Oldenburg Academy has hired former state champion and college All-American Curt Eckstein as its boys and girls cross country coach.
Eckstein won state championships in cross country and in the 3200 in track while running for the Twisters.
He was also the Charles F. Maas Mental Attitude Award winner in cross country.
Eckstein ran collegiately at Purdue University where he was All American, 1st team All-Big Ten in cross country, and is the school’s 3k record holder.
He graduated from Purdue this year with a degree in mechanical engineering and accepted a job with Rolls Royce in Indianapolis.
Even though Eckstein will be about an hour away once his job starts in early September, he will stay connected with the program by providing workouts and training to assistant coaches.
Eckstein still plans on attending every meet he can.
While he is still in town, Eckstein is using this time to connect with the runners, figure out individualized training for each, and to get them into a routine.
“I am excited to be able to help out with OA and give back. Working with the athletes has been great and I really enjoy spreading my knowledge to them and helping them develop to be better runners and people,” Eckstein said.
“We are very excited to have Curt coaching our cross country teams. He is obviously a very qualified coach, but more than that he is a great person. I have known Curt since he was in high school and he has always been the same person. Through all of his well-deserved success, he has stayed humble, kind, and giving,” said OA Athletic Director Michael Higdon. “Curt is always giving back to the Oldenburg community and this is just one example of his generosity. He is just a perfect example to the runners of how to be a first-class citizen.”
The Twisters have one returning Regional qualifier this year plus a young core of runners on both the boys and girls teams.
(We thank Oldenburg Academy Communications Specialist Elizabeth Schulte for the information and photo used in this story)