Eric Hansen has joined the Seattle Pacific track and cross country staff as the lead assistant to head coach and program director Karl Lerum.
After spending the past four years as an assistant at Wayne State University, an NCAA Division II school in Detroit.
Hansen coached for two years (2017-19) at Wilmington College, a D3 school in Ohio, before moving on to Wayne State.
“I’m excited to get out there and work with the team,” Hansen said. “It’s a program that has had lots of success over the years, and I’m excited to start working with a program that has the history that SPU has.
“My job,” he said, “is to give them the tools and the road map to get there.”
Under Hansen’s guidance during the just-completed 2022-23 school year, the Warriors women finished program-best ninth at the D2 cross country nationals as part of the Fall Sports Festival that was hosted by Seattle Pacific. It was their second nationals during his time there.
“It was a year when everything that could have gone our way did go our way,” Hansen said. “They were racing with a chemistry that’s hard to find and hard to build. They kept getting better and better each week.”
The 2019 women’s team finished 25th at nationals, their first NCAAs since 2014. The men qualified in 2021, placing 15th. That was their first NCAAs since 2008.
On the track, Wayne State’s women were fourth at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) indoor conference meet this past February and third at the outdoor conference meet in May.
He coached two individual outdoor GLIAC champions, as sophomore Reagan Justice won the 10,000 meters, and senior Thailyia Christensen was first in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Justice made the NCAA provisional qualifying list in the 10K, as well as the indoor 3K and 5K. Christensen got onto the provisional list in the steeple. The indoor distance medley relay, as well as sophomore Emily Gordon, also posted a provisional qual times.
Senior Ransom Allen was ninth in the men’s cross country nationals last December and posted an NCAA provisional time in the men’s 5000 this spring. His cross country finish was the highest ever by a Wayne State man.
Hansen said his approach to coaching is a collaborative one.
“I like to get the athletes’ feedback quite a bit on how they’re feeling and kind of use that as my guide,” he said. “I like to keep everything as open as possible communication-wise, and make sure they’re becoming not just better athletes, but better people, as well.”
Along with all of the athletic success, the cross country teams have set multiple school records for total number of GLAC All-Academic honorees and Excellence Team selections. The women’s and men’s teams earned USTFCCCA All-Academic recognition in 2022.
A native of Solon, Ohio, Hansen competed as a freshman and sophomore at D3 John Carroll University in Ohio, then moved to Ashland University, a D2 school also in Ohio, for his junior and senior seasons. He ran cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track all four years. He graduated from Ashland with a degree in exercise science in 2017.