Ryan Bak enters his first season as an assistant coach for the Saint Louis University Cross Country and Track and Field squads. Hired in the summer of 2009, Bak will serve as a women's distance coach for the Billikens. His presence during the 2009 cross country season paid immediate dividends. He helped coach sophomore Hilary Orf to a 13th-place finish in the A-10 Cross Country Championships. As a result, Orf became the first SLU cross country runner to be named A-10 All-Conference since the Billikens joined the league in 2005. Bak has served previous assistant coaching stints at Western State College of Colorado (2006 to 2007) and Sheldon High School in Eugene, Ore. (2009). While at Western State College of Colorado, Bak guided the women's cross country squad to an NCAA Division II runner-up finish and the men's team to a third-place finish. In addition, he helped coach 15 Mountaineers who earned NCAA All-American honors. Bak made quite a name for himself on the professional running circuit, most recently as a distance runner with the Oregon Track Club Elite. He competed at the 2008 World Cross Country Championships in Scotland as a member of Team USA and performed in the Olympic Track and Field Trials in 2004 and 2008. Collegiately, Bak is a 10-time All-American and three-time NCAA Division III national champion out of Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.). He earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Trinity in 2003. "Ryan brings intangibles that the program has never had," SLU head coach Jon Bell said. "He will have a tremendous influence on all the student-athletes in our program. Ryan has been to the top level of our sport and has traveled the world to train and race. Passing those experiences along to our student-athletes will only enhance our ability to achieve success and become a force in Atlantic 10 cross country and track and field." |
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