Sunday, August 04, 2013

Ahonen Named Minnesota State's Men's Cross Country Head Coach


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Minnesota State Director of Athletics Kevin Buisman has announced that Loren Ahonen has been named the new Minnesota State men's cross country coach.Ahonen will also serve as an assistant men's track and field coach.

"We are thrilled to have Loren Ahonen joining us as our new head men's cross country coach," Buisman said. "As a former student-athlete and now as an assistant coach, he has built a foundation of experiences that I believe will prove to be very beneficial to the young men in our program and which lay the groundwork for his future success.  With the start of the season not far away, we are excited to about the opportunities for Loren and his team this fall."

A native of Temperance, Mich., Ahonen has comes to Minnesota State after serving as an assistant coach on the Western State men's track and field coaching staff the previous two seasons.

"I'm excited about the opportunity as a join a great program with a great tradition," Ahonen said. "I ran against Minnesota State several times as a student-athlete and they always had good, strong athletes to compete against and I am looking forward to being a part of that tradition."

As an assistant coach at Western State, Ahonen worked with the distance runners and helped develop team and individual training schedules. He also served as an active recruiter and assisted with travel plans.

While coaching at Western State, Ahonen aided 42 All-Americans, five national champions, seven national runners up, one Olympic trials qualifier, a men's cross country national championship and a women's cross country national runner up.

As a student-athlete at Western State, Ahonen amassed seven All-American honors including two in cross country in the 10K and five in track and field including three in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and two in the distance medley relay. He served as a team captain for the cross country team for three seasons and the track and field team for two seasons. He was also a member of two cross country teams that finished in second place at the NCAA DII Cross Country Meet.

Ahonen graduated Summa Cum Laude from Western State in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies/Politics and Government. He was the first student-athlete in Western State history to earn a pair Capital One Academic All-American honors. He was also a seven-time NCAA Division II Academic All-American. Ahonen also served as an academic peer advisor where he helped schedule tutoring sessions and offer academic guidance.

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