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Drew Wartenburg took over as the head men's and women's cross country coach in the summer of 2008 after a stint as an assistant coach at Oregon State. Wartenburg also works with the distance runners as an assistant coach with the Aggie track and field teams and enters his second year in 2009-10.
During his first season at the helm of the cross country program, the Aggies achieved new heights as the men's team finished a program-best second at the Big West Conference Championships and women's runners Kim Conley and Kaitlin Gregg became the first Aggies to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships during the university's D-I era. Conley and Gregg earned the first D-I all-region honors for the Aggies. In addition, Conley, Gregg and men's runner K.C. Cody earned all-conference accolades.
His first-year success carried over to the track as well. Conley and Lorin Scott each earned a spot into the regional meet in the 1,500 and 5,000 while Russell Pfaff qualified in the steeplechase.
Wartenburg spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach for Oregon State's women's track and field and cross country teams. In only their third year since reinstating the programs for the 2004-05 season, the Beavers finished 13th at the NCAA West Regional during the cross country season and qualified their lone track and field athlete for the regional meet in the steeplechase - an event Wartenburg helped coach. Additionally, he mentored two Pac-10 Conference finalists in the 1,500 and the sixth-place finisher at the 2008 USATF Junior Nationals in that event.
Prior to arriving at Oregon State, Wartenburg coached many successful teams and individuals at the prep level. He gained his first head coaching experience during a six-year stint as the head coach at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Wash. He served two years as the Dean of Students as well as a tenure as athletics director.
Wartenburg guided the cross country teams to a combined three league titles, three district titles and three Washington State titles at the 1A level. Individually, four of his runners (Peter Browne, Alex Crabill, Tom Wyatt, LIzzie Jewson) captured state titles, which included two Foot Locker All-Region performers (Jewson, Wyatt) and one national finalist (Wyatt).
As the head track and field coach at Charles Wright, Wartenburg's teams experienced similar success with four league titles, a men's district crown in 2006 and three runner-up finishes at the state meet. Individually, Wyatt, Crabill and Jewson totalled 10 state titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 during their respective careers. Wyatt also captured All-America honors in the mile in 2004.
Wartenburg's other coaching experience came as the assistant boy's and girl's cross country coach at Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, Calif. During his three years there Chadwick won back-to-back Division V girls state titles. In addition to coaching at Chadwick, Wartenburg spent time as the foreign language chair while teaching Spanish.
