University of St. Thomas Athletics

Program Overview

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Points of Pride

  • Five team national championships finishes in program history
  • Four NCAA D-III team championships: 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987
  • Four NCAA D-III team runner-up finishes: 1983, 1985, 1988, 1996
  • Lisa Koelfgen was 1986 NCAA D-III CC champion
  • Forty-one NCAA All-America honors in CC over 39 years
  • Joe Sweeney guided St. Thomas to 86 MIAC team championships in XC, Indoor and Outdoor track and field in his 42-year career before he retired in summer 2022
  • Seven CoSIDA Academic All-America honors

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In fall 2021 St. Thomas became the first institution to make a direct move in all sports from NCAA D-III into D-I athletics.

Tommie Women's Cross Country is one of 18 sports that compete in the Summit League. St. Thomas teams will compete in the Pioneer Football League; the WCHA women’s hockey league; and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men’s hockey. 

Joe Sweeney retired in summer 2022 after 42 seasons as head coach

In their inaugural D-I season, the Tommies placed fourth out of nine teams in the 2021 Summit League CC meet in Tulsa, Okla. Olivia Moll placed fifth out of 75 runners to earn first-team All-Summit League honors. Four other St. Thomas runners placed in the top 50.


Division III Era

St. Thomas women’s distance runners established a national reputation for excellence under Sweeney. 

Tommie CC teams won four NCAA Division III team championships and one AIAW national crown, with four national runner-up finishes. Only three other Division III women's XC programs have more national titles.

The Tommies also had three top-10 finishes during the 1990s -- second nationally in 1996; seventh in 1995; and 10th in 1998.

St. Thomas women's XC and track runners won 15 individual DIII national championships, in events from 1,500 to 10,000 meters. Kelly Copps, a six-time Division III national champion on the track, was the 1994 national runner-up in cross-country in a field of 190 runners. 

St. Thomas XC celebrated 39 All-Americas after joining Division III in 1982.

During an eight-year stretch from 1981-88, Sweeney guided the women’s team to five national championships and three runner-up finishes. The Tommies advanced to nationals as a team in 22 of 38 possible years after joining Division III in 1982, with 13 top-seven team finishes.

St. Thomas won 17 of the 39 possible MIAC team crowns in cross country since the event was first sponsored for women in 1981. The Tommies had the top two individual finishers at the conference meet in both 1995 and 1996; the first three finishers in 1997; the individual champion in both 1999, 2000 and 2012; and the runner-up in 2001 and 2007. 

During their time in the MIAC, Sweeney guided Tommie cross country, indoor track and outdoor track teams to 85 conference team titles out of a possible 111 – the most among active Division III coaches in women's sports. The Tommie women had a rare sweep of conference team titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track from 2006-09 and again in 2016-17.

St. Thomas annually boasts a team cumulative grade-point average in the 3.40-3.60 range.

Katie Theisen was named a CoSIDA Academic All-America and was a XC All-America in 2007 and also was named a Goldwater scholar. In 2005, Brigid Power won an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship; was voted a CoSIDA Academic All-America; and was an NCAA runner-up in the 1,500 meters on the track.