Dr. Colin Young, a former Division III national champion, is in his third season as cross country coach at Wabash College.
Young's 2015 cross country squad placed eighth at the NCAA DIII Championships, the highest finish for a Wabash team since 1995. The Little Giants captured their third consecutive Great Lakes Regional title behind three top-10 finishes by Fabian House (third), Colin Rinne (eighth), and Adam Togami (10th). Dominic Patacsil scored a 24th-place finish to garner all-region honors, as well. Wabash placed second at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships with all five top runners scoring All-NCAC honors. His 2016 team placed third at the NCAC championships. Freshman Sam Henthorn was named the Newcomer of the Year and was joined by Dominic Patacsil, Mason McKinney, and Colin Rinne on the All-NCAC team. The Little Giants placed fifth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional with Patacsil and McKinney advancing to the national championship meet.
In track, Togami finished seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2016 NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships to pick up All-America honors. Togami also placed second and third in the indoor conference 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs, and won the outdoor conference steeplechase title. Mason McKinney earned All-NCAC honors in the mile — placing second — and anchored the conference champion distance medley relay team along with House, Cole Seward and Parker Redelman. Rinne was honored as Distance Athlete of the Year honors at the 2016 NCAC Indoor Championships after winning the 5,000-meter run, finishing second in the mile, and placing fourth in the 3,000.
Young came to Wabash after serving as assistant cross country and track coach at Williams College from 2014-2015, where he helped guide the men to a NESCAC conference championship and sixth place finish at the 2015 NCAA DIII Cross Country Nationals, while the women also won the NESCAC conference championship and placed eighth at Nationals.
In track, Young coached the distance runners at Williams where his athletes produced five school records and six All-America performances, including National runner-up performances in the men’s 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2015 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships, and the year's fastest 10k time in NCAA Division III.
Before Williams, Young served as an assistant track coach at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China guiding middle and long distance athletes. The team won the Hubei Province Track & Field Championship each year from 2007-2014. Young also founded and coached a university running club with over 100 members.
In addition, Young worked as an associate professor of Sports Studies at Wuhan Sport University, and spent 16 months researching Ethiopia's world-leading distance runners and assisting their five-time national Olympic team coach, Dr. Woldemeskal Kostre.
Before living abroad, Colin was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Tennessee, helping the men’s team win the 2002 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Championship and twice qualify for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. At Tennessee, he earned a Master’s in Sport Psychology (2002) and a PhD in Sociology of Sport & Education (2005).
As a collegiate student-athlete, Young ran at Duke University, and at North Central College, where he was a member of three NCAA Division III National Champion Cross Country teams (1997, 1998, 1999) and two NCAA Division III National Champion Outdoor Track and Field teams (1998, 2000). Individually, Young was a six-time All-American, a national champion in the 10,000 meters at the 2000 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships, and a runner-up at the 1999 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. He graduated from North Central in 2000 with a double major in history and physical education with an emphasis on coaching and exercise physiology.
Young also served as an assistant cross country and track coach at North Central College from 2005-2006 and at Elizabethtown College from 2000-2001. He is a USATF Level II Certified Coach in the endurance, sprint, and jump events. He continues to train and race competitively in events ranging from 5,000 meters to marathon distances. He lives in Crawfordsville with his wife, Xu Pei, a professor of sport psychology.
Colin Young's Coaching Record
Head Coach, Wabash College (two seasons)
2016 — 3rd at NCAC Championships — 5that NCAA Great Lakes Regional
2015 — 2nd at NCAC Championships — 1st at NCAA Great Lakes Regional — 8th at NCAA National Championships
