Josh Wolfe was hired to coach the SIUE distance runners just prior to the 2020-2021 school year, and in the middle of the COVID-related NCAA fallout that included recruiting restrictions and an altered schedule. He has led a steady rise in the program ever since.
Recent Years - 2025-2026
The fall cross country season was a banner year for the Cougars, as the women’s team posted the highest finish in school history at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships (5th place), spearheaded by the highest individual placer they have had as well. Graduate transfer Christy Muldrew ran a new school record (21:11) en route to the highest individual finish the women have ever had at OVC Championships (3rd place). She was flanked by two more all-time top 20 performances in school history, Kinze Shea and Erica Woodard. This marked the first time the Cougars had placed three women in the top 20 at the conference championships. The indoor season saw even more school history, as Erica Woodard would run the third fastest mile in school history and third fastest 3K in school history. The outdoor season would see more success for Erica Woodard under Wolfe’s direction, as she leaped into the school’s all-time top five list in the 1500, 3k, and 5k. Wolfe punctuated the end of 25-26 by announcing the most decorated recruiting class in school history, joining the Cougars in the fall of 26.
Transition Years – 2023-2025
Wolfe oversaw a massive roster transition in these years that saw many athletes graduating and moving on, and filling their spots with increasingly better recruiting classes. Wolfe led this development group to numerous PBs across all the events, highlighted by Roland Prenzler’s school record 8K performance (24:21) at the OVC Cross Country Championships in the fall of 2023.
Early Impact – 2020-2023
In just a little more than two years with the Cougars, Wolfe made an impact on the record books. He first guided Aly Griffin to a school record performance in the outdoor 5k in the spring of 2021 (16:57.94). Wolfe then saw top xc runner Prenzler achieve the highest finish at the OVC meet in school history when he finished third at the 2021 championships. He then produced multiple school record performances from his training group the following indoor season, spring of 2022, when Aly Griffin broke the indoor 3k school record (9:47.42) and the team of Griffin, Kayla Carter, Emily Lemke, and Kassidy Dexheimer broke the distance medley school record (11:59.82). And most recently, the fall of 2022 saw many of the men's cross country team take a step forward, with Prenzler (24:47.9) and Spencer Hielkema (24:58.8) both jumped onto the top 10 all time men's list and led the team to produce a 2:08:08 total team time at the Bradley Pink Classic, which is the fastest team time on record.
Personal
Prior to SIUE, Wolfe spent his 10 years in collegiate coaching at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wolfe was the program's head cross country coach for the last seven seasons of his tenure. Wolfe saw the program rise to national prominence and become an annual threat to win national titles on the track. The men's track and cross country teams combined to win three consecutive of the prestigious Program of the Year awards from the national coaching association, USTFCCCA. Wolfe was named the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Men’s Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017 as the Warriors finished first at the conference meet both seasons, with 2016 being the school’s first-ever conference title.
Across the decade, Wolfe's distance group produced five cross country All-Americans and team placings as high as 12th in the country, along with national champions in the 600m, 1000m, 4x800 relay.
As an athlete, Wolfe was a four-time state qualifier and a three-time All-State cross country runner in the one-class Indiana system at DeKalb High School. Wolfe is a 2007 graduate of Manchester College (now University) and was an All-Conference selection in the cross country circuit for the Spartans. Wolfe ranks in the Spartans All-Time Top 50 cross country runners. He was named a team captain at both levels.
Wolfe is USATF level 2 certified coach and completed his master’s in sport administration from Ball State University. While a graduate assistant at Ball U, he became a published author in the Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance peer-reviewed journal for his research on youth physical recreation.
Wolfe relocated to the St. Louis area with his wife, Elaina, who is an assistant professor at SLU.
