Catherine Hanson is in her ninth year at Longwood University during 2015-16, coaching both the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Hanson came to Longwood after a five-year stint as assistant men’s cross country and track and field coach at Colgate University from 2003-07.
In her most recent 2015 campaign, both of Hanson’s teams earned two top-tier team finishes in the regular season. Additionally, the women’s team captured two top-15 individual performances, and the men’s team earned a second place individual finish. Two of Hanson’s runners, Russell Reed and Gracie Piekarski, also had the opportunity to run in the prestigious IC4A race in New York where Piekarski clocked the second highest Lancer in the program’s Division I history. Reed was among Longwood’s top men’s runners during Hanson’s tenure, setting the school 5K record as a sophomore and coming with 15 seconds of breaking that mark again as a senior when he placed second at the Coastal Carolina Invitational in 2015.
The Lancers earned three top-10 finishes by the men, and three top-10 finishes by the women’s program during 2013, as the men earned their highest finish at the Big South Championship (7th), as well.?Longwood's men placed 34th at the NCAA Southeast Regional and the women placed 37th.
In addition to her coaching success, Hanson is an accomplished triathlete who qualified for the Spring World Championships to be held in Cozumel, Mexico in September, 2016. She will compete for Team USA at the event.
Hanson develops and facilitates team training, scheduling, and recruiting, along with management and oversight of the program’s budget and fundraising. She also coordinates team travel and team compliance protocol, while taking pride in the two programs’ academic performances.? The Lancers earned three top-10 finishes by the men, and two top-10 finishes by the women’s program during 2012 as the men placed 31st at the NCAA Southeast Regional and the women placed 36th.? Longwood also had its second-straight women's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-East runner in 2012.
Hanson established the Longwood Invitational at the Longwood Golf Club during her first year in 2007, designing routes for both the 5K (3.1 mile) women's race, and the 8K (5 mile) men's race over the school's nine-hole golf course layout. That year, both the men’s and women’s teams each had four top-10 team finishes as the men placed 27th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional, and the women placed 28th. In 2008, the women earned three top-10 finishes and were 26th at the Mid-Atlantic regional, while the men had two top-10 efforts and placed 22nd at the IC4A Championships. In 2009, both the men and women earned five top-10 finishes as the women were 33rd at the Southeast regional, while the men placed 34th.? In 2010, both the men and women earned four top-five efforts among five top-10 finishes overall, respectively, as the men placed 32nd at the NCAA Southeast Regional and the women placed 37th.? In 2011, both the men and women earned three top-10 finishes, as the men placed 31st at the NCAA Southeast Regional and the women placed 34th. Longwood also enjoyed its first-ever women's ECAC All-East runner.
At Colgate, major accomplishments during her time with the Red Raiders included two NCAA Regional qualifiers, including one who advanced to the NCAA Championships, along with numerous track and field accomplishments in both sprint and relay events that include Patriot League titles in the 4x100, 4x400, 3000, 5000, and 10,000. Hanson was also responsible for establishing team study groups that enabled the track squad to raise the overall team GPA to 3.18. She has hosted numerous workshops for student-athletes concerning injuries, nutrition, drugs and alcohol, and massage therapy, while instructing classes in the department of physical education on strength and fitness, introduction to running, aqua jogging, and cycling.
Prior to her experiences at Colgate, Hanson taught for eight years in Fairfax County before teaching for two additional years in Hamilton, New York. She was a four-year letterwinner in cross country at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., as well as a three-year letterwinner in both indoor and outdoor track and field for the Mountaineers. Hanson earned Academic All-America honors for four years and was a qualifier in two relay events at the prestigious Penn Relays, while also earning numerous Northeast Conference Athlete of the Week awards.
A native of Hamilton, N.Y., Hanson received her bachelor of science in elementary education from Mount St. Mary’s and is pursuing her master of science degree at Longwood University. She qualified for USA National Age Group Championships in the triathlon (2009, 2003-04) and was nationally ranked during 2003-04. Hanson has three sons: Michael, Matthew and Samuel.
