Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Cory Erdmann was promoted to Director of the Track and Field and Cross Country program in July 2022 and is in his third year in the role.

In the 2023-2024 season, Erdmann helmed the men's cross country team to their second-straight ASUN championship. Six runners finished in the top ten with seven being named all-conference, while the women's team finished third place once more with three all-conference honorees. The men would go on to finish second place at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships and 31st at the National Championships. Four runners were named USTFCCCA All-Region.

In the Indoor track & field season, the Colonels claimed individual conference champions in the 800m, the 3000m, and the 5000m for the men, as well as the distance medley relay for both the men and women. During the outdoor season, the EKU men were individual conference champions in the 1500m and 3000m as well as sweeping the podium in the 5000m. Both the men and the women qualified athletes for the regional preliminary rounds with three athletes advancing to the NCAA championships, where Hakim Abouzouhir finished fourth and claimed First-Team All-American honors.

With the 2022-2023 season came the program's first-ever ASUN conference championship in men's cross country, nearly sweeping the top 10 with seven Colonels within it and eight All-Conference selections. The women finished third place with two runners named to All-Conference. Both teams qualified for the Southeast Region Championships where the men would finish sixth place and the women 12th out of 32 teams. In the track & field seasons, Erdmann coached individual conference champions in the indoor men's Mile and conference medalists in the outdoor season in the men's 800m, 5000m, and 10,000m, as well as a sweep of first-through-fourth place in the 3000m steeplechase. Seven athletes qualified for regional prelimiaries with three advancing to nationals in the 3000m steeplechase, earning three honorable mention All-American honors.

Erdmann was named head coach of the Eastern Kentucky University cross country and track and field program on July 6, 2018. In his first three seasons, Erdmann led the Colonels to five OVC cross country titles and an OVC men's indoor title, earning five OVC Coach of the Year awards (two for men's cross country, two for women's cross country and one for men's indoor track and field).

During the 2021-2022 season, Erdmann led the team to break ten school records, including Ahmed Jaziri in the men’s outdoor 3K steeplechase (8:18.7) to win the National Championship. Jaziri would go on to race for his home country of Tunisia in the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing in 5th place in the same event.

In March of 2021, Erdmann led the EKU women's cross country team to its 14th OVC title in the last 15 years. Laura Taborda won the individual conference title and became only the fourth EKU woman ever to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships as an individual.

One of the biggest highlights of 2021 was the development of Ahmed Jaziri. Jaziri ran at all three NCAA Championships during a three-month span in 2021. The native of Rades, Tunisia earned first team All-America honors after finishing sixth in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships with an EKU-record time of 7:53.1. Two days later, he represented EKU at the NCAA Cross Country Championships as an individual, finishing in the top third of the field. Jaziri was one of only 47 student-athletes nationally to race at both the NCAA Indoor Championships and NCAA Cross Country Championships during that week in March.

In the fall of 2019, Erdmann led the EKU men's and women's cross country teams to their eighth consecutive sweep of the OVC Championships. The Colonel men ran away with the title, defeating their nearest competitor by more than 40 points. The women's team's win was even more impressive, as the Colonels edged Eastern Illinois by only six points with a top-five that featured four freshmen and a sophomore.

Following the OVC Championships, freshman Ezekiel Rop qualified for the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships as an individual, finishing eighth at the NCAA Southeast Regional with a 10K time of 29:58.3.

In his first season as head coach, Erdmann led  the EKU men's cross country team back to the NCAA Championships. The Colonels earned an automatic bid by placing second at the NCAA

Southeast Regional. They followed that up by taking 16th at the national championship meet, the second-best finish ever by an EKU team.

Redshirt freshman James Sugira led the way for EKU all season, earning All-America honors by finishing 14th at the NCAA Championships. He was also the 2018 NCAA Southeast Region and OVC individual champion.

Erdmann then led the EKU men to another OVC Indoor Track and Field title in February of 2019. The Colonels ran away with the trophy, scoring 128 points.

Before being named head coach, Erdmann had served as Eastern Kentucky's recruiting coordinator since 2009. In that role, he helped bring to EKU some of the top student-athletes in program history, including Soufiane Bouchikhi (a six-time All-American and 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championship participant), Ole Hesselbjerg (a two-time NCAA bronze medalist in the steeplechase and a 2016 Olympian), Thijs Nijhuis (IAAF World Half-Marathon Championship participant), Wade Meddles (NCAA cross country All-American), Jaime Escriche (NCAA cross country All-American), Charlotte Imer (two-time All-American) and Jamaine Coleman (the 2018 national runner-up in the steeplechase). Erdmann has extensive experience recruiting, particularly distance runners, on a national and international level.
 
Since Erdmann joined the staff in August of 2009, EKU won 22 OVC titles, including the last 10 men's cross country titles and nine of the last 10 women's cross country titles. During that time, EKU cross country teams have become and stayed fixtures on the national scene. Over the last eight years, the men's cross country team has qualified for the NCAA Championships six times. Between 2011 and 2015, Eastern Kentucky was one of only 10 schools in the country to qualify each and every year. In 2017, the EKU women became the first OVC team ever to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing 23rd.  In 2013, the men's cross country team won the NCAA Southeast Region for the first time in school history, defeating schools such as Virginia, North Carolina and North Carolina State to advance to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year, ultimately concluding the season with a 15th place finish.

"EKU is a special place and we have a special program," Erdmann said upon being hired. "I am grateful for this opportunity, and I, along with everyone on our staff, will work very hard to help our student-athletes become the best versions of themselves possible.  This includes helping them achieve success athletically, academically and socially."