by the Warriors at a Midwest Regional. Katie Schommer was also named NAC Freshman of the Year.
Travis' teams each finished third at the inaugural NAC Championships in 2006, the highest team finish for both teams in six seasons as a member of the conference. The women have placed fourth or better in four of the last six seasons, while the men have placed no further than fifth in three out of six seasons at the championships.
Both teams finished second at the 2005 Lake Michigan Conference Championships, the best finish ever for the men after having finished third each of the previous seven seasons. The women posted no lower than a second-place finish in the LMC for six straight seasons (2000-2005). Travis, who coached the women's team to LMC titles in 2002 and 2004, was named LMC Coach of the Year each of those years.
Individually, Travis has coached four conference champions. Katie Schommer (2011, 2010), Zach Shiels (2008), Tim Koepsell (2002, 2003, 2005), who was the first male student-athlete in LMC cross country history to win three titles, and Rebecca Porinsky (2001).
In track & field, the Warriors established 20 or more school records – indoors and outdoors combined – during each of the past 10 seasons. In 2009, Travis mentored Dominique Johnson, a junior who became the first Warriors student-athlete to qualify for both the NCAA Division III Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
A 1993 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Travis earned his degree in physical education with an emphasis in corporate fitness. He started his collegiate athletic career as a wide receiver for two seasons with the Warhawks football team before turning his focus to the track as a middle distance runner where he was a three-time All-American. In 1992, Travis won the 800-meter title during the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships held at Colby College (Maine) with a time of 1:50.68. Travis was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame on October 25, 2008.
After college, he competed for five years as a track club member at UW-Milwaukee. Travis was invited to race at the Kansas Relays three times (best showing a third-place finish in the 800 meters in 1996) and the Drake Relays once (a seventh-place finish in 1998). He also raced in the 800-meter qualifying open three times at the Mt. Sac Relays in California.
In 1998, Travis placed seventh at the 1998 U.S. Indoor Championships with an 800-meter time of 1:49.44. That same year he posted his best 800-meter time of 1:48.81 while racing outdoors at Georgia Tech.
A member of the USTFCCA Awards Sub Committee and the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association, Travis was born August 4, 1969, in Mobridge, S.D. He resides in Wauwatosa, Wis.
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