The 2026-27 school year marks Mark Misch’s 20th season with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs cross country and track and field programs. He is the Head Men's Cross Country and the Assistant Track and Field Coach for men's distance.
Misch guided the men's cross country team to the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019 (there was no NCAA II Championships in 2020), 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 where they finished 17th, 19th, 11th, 23rd, 12th, 20th, 5th, 13th, 18th, 15th and 13th respectively as well as individual qualifier David Kimaiyo in 2017. The 5th place finish was the highest by any men’s athletic program in the history of the UCCS Athletic Department. UCCS also competes in the top distance running conference and region at the NCAA II level. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference currently holds the NCAA II record for having the most teams qualify for a National Cross Country Championship in the same season with eight teams, a record they set in 2023.
He also led the Mountain Lion women's cross country team from 2007-11. In 2008, Shannon Payne recorded one of the best seasons in program history with a win at the NCAA Division II regional championship and a third-place finish at the NCAA II National Championships as well as finishing as the second collegian and 15th at the USA National Cross Country Championships and all-American honors in the 10,000m run in track as well as RMAC titles at 3000m and 5000m.
Since 2008 the UCCS Mountain Lions have had 51 different men qualify to compete in 118 different distance events at the NCAA II cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field championships as well as multiple all-RMAC and all-region and all-American performers including 2022 NCAA II 5000m National Champion Afewerki Zeru. During that time the men have broken and set the indoor Mile, 3000m, 5000m and distance medley relay records and outdoor in the 1500m, Mile, 3000m, 3000m Steeplechase, 5000m and 10,000m.
On the academic side, the Mountain Lion men’s cross country teams have won numerous U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic awards and have had several student-athletes earn individual RMAC and USTFCCCA all-Academic honors. Ryder Tam was named the RMAC Summit Award winner in 2013 with the top cumulative grade point average among runners at the conference championships. Misch also coached cross country runners Luke Dakin, Mike English and Zeru who were all named recipients of the UCCS McLaughlin Award which is the highest award given out by the UCCS Athletic Department.
Misch also started the annual UCCS Rust-Buster Cross Country meet in 2007 and the Colorado Springs Open XC Meet in 2019. UCCS also hosted the 2012 Colorado USATF Cross Country Championships as well as the RMAC Cross Country Championships in 2012, 2020 and 2025.
Outside of coaching at UCCS Misch founded and directed the Colorado Springs Free Cross Country Camp from 2011-2018 and was a founding member of the non-profit Harambee Foundation and the Colorado Springs Elite Running Coalition. He also served terms as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference representative on the USTFCCCA Executive Committee, President and Vice President for NCAA Division II Cross Country as well as on the USTFCCCA Board of Directors.
Misch has also mentored and coached several post-college runners nationally and internationally, including current Drake Relays Meet Director Blake Boldon and Estonian Olympians and national record-holders Tiidrek Nurme and Kaur Kivistik and 2021 USA Olympic Team alternate Daniel Michalski as well as Jess Watychowicz who won the 2022 Twin Cities Marathon. Misch has also coached UCCS alumni Afewerki Zeru and Marcus Graham who both competed in the 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon.
Misch was named to the Estonian National Team coaching staff for the 2018 European Track&Field Championships in Berlin, Germany, the 2019 World Track&Field Championships in Doha, Qatar and 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, the 2022 European Track & Field Championships in Munich, Germany, the 2023 World Track & Field Championships in Budapest, Hungary, the 2025 European Marathon Championships in Brussels, Belgium and the 2025 World Track & Field Championships in Tokyo, Japan.. He was also named the Estonian male athlete track&field coach of the year in 2020.
Misch is a native of Coffeyville, Kan., where he earned All-Southeastern Kansas honors in cross country and track and field, and all-state honors in track and field at Field Kindley Memorial High School. He graduated from Baker University with a bachelor's degree in mass communications in 1995, where he won seven Heart of America Athletic Conference championships and was an 11-time All-HAAC performer. Misch was also a member of teams that won back-to-back HAAC conference championships in cross country and qualified for the first time in program history for the NAIA National Championships. Misch was inducted into the Baker University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2025. Misch went on to compete for several years as a post-collegiate runner and as a master’s runner he was a member of the Boulder Running Company / Adidas team that won both the 2014 and 2015 USA Masters National Cross Country Championships.
Misch was the Head Coach at Bethany College in the 1995-96 season before he moved became a coach at Alameda High School in Lakewood, Colo., to train and study the effects of altitude training. He went back to school to earn his master's degree in athletic administration and communications from 1998-99 at Fort Hays State University. During that time, he worked as an assistant coach and focused on the cross country team and on middle and long-distance runners during track and field season.
Misch became the Head Coach in 2000 at Southwest Baptist University and built the cross country and track and field programs from scratch. He coached T.J. Sanderson as the first SBU student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA II cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field national championships.
In 2005, Misch began serving on the staff for Athletes in Action Track and Field, continuing a relationship that started in 1994 as a volunteer. Over the years, Misch has traveled to numerous countries via AIA and attended international events such as the World Cross Country Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the World Track and Field Championships and the Olympic Games. He concluded his commitments with AIA in 2006 before accepting the position at UCCS.
