Katie Bretscher enters her fourth season as head coach for the men’s and women’s track and field programs at Colorado College in 2024-25.
Bretscher led the women's track and field program to new heights in 2023-24, guiding the team to its first-ever Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) outdoor championship, snapping an eight-year run by Trinity University. The Tigers captured six individual titles, including two by senior Kendall Accetta, who collected her second All-America honor in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. Accetta also was named the SCAC Women's Track Athlete of the Year in 2024 for the second time in three years.
For their efforts, Bretscher and her staff were named the 2024 SCAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Coaching Staff of the Year.
On the men's side, James Settles was named the SCAC Men's Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season and earned his second straight first-team All-America honor after an eighth-place finish in the 5K at the 2024 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. The Tigers finished third at the SCAC Championships for the eighth straight year with six individual titles and a program-record 169.5 points.
Josh Willams also competed in the 200 and 400 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, giving CC three participants at the national meet for the first time in program history.
Bretscher, who also serves as an assistant cross country coach with the Tigers, has guided the Tigers to 15 outdoor and 10 indoor school records in her three seasons at CC.
Prior to her arrival in Colorado Springs, Bretscher was the head coach of the women’s track and field team at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. She produced 15 national qualifiers, eight All-Americans, 14 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champions, three MIAC champion relays and 18 school records during her stint at St. Olaf.
Bretscher’s teams also performed well in the classroom, as 20 of her student-athletes earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors.
In 2020, Bretscher led the Oles to a second-place finish at the MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, the program's highest finish since 2013. At the conclusion of the meet, senior Mackenzie Schoustra was named the MIAC Outstanding Field Athlete. The second-place finish also marked the fourth time in the last five MIAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships that St. Olaf finished third or higher.
In 2021, Paige Woldt posted St. Olaf’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.
Prior to her tenure at St. Olaf, Bretscher coached the sprints, jumps and hurdles and was an assistant cross country coach at Cornell College (Iowa). 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. She currently serves on the USTFCCCA Cross Country Executive Board, representing the women's West Region.
Bretscher competed collegiately on the track and field team at DePauw University, where 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 and 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, have two sons, Noah and Eli.
