Cross Country
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Lauren Denfeld is in her fourth season on the Washington staff, joining the Huskies from OregonState where she helped revitalize the Beavers program as a student-athlete and a coach. Denfeld works with Washington head coach Greg Metcalf and associate head coach Jason Drake to mentor the Husky distance runners.
The Husky women’s cross country team has continued to roll to the NCAA Championships and bring in some of the nation’s top recruits with Denfeld on staff. Washington has finished in the top-20 at NCAAs each year from 2010-13, with a best of second-place in 2011.
During Denfeld’s tenure, Megan Goethals and Katie Flood have developed into two of the best distance runners in Washington’s storied history. Flood won the 2012 NCAA Championship at 1,500-meters, and anchored UW’s distance medley relay to the NCAA title indoors. She also won the Pac-12 cross country title in 2012. Goethals is a few points shy of becoming the career-leader in NCAA points scored at UW, as she is now an eight-time All-American, the 2013 Pac-12 Champion at 5,000-meters, and the 2012 NCAA runner-up in the 5k.
Six different Husky women’s distance runners have earned All-America honors over the last two years. Christine Babcock was a Second Team All-American in the mile and the 5,000-meters last season. Liberty Miller made her first trip to the NCAA final site in the steeplechase in 2013, as did Baylee Mires in the 800-meters. Chelsea Orr also was an All-American leading off UW’s DMR in 2012.
Denfeld's second season at Washington was one of the most memorable in the history of the women's distance program. It began in the fall of 2011 as Flood and Goethals led the women's cross country team to the NCAA podium, as UW took second, narrowly missing the program's second national title. UW also won its fourth straight NCAA West Region title. The NCAA win for Flood and runner-up finish for Goethals on the track in 2012 helped the UW women's team to an all-time best eighth-place finish at NCAA Outdoors.
In Denfeld's first season on staff in 2010-11, the women's cross country team won West Regionals and finished 16th at the NCAA Championships. As freshmen, Flood and Goethals both qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track Championships, earning All-American honors indoors in the 3k and outdoors in the 1500m (Flood) and 5000m (Goethals).
A native of Bend, Oregon, Denfeld was one of the original members of the women's track and cross country program when it was reinstated in 2004. She became just the second runner in the modern era of OregonState track to qualify for the NCAA West Regional Championships, where she ran in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2007 and 2008. Denfeld set the school record in the steeplechase, registering her best mark of 10:38.28 in her final season.
Denfeld was then brought back on the OSU bandwagon in August 2009 by head coach Kelly Sullivan, to help continue the program's progress. That season with Denfeld in the fold, the OSU women's cross country squad finished ninth at the West Regional Championships, matching the program's best finish since reinstatement. Four Beavers advanced to the NCAA Preliminary Rounds on the track.
In the classroom, Denfeld earned the program's first CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 Second Team honor, as well as multiple Pac-10 All-Academic First Team awards for track. She also was a recipient of a Pac-10 Postgraduate Scholarship.
Denfeld graduated from OregonState in 2008, earning her bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus in marketing and a minor in Spanish.
