Cross Country
- Title:
- Head Cross Country/ Assistant Track & Field Coach (distance)
- Email:
- brian.biekert@siu.edu
Brian Biekert is entering his second year as Cross Country Head Coach and Track Assistant Coach (Distance).
In his first season at Southern Illinois, Biekert coached several award winners, record breakers, and athletes that tallied strong finishes over the course of the season. Both Brianna Nieset and Rachel Anderson set school records, with Nieset setting the record in the 1000m and Anderson in the 5000m during the indoor campaign.Â
During the fall, Anderson and Dawson Smith both posted sixth place finishes while Ethan Senti put-up a fifth-place finish in cross country. Senti was also named the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year.Â
In the indoor season, Senti tallied a third-place finish in the 5000m and fourth-place finish in the 3000m, while the women's DMR was third and Weston Jokerst was sixth in the mile and named the top freshman.Â
At the outdoor portion of the year, Biekert had many athletes record strong performances, including Smith and Anderson, who were both second in the 3000m steeplechase. Smith was also second in the 5000m. Claire Ayers was third in the 1500m, while Nieset was fourth. Senti tallied a third-place finish in the 10,000m, and Travis Hart was fifth in the 3000m steeplechase.
Four athletes under Biekert received the 2023 Board of Directors Academic Excellence Award, with those athletes being Ayers, Hart, Stephanie Anthonies, and Josie Brown.Â
Biekert comes to Carbondale by way of Tulsa, where he spent the last season as an assistant on the Golden Hurricane staff. Prior to Tulsa, Biekert had coaching stops at Syracuse, Iowa State, and Brown University.  Â
Most recently at Tulsa, Biekert assisted a men’s cross country team that won its 8th straight American Athletics Conference title and had a student-athlete named AAC Runner of the Year. The Golden Hurricane men went on to finish sixth at the NCAA Cross Country Championship.  While at Syracuse, he coached three second team All-American runners and an honorable mention All-American in both the 10,000-meter run and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Those distance student-athletes were the only Syracuse representatives at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.             During his stint Iowa State, the Cyclones had six All-Americans under the help of Biekert during the 2018-19 season. At the Big 12 Championships, the men’s cross country team claimed the team championship and an individual title on the women’s side. He served as a volunteer assistant coach at Brown, helping the Bears qualify a distance medley relay team at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships that finished in 9th place.   Prior to his coaching career, Biekert completed his career as a graduate athlete at Iowa State. As a Cyclone, Biekert was named to the All-Big 12 Conference team in track & field. He anchored Iowa State’s NCAA Qualifying Distance Medley Relay squad that took home first team All-America honors and a third-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Biekert also clocked a personal best time of 3:44.45 in the 1,500-meters, which put him in third place at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.             Biekert began his college career at Central Connecticut State, where he was a five-time Northeast Conference Champion and a three-time East Region Preliminary Round Qualifier in the 1,500-meter and steeplechase.             A native of Groton, Connecticut, Biekert graduated from Central Connecticut State in 2014 with a degree in exercise science & health promotion before getting his master’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State in 2015Â
