Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Megan LaVoie is now in her sixth season as an assistant coach for the EKU cross country and track and field program. She works primarily with distance and mid-distance runners.

The native of Newport News, Virginia has played an integral role in the recent success of the EKU cross country and track and field teams. Since she joined the coaching staff in 2011, the EKU men's cross country team has won six consecutive OVC titles and qualified for five consecutive NCAA Championships from 2011-15. The EKU women's cross country team has won five of the last six OVC titles (2010, 2012-16) under Lavoie's tutelage.

Lavoie has also helped several Colonels qualify for and compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, including 10 in the last four years years. She most notably played a key role in the development of junior Charlotte Imer, who had one of the best seasons ever by a Colonel in 2016-17. With Lavoie's guidance, Imer was named a cross country All-American in the fall and a second team All-American in the outdoor 5,000 meters in the spring. She was also voted the OVC Female Cross Country Runner and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, and she became the first EKU woman ever to go sub-16:00 in the 5,000 meters when she ran 15:59.3 at the Stanford Invitational in April.

Haley Yost and Luisa Boschan also enjoyed great success for the EKU women in 2016-17. Yost became the first EKU woman since 1998 to win OVC gold in both the 800 meters and 1,500 meters, and she qualified for the NCAA East Region Preliminaries in both events. Boschan, meanwhile, earned NCAA All-Southeast Region honors in cross country and then ran 16:20.9 in the 5,000 meters during the outdoor track season, which is the fourth-fastest women's 5K in program history.

In 2015, Lavoie helped guide freshman sprinter Carina Schrempf to the NCAA Championships. Schrempf came to EKU as a quarter-miler (and ran 54.01 in that event during the spring), but developed into a half-miler under Lavoie's tutelage. Schrempf ran a personal-best and school-record 2:04.76 in the 800 meters at the NCAA East Regional to qualify for the NCAA Championships. She finished 15th in the event at the national championships in Eugene, Oregon, earning second team All-America honors. She finished the year as the No. 3 freshman in the country in the 800 meters.

Academic success has also been at the forefront of the EKU cross country and track and field program since Lavoie joined the staff, illustrated by senior Ann Eason being named a Capital One first team Academic All-American by CoSIDA in 2014-15.

Lavoie competed at EKU from 2004-07 and finished eighth in the mile at the 2007 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She was also a member of the winning distance medley relay team at the 2006 OVC Indoor Track and Field Championships. She ran a career-best 4:52 in the 1,500 meters during the 2005 season.