Men's Coaches
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Phil Torrens
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In 2008-09, Phil Torrens will be starting his 30th
season as men's cross country coach and his 16th season as women's
cross country coach. Coach Torren's women's team has won six NCAC
championships (1998-2000, 2003, 2004, 2005)
and his men's team captured a conference title in 1998 and is coming off a second place finish in 2007.
In 2005 the women's team won not only the NCAC Championships, but also the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The squad eventually went on to finish 24th in the NCAA Division III Championships. The men's team placed second in the NCAC Championships and a very respectable 10th place in the Great Lakes Regional meet.
In 2004, Torrens' women's cross-country team made school history, claiming not only their second consecutive NCAC championship, but winning the NCAA regional meet for the first time in school history. With the team win at regionals, the women went on to make their first appearance at the NCAA national meet, placing eighth in the country.
Torrens' last 15 men's teams have earned four firsts (1990, '91, '92, '98) and five seconds (1989, '93, '97, '99, '04) in the North Coast Athletic Conference, and his women's team won its first-ever conference crown in 1998 and repeated the feat in 1999 and 2000. The consistent prowess of DU's teams has earned Torrens five NCAC Cross Country Coach of the Year awards. In addition, the men have qualified for a spot in the NCAA regional meet in eight of the last nine seasons, and the women have traveled to regional competition for the past seven years.
Torrens graduated from Muskingum College in 1968. He began his coaching career at Utica High School from 1968-1972 and continued at Newark High School from 1972-1979. In 1979, he accepted the opportunity to come to Denison as head cross country coach and assistant track coach.
In order to further his coaching expertise, Coach Torrens has completed the TAC Level II training seminars held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Torrens and his wife, Sarah, reside in nearby Utica.