Jeremy Wilk
Jeremy Wilk enters his second season as the assistant coach for men’s and women’s distance and cross country at the University of Miami, after starting in mid-September of 2023.
During his first cross country season with the Hurricanes, Daphnee Lavassas became only the second–ever NCAA qualifier in program history, with her top-5 finish at the South Regional Meet in Gainesville, FL. She went on to have the highest–ever NCAA finish in program history, finishing just outside of All-American honors (20:08.4 for 6k) in Charlottesville, VA. Numerous other women moved onto the program’s top-ten list during the 2023 cross country season.
During indoor track season, Daphnee Lavassas rewrote the record books in both the 3k and 5k, while scoring at the Indoor ACC Championships. Outdoors, Daphnee broke the 5k and 10k school records, while scoring at the Outdoor ACC Meet. Austen Cannon also ran massive personal bests, breaking the 5k and 3k steeplechase records. All in all, the distance crew broke school records seven times during the indoor and outdoor track season, in addition to multiple placements on the program’s top-five list.
Prior to the Hurricanes, Jeremy Wilk spent seven years (2016-2023) with the Northwood University Timberwolves. He was named the Head Track and Field/Cross Country Coach in August of 2021 after five years as an assistant coach. His cross country teams, distance and middle-distance student-athletes broke school records thirty-three times during his tenure at NU.
In his first year as the head of the program, the men’s and women’s teams earned their highest indoor GLIAC finishes since 1985 and 2006 respectively. The men’s team earned a runner-up finish behind eventual NCAA-Champion Grand Valley State University, and the women finished 7th. The NU coaching staff earned GLIAC Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year. He was also named Northwood University Coach of the Year in 2022.
In cross country, his men’s teams went from 27th in the Midwest region in year one to 25th in the NCAA in 2022. The 2022 squad was the first to earn a team NCAA XC Championship appearance in program history. In addition to that qualification, the men added the third and fourth individual NCAA qualifiers in school history in Brian Patrick and Zane Aldrich, with Brian earning the first XC All-American in school history (male or female). Zane broke the school record with his 3rd place NCAA regional finish in 30:09, which would have broken the previous course record at frequent Midwest Regional host, Angel Mounds State Park. Zane was named as a finalist for regional men’s athlete of the year and earned the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award for his efforts on the grass and in the classroom. The men and women earned All-Academic team honors every season he was at the helm, highlighted by the #8 men’s cross country team GPA in NCAA Division II in 2021. There were 12 USTFCCCA All-Academic individuals during his time and at least 27 new members of Northwood’s all-time top-25 list in cross country between the men and women’s teams.
During track and field, his distance/middle-distance crews have broken school records thirty times. These include over 43 spots on the NCAA descending order list (provisional marks) along with two All-Americans in the men’s 800m indoors (Stephen Barker in 2022 and Josiah Morse in 2020) and an All-American in the men’s mile indoors (Dillan Haviland in 2023.) The men’s DMR school record (Mancillas-Finnerty, Jones, Barker and Haviland) ran the 28th fastest DMR team in the history of NCAA Division II in 2022. All four men were local recruits, going to high school within about a 90-minute radius of Northwood. In 2023, Josh Jones ran the 26th fastest outdoor 800m time (1:48.45) in NCAA Division II history. The men’s middle-distance crew consistently ranked in the upper echelon of D2, earning top 5-10 event squad rankings in the 800m and 1500m in 2023. The men’s T&F team has produced a balanced effort across different areas, as the men’s shot put, weight throw and hammer throw crews were typically ranked top-15 in each respective events. This balanced effort earned the men a 33rd place finish at the NCAA Division II Indoor T&F Championships in 2022.
In 2017, the cross country team only had five returners, but quickly built up closer to over 30 student-athletes. During that time, the group has combined to produce between four and ten of the program’s top-ten spots in every distance/middle-distance event contested in indoor and outdoor track and field. In his first year as head of the track and field program as well, the teams brought in 31 new student-athletes.
In addition to coaching collegiate student-athletes to personal bests and school records, he also helped Jordan Chester to an Olympic Trials qualifying time in the marathon. She placed 30th overall at the 2018 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:44:16 (6:16 mile pace and over a 6 minute personal best), punching her ticket to the Olympic Trials in Atlanta in February 2020.
Prior to Northwood, Wilk served as the Assistant Cross Country/Track & Field coach and the Director of Operations for Ashland University. There, along with Head Cross Country coach Tom Scott, Jeremy mentored and coached the distance and middle distance runners to much success. In 2015, both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Teams ranked in the top 25 for NCAA Division II. The women placed fifth at the GLIAC Championships, their highest placement since 2011. At the 2015 NCAA Midwest Regional meet the men’s team just missed qualifying for the NCAA championships by 16 points. That year, Steven Kapes and Emily Schumaker were named Division II All-Ohio Men’s and Women’s Freshman of the Year, respectively.
The distance and middle distance runners continued to see success both athletically and academically. Both Men’s and Women’s cross country teams earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors, with six earning Academic All-American honors for Cross Country, two individuals earned USTFCCCA Academic All-America honors.
The strong season continued with the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Indoors, redshirt Nick Hall ran 4:05.10 (mile) and 8:17.98 (3k) which would have been a school record if he had been in uniform. Freshman, Tyler Sievert was the GLIAC runner-up in the indoor men’s 800m with a track converted time of 1:53.57. Outdoors, Kylee Bernthisel broke the school record in the women’s 3k steeplechase by 10 seconds, running 10:55.74. David Knack qualified for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships with times of 14:06.56 (5k) and 29:41.74 (10k), good for #2 in school history for both events. Knack was the #2 5k collegiate 5k runner in the state of Ohio regardless of NCAA division. Indoors, the men placed 10th, and outdoors the men placed ninth at the NCAA Division II Championships.
In his first year of collegiate coaching at Ashland University (2014-15), he got to work with National Assistant Coach of the Year, Trent Mack. During that year, Drew Windle won the indoor and outdoor titles in the 800m, and the men’s cross country team earned a top-ten finish at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Wilk is a graduate of Grand Valley State University where he earned his B.B.A. in Finance and Marketing. No stranger to success, he competed for the nationally–acclaimed GVSU cross country and track and field teams. He began his career as a walk-on and ended it as a two-time first-team All-American, three-time Academic All-American and school record holder in the outdoor 800m run (1:49.40.) Upon graduation, he continued to train in his first year at Ashland, running a new personal bests of 1:49.36 (800) and 4:10.43 (mile) indoors and qualifying for the 2015 USATF Indoor Championships in Boston. There he placed 12th in the 1,000m run.
