Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Olsen was a four-year letter winner for coach Rick Erdmann’s women’s cross country and track teams from 1991-95. She began her Eastern career in grand fashion by winning the OVC cross country championship, finishing the 5,000-meter course in first place in a time of 18:06.  She repeated this feat of being named OVC Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year her sophomore and her senior years in helping Eastern continue its string of OVC women’s cross country titles to 18 in a row from 1982-1999.  During her four-year career, she was chosen as OVC Female Cross Country Runner of the Week seven times. Her success continued during her track seasons as she did her part in leading EKU to two OVC outdoor titles and one conference indoor championship. During her four-year EKU career, she was a four-time OVC outdoor champion in the 3,000-meter run and set a school record in the 10,000-meter run. She also won the 1993 indoor title in the 3,000-meter run and captured three league medals in the 5,000-meter run (1993 and 1995 indoor and the 1993 outdoor).  Other achievements at Eastern included being named a three-time EKU Sportswoman of the Year in Cross Country; Outstanding Senior in Physical Education; Top senior in the College of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics; the EKU Milestone Yearbook’s Hall of Fame Winner; and was one of 10 Finalists for the 1995 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.  She was also one of only six athletes to be chosen as a 1993-94 OVC Scholar Athlete of the Year, won the OVC Medal of Honor that season and was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American. She recently served as the head cross country coach and a member of the adjunct faculty at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, beginning the initial cross country team there in 2005.  She led her 2013 and 2014 squads to back-to-back USA South Championship titles and earned Coach of the Year honors each year. The 2014 Avenging Angels earned the program's third consecutive national Division III All-Academic recognition from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Her teams made a steady climb up the ranks in the USA South Athletic Conference with a second-place finish in the 2012 championships. Meredith captured consecutive fourth place finishes during the program's first three years as a member of the conference. The 2006 team completed a third place finish in the USA South as a non-conference member and won the Division III State Championship in 2005.  She came to Meredith from NCAA Division I member Duke University where she served two years as the women’s cross country/track assistant coach. During her time there, they finished as the NCAA cross country national runner-up in 2005. Previously, she served five years as head cross country/ track coach at Charleston Southern University. She also served two years as graduate assistant coach at Northern Arizona University. While she was at NAU, the men’s and women’s teams finished in the top 10 in the NCAA cross country championships. Olsen holds a Master of Arts in exercise science from Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor of Arts in physical education from Eastern Kentucky University. She spends her spare time in the Raleigh area as a volunteer, counselor and committee member in various civic and church organizations and camps.