University of St. Thomas Athletics
Women's Track & Field
Lucas, Ashley
Ashley Lucas
- Title:
- Women's CC Head Coach/Track & Field Head Coach
- Email:
- ashley.lucas@stthomas.edu
- Phone:
- 651-962-5914
Awards & Achievements
Ashley Lucas is entering her fourth season as the head coach of the St. Thomas women's cross country track & field teams in 2025-26.
St. Thomas Women’s Cross Country posted its best finish of the Division I era in 2024, placing third at the Summit League Championships behind All-League performances from seniors Molly Desotell and Ava Pankratz. Desotell capped her standout career as a four-time All-League honoree, highlighted by a 10th-place finish at the conference meet and the league’s fourth-fastest 5K time of the season (17:34.2) at Notre Dame. Pankratz added her second consecutive Summit Academic All-League award and led the Tommies in the season’s opening meets.
Under Coach Lucas’ leadership, the Tommie women produced record-setting results during the 2024-25 indoor and outdoor seasons. The indoor team set eight program records and earned a program-best five All-Summit League honors, including a bronze from Alexis Pratt in the 200m and a record-setting 4x400m relay. Outdoors, St. Thomas surpassed 100 team points for the first time at the league championship, led by event titles from Anna Swanson (javelin) and the 4x100m relay. Freshman Danika Apple earned Summit League Newcomer of the Meet, and Olivia Keller set three school records across sprint and multi events. In total, the program broke 20 records and placed 13 athletes among the league’s top five in their events.
Tommie Women's Cross Country continued its impressive beginning to the NCAA Division I era with its second consecutive fourth-place finish at the 2022 Summit League Cross Country Championships, led by Molly Desotell with a seventh-place finish overall. The team repeated with USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors while four student-athletes earned selections to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. During track & field competition, Lucas coached the team to fifth place finishes at both the Summit League Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Desotell earned indoor all-conference honors with a second place finish in the 3000m run and Anna Swanson earned outdoor all-conference laurels with a second place finish in the javelin. Three women's program records were broken between the indoor and outdoor seasons, including the 3000m run indoors and the 100m hurdles and javelin outdoors.
Lucas' nine-year coaching era, all with Division I teams, includes five seasons as men's and women's cross country and track and field head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago prior to joining St. Thomas. She previously worked three years prior to that at Northern Illinois University coaching the Huskies' cross country and track and field teams.
At Illinois-Chicago in cross country, she coached one Horizon League runner-up team; one individual conference champion; 12 all-conference runners; and three school-record holders. Working with the UIC track & field teams, she coached distance runners that scored individually in the Horizon League meet more than 90 times over the last five seasons. On the track with the Flames she coached athletes that broke three indoor school distance records and two outdoor distance marks. She also coached multiple additions to the UIC Top 10 list in both cross country and track.
At Northern Illinois, she coached athletes that broke five school records on the track, and she also coached NIU's first two All-Region and All-MAC conference CC runners. Lucas competed in CC and track & field at Lewis (Ill.) University, then spent her final spring season of 2013 as a graduate transfer track runner at Northern Illinois. At Lewis she was an honor student, All-Conference honoree, and team captain.
The Chicago, Ill. native later received a Master's degree in Education in Kinesiology and Physical Education from Northern Illinois.
- 3 Summit League Outdoor Individual Titles
- 6 Cross Country All-Summit League Performers
- 6 Indoor All-Summit League Performers
- 16 Outdoor All-Summit League Performers
- 2 Cross Country Academic All-Summit League Selections
- 2015 Horizon League Championship Runner-Up
- Coached 5 Horizon League All-Conference Cross Country Performers
- Coached over 90 individual distance runners that scored in Horizon League
Ashley Lucas is entering her fourth season as the head coach of the St. Thomas women's cross country track & field teams in 2025-26.
St. Thomas Women’s Cross Country posted its best finish of the Division I era in 2024, placing third at the Summit League Championships behind All-League performances from seniors Molly Desotell and Ava Pankratz. Desotell capped her standout career as a four-time All-League honoree, highlighted by a 10th-place finish at the conference meet and the league’s fourth-fastest 5K time of the season (17:34.2) at Notre Dame. Pankratz added her second consecutive Summit Academic All-League award and led the Tommies in the season’s opening meets.
Under Coach Lucas’ leadership, the Tommie women produced record-setting results during the 2024-25 indoor and outdoor seasons. The indoor team set eight program records and earned a program-best five All-Summit League honors, including a bronze from Alexis Pratt in the 200m and a record-setting 4x400m relay. Outdoors, St. Thomas surpassed 100 team points for the first time at the league championship, led by event titles from Anna Swanson (javelin) and the 4x100m relay. Freshman Danika Apple earned Summit League Newcomer of the Meet, and Olivia Keller set three school records across sprint and multi events. In total, the program broke 20 records and placed 13 athletes among the league’s top five in their events.
Tommie Women's Cross Country continued its impressive beginning to the NCAA Division I era with its second consecutive fourth-place finish at the 2022 Summit League Cross Country Championships, led by Molly Desotell with a seventh-place finish overall. The team repeated with USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors while four student-athletes earned selections to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. During track & field competition, Lucas coached the team to fifth place finishes at both the Summit League Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Desotell earned indoor all-conference honors with a second place finish in the 3000m run and Anna Swanson earned outdoor all-conference laurels with a second place finish in the javelin. Three women's program records were broken between the indoor and outdoor seasons, including the 3000m run indoors and the 100m hurdles and javelin outdoors.
Lucas' nine-year coaching era, all with Division I teams, includes five seasons as men's and women's cross country and track and field head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago prior to joining St. Thomas. She previously worked three years prior to that at Northern Illinois University coaching the Huskies' cross country and track and field teams.
At Illinois-Chicago in cross country, she coached one Horizon League runner-up team; one individual conference champion; 12 all-conference runners; and three school-record holders. Working with the UIC track & field teams, she coached distance runners that scored individually in the Horizon League meet more than 90 times over the last five seasons. On the track with the Flames she coached athletes that broke three indoor school distance records and two outdoor distance marks. She also coached multiple additions to the UIC Top 10 list in both cross country and track.
At Northern Illinois, she coached athletes that broke five school records on the track, and she also coached NIU's first two All-Region and All-MAC conference CC runners. Lucas competed in CC and track & field at Lewis (Ill.) University, then spent her final spring season of 2013 as a graduate transfer track runner at Northern Illinois. At Lewis she was an honor student, All-Conference honoree, and team captain.
The Chicago, Ill. native later received a Master's degree in Education in Kinesiology and Physical Education from Northern Illinois.
Press Conference: Tommie Football Postgame v Lindenwood 08/28/25
Friday, August 29
Tommie Football Intro Video 2025
Thursday, August 28
Beyond The Buzzer: Schoenecker Arena Setup
Wednesday, July 23
Beyond The Buzzer: Sports Medicine
Wednesday, July 23
