"Drew
falls right into that classification.
We are excited that he has accepted our
challenge of rebuilding our women’s
cross country and track programs, ones
that we want to see compete at the conference,
regional and national levels."
In fact, Ludtke's success in his first two seasons of rebuilding the women's programs helped speed up the university's plans to re-institute men's cross country and track programs to the Saints lineup. USF added those two sports to its offerings in the fall of 2007 and gave Ludtke the additional coaching reins.
In his first three seasons at USF, Ludtke has coached individuals who have advanced to the NAIA Championships in both women's cross country and track. A pair of freshmen, Valerie Allen and Meghan Bannatz, went to the 2006 NAIA Cross Country meet. Bannatz then repeated that accomplishment as both a sophomore in 2007 and a junior in 2008. Bannatz journeyed out to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field meet to compete int he 10,000 meters as a frosh in 2007, while sophomore Jess Horn competed in the heptathlon at the outdoor championships in 2008. The list grew in the fall of 2008 as three men made their first trips to the NAIA Cross Country meet when sophomore Mike McElyea and freshmen Josh Brent and Ryan Scott qualified for the national meet.
On a team basis, Ludtke stamped USF as a cross country contended in 2008 when he directed his men's team to a second-place finish at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships and led the women to a strong third-place finish. Not bad for programs that didn't exist when he was hired (USF men) and were down to fewer than five runners (women) in his first season.
Ludtke
knows a little about rebuilding programs,
having done so in both sports on the men’s
and women’s side at Lake Superior
State University in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula.
There,
the 32-year-old took over programs that
had 30 participants in 2002 and built
them up to 74 student-athletes in the spring of 2005. At the same time, he developed
15 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics
Conference (GLIAC) all-conference athletes,
and 49 school records were established
in the track program under his tutelage.
One of those marks - a time of 14:36 in
the 5,000-meter run - also serves as a
GLIAC record.
Ludtke also guided nine athletes onto the
NCAA performance list.
Prior
to his return to Lake Superior State,
where he earned a Bachelor of Science
in Education and Psychology and graduated
cum laude in 1999, Ludtke served as both
an assistant and head cross country coach
and an assistant track coach for the men’s
and women’s programs at University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, from
1999-2002. During that time, he also earned
a Masters of Science in Kinesiology.
Each
of Ludtke’s first two men’s
cross country teams fared well at North
Texas, claiming a Sun Belt Conference
(SBC) Championship in 2000 and a runner-up
finish in 2001. The women’s track
team also placed second in the league
in 2002 with the men’s program earning
the outdoor conference crown later that
year.
Of
those championship teams, nine athletes
went on to capture all-SBC honors.
"As
a coach, Drew is excellent, but what really
set him apart from the other 79 candidates
for the position was his ability to coach
the whole person," continued Laketa.
"He is interested in developing each
of his runners as a full person, not just
as an athlete. That is what is most important."
Ludtke’s
list of accomplishments is evidence of
that philosophy. He
was chosen by the students at Lake Superior
State to receive the Golden Anchor Service
Award, which is presented to the top staff
member at the school for his/her commitment
to the students. One year earlier, Ludtke’s
track team was named the school’s
most outstanding organization for their
service and involvement both inside and
outside the school community.
Ludtke
also gained praise as a teacher, earning
teaching fellow of the year accolades
twice while at University of North Texas.
A
scholarship basketball player upon his
arrival to Lake Superior State in 1995,
Ludtke joined the track team one year
later and also competed in cross country
for two seasons. On the court, he was
a member of the 1995-96 GLIAC championship
team, while in track he placed as high
as fifth in the league at the 1998 championships.
He also ran for the nationally-ranked
Laker cross-country team in 1998.
Ludtke
closed out his career at Lake Superior
State earning athlete-of-the-year runner-up
honors in 1998-99. That same year, he
was recognized as the top athlete devoted
to campus/athletic development at the
school and was awarded the Bud Cooper
Award for that distinction. Included in
his involvement was serving as the vice
president of the student-athlete advisory
committee.
One
year earlier, he acted as president of
the university’s honors program.
Ludtke
finished his track career at North Texas, where he earned his fourth letter
in the sport and was a part of the Mean
Green's conference championship team in
2000.
Ludtke,
his wife, Jen, daughter Deena (2) and newborn son Tyler
make their home in Joliet.
Jeff Chiapello
Assistant Coach
Jeff Chiapello entered his third season as an assistant to Drew Ludtke in the men's and women's cross country and track and field programs at USF in the fall of 2008.
Chiapello, who also serves as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at USF, was a standout middle to long distance runner as a prep at Minooka High School and a collegian at North Central College. He was part of a 4x800 meter relay team that held the Minooka school record for several years until it was broken in the spring of 2008. He still has times among the all-time Top Ten at Minooka and was part of 12 consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship cross country and track teams in his four years at North Central.
Chiapello works specifically with the cross country runners at USF and coaches the middle and long distance runners on both the men's and women's track teams.
Chiapello and his wife Mindy -- and the couple's dog and two cats -- reside in Joliet.
Maureeca Lambert
Graduate Assistant Coach
Maureeca Lambert joined the USF coaching staff in the fall of 2008. A recent graduate of Loyola University, Lambert was a highly recognized distance runner for the Ramblers on both their cross country and track programs.
Lambert won the prestigious Leigh Anne Renk Award at Loyola in 2004-05. She was a first-team All_horizon League pick in cross country once and twice was named to the Horizon League's second team. She remains the current record holder in the 300-meter run at LU with a time of 9:38.21. She captured the Horizon League's Indoor 3000-meter title in 2005 and was the league's runnerup in the Indoor Mile that same year.
An outstanding student, she was a first-team Academic All-America pick in cross country in 2004 and was an Honor Roll student all four years.
Lambert hails from Bloomington, Ill., and graduated from Bloomington High School.
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