ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Bethel University Director of Athletics Greg Peterson announced that Andrew Rock has been elevated to the Royals' Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. Rock has been the head coach of the men's and women's track and field squads since his arrival in 2012.
 
"With the departure of Joe Stephens as head cross country coach, we had the opportunity to look at the overall structure of our track and cross country programs," said Peterson. "Andrew Rock has done an amazing job growing our track program and aligning with the mission of Bethel. Through many discussions, it became apparent that having Andrew serve as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country will allow for an integrated approach to recruiting and team culture, which will result in overall growth of all of our running programs."
 
In addition, Kevin Rengo has been named the interim associate head coach of cross country in addition to his assistant track and field coaching duties.
 
"As we went through the search process for the associate head coach of cross country and evaluating how can we can provide the best experience for our student-athletes within the timing we were dealing with, it became apparent that Kevin Rengo provides not only stability and relationship equity, but his prior experience as a head cross country coach will prove valuable as we seek to grow our distance programs. I'm grateful for Kevin's willingness to step into this role."
 
Rock has elevated the Bethel track and field program to a nationally known program with most recently coaching 19 All-Americans in 2022. He helped lead the women's squad to their first-ever MIAC Indoor Championship besting a second place finish the year before. In total he has developed 83 All-Americans, five individual NCAA National runner-up finishes and one NCAA national runner-up relay.
 
Rengo came to Bethel in 2017 following a stint as head cross country and track & field coach at Ripon College. At Bethel he coaches the jumps, hurdles and multi-events for the track squad which recently saw two national runner up performances in Kelsie Sealock (100m hurdles) and Jayson Ekiyor (110m hurdles) at the outdoor championships. In the multis, Lukas Walton took eighth in decathlon earning his first All-American honor.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be coaching our cross country team this fall. It's a blessing to know the student-athletes already," said Rengo. "I can't wait to pour into this group and continue to see growth together!"

The cross country team opens up its 2022 season on Friday, Sept. 2 hosting the Twin Cities Twlight at Victory Links Golf Course in Blaine.