 Marcus Newsom, the 2009, 2007, 2005, and 2004 United States Track Coaches Association Division III indoor women's Coach of the Year and 2009 USTFCCCA Division III outdoor women's COTY, has led Wartburg track to some rarified air including 56 indoor and 144 outdoor Division III All-American performances since 1999. Twenty-two individual events have earned national championship honors since he took over the program.
Newsom began his tenure in 1998 after serving as an assistant from 1995 to 1998. He's added six indoor and 10 outdoor Iowa Conference women's, four outdoor and four indoor IIAC men's, and 11 USTFCCCA Division III Central Region women's outdoor and indoor Coach of the Year honors to his resume along with the 2004, 2005 and 2007 national award.
Wartburg has won nine straight indoor women's conference championship/conference invitational titles and men's indoor championships in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009. The women, with the 2009 championship included, have a current string of 10 consecutive outdoor titles. The men have won five league outdoor titles since 2002.
On the national level outdoors, the women, including gaining national championship honors in the spring of 2005 and 2009, have finished in the top 15 at nationals in nine of Newsom's 12 years as head coach. The men produced their best national finish in school history in 2005, ending seventh at the outdoor championships. On the national level indoors, Newsom's teams have finished in the top 20 of six women's team races, which includes a national championship in 2009, and have placed in the top 20 three times in the men's team race with a high water mark of being tied for 12th in 2008. In 2009, his women's teams became only the seventh in NCAA Division III history to sweep indoor and outdoor national titles in the same season and joined the cross country program in earning the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's prestigious Deb
Vercauteren Program of the Year award.
A native of Kansas City, Ks., Newsom attended Butler Community College in Eldorado, Kan., where he was a national qualifier in track and field and played on the football team. After three semesters at Butler , Newsom transferred to Bethany College of Lindsborg, Kan. He earned a B.A. in sociology with a minor in criminal law in 1992. While at Bethany, he was a letterwinner in both football and track, earning all-conference honors in both sports.
Newsom's coaching career includes a year as the strength and conditioning coordinator and assistant football coach at Bethany and a year as assistant football and track coach at Mid-American Nazarene of Olathe, Kan. Newsom came to Wartburg in 1995 as an assistant football and track coach and director of minority recruitment.
Newsom recently completed his master's degree at the University of Northern Iowa. In addition to his coaching duties, he is an assistant athletic director and Wartburg's diversity issues coordinator. He and wife, Stephanie, are the parents of Mosai, Asa and Che'.
 Steve Johnson recently completed his ninth season as an assistant track and field coach after leading the Knights track program for eight seasons. In the fall of 2009, he begins his 21st season at the helm of the Knights cross country teams. The Minneapolis, Minnesota native came to Wartburg after coaching both men's and women's track and cross country teams for 7 years at all collegiate levels including NCAA Division I Oregon State University, Division II St. Cloud State University and NAIA Iowa Wesleyan.
A 24-time Iowa Conference Coach Of The Year honoree in both track and cross country, Johnson has helped lead the Knights programs from the middle of the pack to becoming a dominant force in Iowa and the nation. Since 1991, Wartburg has won 17 Iowa Conference cross country team titles and has also sent more CC teams to the national championships than any other Iowa college or university during that time span. His 2008 women's team joined the track and field program in gaining the prestigious United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Deb
Vercauteren Program of the Year honor.
Since 1991 Johnson has produced more cross country and track distance event National Champions, All-Americans and National Qualifiers than any other college or university in Iowa. The Wartburg cross country and track programs have also seen more individual distance event conference champions and all-conference performers as well.
During his career, Johnson has coached numerous All-Americans and national qualifiers in track and cross country including six different national champions in Wartburg's Missy Buttry (16 CC & TF individual and relay national championships), Josh Moen (five individual CC & TF national championships), Trina Steines (1998 - 800m), and St. Cloud State's Kurt Threinen (1983 - 10,000m) and the 2003 and 2005 Indoor Distance Medley Relay champs.
Buttry and Moen completed their unprecedented careers in 2005 each winning two individual National Championships at the NCAA III National Track and Field Championships hosted by Wartburg. Both Iowa natives saw huge personal improvements through there time at Wartburg and have competed successfully against the very best runners in the US at the elite level. Both Josh and Missy have signed contracts with shoe companies and are running professionally.
“Our program is known for producing huge improvements in our runners. It is really exciting to see the athletes that have gone from average or good high school runners to become college All-Americans and National Champions. The team championships are always a goal but overall, seeing these student-athletes get an outstanding degree, produce great friendships and make huge improvements is something I really cherish."
Johnson is a level II certified track and field coach and has conducted and spoken at many camps and clinics. He has two Master's degrees, one in exercise philosophy from St. Cloud State and the other in biology from South Dakota State. He holds assistant professor rank at Wartburg and teaches exercise physiology, sports nutrition and several other exercise science courses.
Johnson also produced a solid athletic career, being selected to the St. Cloud State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. He is a four-time national qualifier and NCAA Division II All-American in the 1500 meters for St. Cloud State in 1976. He set school records in the 1500 and the 4x1-mile relay and was ranked second on the SCSU all-time list in the 800 and the mile. He still runs competitively as a master's runner in road and track races.
 Melissa (Stensland) Norton - A three-time Iowa Conference shot put champion and former All-American at Wartburg, Norton is a full-time assistant in charge of throwing events and is also the assistant strength and conditioning coordinator for Knights athletics as of the fall of 2007.
 Dave Sage - The veteran Waverly-Shell Rock High School head boys coach assists the Knights teams as a jumps coach.
Sage taught at W-SR from 1964-2002. In 32 seasons, he led the Go-Hawks boys track program to two state titles and two runner-up finishes and was with the cross country program when it won state championships in 1975 and 1980 and finished second in 1981.
"Ive always been interested in Wartburg track and field," he said. "When Marcus called me about a spot on the staff, I jumped at the chance. It's a great opportunity." |
