Dean Freitag, Head Coach - Track & Field / Cross Countr

Director of Athletics Roosevelt Barnes has announced the hiring of Dean Freitag as the department’s cross country/track & field coach. Freitag comes to Wilberforce after serving as the assistant director of cross country and track & field at Shawnee State University. 

Freitag helped build the Shawnee State track & field program, and in its first season of fielding a team, the program sent three student-athletes to compete in the national championships with one earning All-America honors. His women’s high jump group was also ranked 17th in NAIA. 

Prior to his stint at Shawnee State, Freitag served as a graduate assistant at the University of Rio Grande. While learning under coaches with more than 100 years of combined coaching experience, Freitag gained experience coaching all the event groups. More importantly, he was responsible for recruiting, including international students. His primary specialization was distance coaching and racewalking.  

As a student-athlete, he was a two-time racewalking National Champion, five-time All-American with appearance in eight national championships. He recorded his highest world ranking of tenth during points of his career. Freitag also served on the Rio Grande Student Leadership Council, serving as the president for three years.  

COACHING ACHIEVEMENTS 

2 conference team Championships (men’s XC 2023, 2024) (both Shawnee State) 

12th place team finish XC Nationals 

14th place team finish XC Nationals   

5 conference team runners up 

6 conference athletes of the year (XC runner, Track Athlete, Field Athlete) 

6 conference newcomers of the year 

2 National Runners of the week (XC) 

136 All Conference performances  

48 Conference Championships 

38 NAIA Individual national qualifiers  

6 All Americans  

2024 Shawnee State assistant coach of the year