Lucas Keifer was named as the Averett University men’s and women’s cross country head coach in June 2018.
In his first season with Averett, Keifer helped guide his runners to a number of personal-best finishes as both the men's and women's teams placed in each event during the regular season. He also coached several of his runners to appearances in the NCAA Regional.
Keifer, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, competed collegiately in cross country and track. He was on both teams for three seasons at NAIA Hastings College, earning all-conference honors. Prior to that, he ran one season of track for Division I Oklahoma State University and one season of cross country at Division I University of Nebraska.
Keifer was a five-time Great Plains Athletic Conference all-conference performer, including winning the 2017 GPAC Indoor 5K championship and was the GPAC Outdoor 10K runner-up. In addition, he was a national qualifier for the distance medley relay and marathon. He finished his career on Hastings’ all-time top 10 list from 1,000 meters to half-marathon.
Keifer, who will begin his new post on July 1, takes over a program with a pair of women’s championships and runners of the year at the conference level and, a history of success for both the men’s and women’s teams competing at the NCAA Regionals.
Keifer graduated from Hastings in May 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a minor in coaching. He will be pursuing a master’s of education degree from Averett.
