Nathan Petesch starts his seventh season as an assistant women's and men's cross country and track & field coach at UW-La Crosse in 2024-25. He came to UWL after serving as a volunteer assistant cross country and track & field coach at the University of Wisconsin for one year.
The Eagles have won five (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships on the men's cross country with Petesch on UWL's coaching staff. The 2020 league meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 public health threat. UWL has earned 39 All-WIAC selections, including 17 first team and 13 second team. The team placed third at the 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships, seventh in 2019, 10th in 2021, eighth in 2022 and second in 2023. The Eagles captured the 2023 NCAA Division III North Regional Championship after finishing second in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. UWL has earned 28 NCAA III All-Region and 10 NCAA III All-America honors.
On the women's side, UWL won the 2021, 2022 and 2023 WIAC Championship and placed second at the 2018 and 2019 league meets. The Eagles won the 2021 NCAA Regional title, finished third in 2019, second in 2022 and third in 2023. A total of 37 All-WIAC honors have been earned with 16 first team and 11 second team. The Eagles finished ninth at the 2018 NCAA Division III Championships, 19th in 2019, 11th in 2021, 15th in 2022 and 10th in 2023. UWL has 29 NCAA Division III All-Region and three NCAA III All-America accolades.
Petesch was the associate head cross county coach at UW-River Falls from 2016-17. While at UW-River Falls, Petesch coached Daniel Borash to the highest finish in school history at the conference regional, and national championships, in addition to breaking the school record by 20 seconds and becoming only the second ever male to qualify for the NCAA Championships. On the track, Petesch coached Abby Fouts and Linsey Tolkkinen to a conference title and runner-up finish in the 10,000-meter run at the WIAC Championships. The Falcon women recorded 15 top-10 performances in the distances and Fouts was honored as the UW-River Falls Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Petesch was selected the 2024 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III Men's Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year.
Prior to UW-River Falls, Petesch had served as a volunteer assistant coach at Division II Fort Lewis College (Colo.), while also working as a full-time Academic Advisor. Before working at Fort Lewis (Colo.), he was an assistant coach at Wartburg College (Iowa), where he helped the women's track & field team claim their third straight NCAA Division III and the men earn their first ever top-four national trophy, as the program produced 54 All-Americas and 29 school records.
He also worked as a volunteer assistant at Division I Brown University (R.I.) and got his start as a graduate assistant coach at Ithaca College (N.Y.), where he earned his master's degree in human performance.
A native of Bellevue, Iowa, Petesch competed at UW-Platteville, helping the Pioneers to ninth and fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. He is the former school record holder in the 5,000-meter run and was the conference champion at 10,000-meter run, while also qualifying for the national championships in both distances. Petesch was a two-time recipient of UW-Platteville's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and earned his bachelor's degree with a double major in biology & geography.
