Milwaukee Athletics

Entering his 29th season as the head coach for the Milwaukee men's and women's cross country and track and field programs, Pete Corfeld continues to make his mark as one of the most successful coaches Milwaukee has ever seen.

Corfeld has guided his teams to 48 league indoor and outdoor track & field titles and three cross country crowns. His 51 league titles are by far more than any other coach in school history.

The 2016-17 season once again saw incredible heights for the Panther program, again competing at the highest levels the sport has to offer with two more All-American honors achieved throughout the year. That runs the total to five All-Americans over just the last two seasons - the most in that short of a span in program history.

Nate Pozolinski stole most of the headlines throughout the year, establishing himself as the most consistent hurdler in the nation with 10 finishes at 13.80 seconds or faster in the 110m hurdles. He finished Second Team All-American in both the 60m hurdles and the 110m hurdles to make it four straight trips to the NCAA Championships for the Black & Gold.

Corfeld also helped coach yet another Horizon League Athlete of the Year in Melissa Kirchoff - the 15th such honor between indoor and outdoor track and field in program history.

More records fell as senior Taylor Koss - who grabbed national headlines early in the season - broke the American and Collegiate Deaf Record in the 400m hurdles. He will compete for Team USA at the 2017 Deaflympics later this summer in Samsun, Turkey.

As a team, Milwaukee racked up another 30 all-league finishes between indoor and outdoor at the Horizon League Championships, bringing home yet another team trophy with a runner-up finish in women's indoor.

That came on the heels of one of an incredible 2015-16 season that brought highs never before seen for Milwaukee at the D-I level, with UWM earning three All-American honors throughout the year. The Panthers also brought home three more league trophies with runner-up finishes on the men's side during both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and a second-place finish by the women's outdoor squad.

In all, Corfeld's teams put together quite a remarkable list of accomplishments that year:

• The Horizon League Male Coleman Medal of Honor Recipient
• 3 NCAA All-American Awards
• 2 Horizon League Athlete of the Year Awards
• The Horizon League Women's Cross Country Individual Champion
• 3 Horizon League Team Trophies
• 7 NCAA Regional Qualifiers
• 21 Horizon League Individual Championships
• 14 School Records
• 27 Horizon League Athlete of the Week Awards

It started in the fall with Leah Holmes winning the individual league championship at the Horizon League cross country meet - the second-straight year Milwaukee has boasted the best cross country runner in the conference.

That success carried over into track and field, where Holmes again was named Horizon League Athlete of the Year. Things didn't stop there, though. Senior high jumper Brett Pozolinski earned a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships - the first time a Panther has qualified for that elite meet since Cory Peterson's three-year run in the late 1990's. Pozolinski finished tied for fifth - well above his 14th-place seeding - to be named First-Team All American.

Pozolinski continued that run to a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June, becoming the first Panther to qualify for both national meets in the same year since moving to the D-I ranks. Not only that, junior brother Nate Pozolinski also earned a trip to the National Championships in the 110m hurdles. Brett came in 10th in high jump and Nate claimed 22nd in the sprint hurdles, giving UWM three All Americans in the same season.

While a few big names stole most of the headlines in 2016, the rest of the team was not far behind. Milwaukee sent seven individuals to the NCAA West Regional - the most since they changed their qualifying standards. The team also broke an incredible 14 school records throughout the season - the most since the 17 toppled by the special 2007 squad. UWM also won three team trophies at the league championships, taking runner-up on the men's side during the indoor season, as well as on both sides in outdoor.

The year closed out in the summer with one of Corfeld's assistants nearly punching his ticket to Rio for the Olympic Games. Garrett Huyler competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in high jump to close out a truly remarkable year for Corfeld's teams.

2014-15 was another memorable year for Corfeld, earning team trophies in all six sports. Men's track & field continued its winning ways, taking home both the indoor and outdoor league titles for the 14th time in 18 years. Women's track & field posted runner-up finishes at both meets, finishing a combined nine points shy of two league crowns.

In cross country, Marcus Paulson brought home the individual title by leading the field from start to finish. He helped the men to a second place showing overall, their best finish since 1996. The Panther women also came in league runners-up, marking the first time they earned a league trophy since 2008.

Individually, Panther athletes had another banner year in 2014-15. The program accumulated an impressive 27 individual championships over the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Corfeld's teams continue to excell in the classroom. Nate and Brett Pozolinski were named the male recipient of the Horizon League Coleman Medal of Honor each of the last two seasons; the league's top honor for student-athletes demonstrating outstanding achievement in academics, athletics and extracurricular activities. That marks the ninth and 10th times a Milwaukee student-athlete has received that award, with five of those coming from Corfeld's program. 

The cross country and track & field teams also once again had multiple recipients on the fall, winter and spring league all-academic teams. In addition, both men's track & field and cross country posted perfect APR scores in the most recent NCAA report for the second-straight year and two Panthers were named to the All-Academic Track & Field Team.

Historically, Milwaukee has swept all four track league titles in one season four times, most recently in 2011. UWM also claimed all four track championships in 2001, 2007 and 2010.

Both teams have been dominant in their success as four times a Panther team has won a league meet by over 100 points. The program holds league records on both the men's and women's sides for points in an outdoor championship and margin of victory. In 2003, UWM won the women's title with 252 points, 171 ahead of second place. Two years later, it was the men that tallied 231 points, outpacing second place by 120.

Corfeld has been recognized for his success many time over, garnering League Coach of the Year honors 51 times in his career. He has coached 15 league athletes of the year and 90 outstanding performer and newcomer of the year recipients. Tenia Fisher (2003-06) was just the second athlete in league history, in any sport, to be recognized as athlete of the year three times in one sport (indoor track).

Corfeld works primarily with the middle distance and distance groups in addition to the cross country squads. UWM had the 10th-fastest 4x800m relay in the country in 2005, with the quartet posting a school-record time of 7:26.17.

Corfeld's cross country program has produced 80 all-league performers since the Panthers entered a conference for the 1992 season, including three more in 2016. He has also coached four individual champions and four newcomer of the year honorees, with freshman Mikayla Fox receiving the award on the women's side just last year.

In 2015, Leah Holmes won the individual title - the second for Milwaukee in a two-year span. She joined Marcus Paulson, who helped UWM to a second-place finish in 2014 by just two points. That year, the Panthers had four runners earn all-league honors on the men's side, including league champ Paulson. The UWM women also finished second that season, boasting two on the all-league teams.

That marked the best finish for the Milwaukee women since taking second in back-to-back years in both 2007 and 2008. Also during that two-year stretch, the Panther women had four representatives on the all-league rosters. For the 2008 team, three of those all-league awards were first-team honors. In 2007, all-league first-teamer Holly Nearman took 12th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional for all-region honors. It was the highest finish at a Division I regional by a Panther ever. Also in 2007, Corfeld was also named league coach of the year - the first time in league history the award went to the second-place team coach.

Despite not winning a cross country championship since leaving the Mid-Continent Conference, UWM has continually performed in the upper half of the league standings. After winning a women's crown in 1992 and both the men's and women's championships in 1993, Milwaukee has boasted three men's league individual champions, while rarely finishing below fourth.

Corfeld, the longest-tenured coach currently at UWM, has built well-respected track and field and cross country teams that consistently compete with other schools across the league, region and country.

Under his direction, nine student-athletes have qualified for the NCAA Championships 15 different times. Brett Pozolinski, Nate Pozolinski, Durell Busby, Samia Taylor, Nick Gretz, Tim Kenney, Cory Peterson and Angie Molter all competed at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, while Chad Zehms was a qualifier in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1995. Peterson, along with Nate Pozolinski as one of just two three-time All-Americans, also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 800m run in 1996 and placing third in the 800m at the USATF Indoor Championships. Molter was the first UWM female to compete in the NCAA Division I Championships, running the 10,000m in 1996.

The Pozolinski brothers are the latest Panthers to earn trips to the NCAA Championship. Nate capped off an incredible four-year career as a three-time All-American after taking 13th (2017) and 22nd (2016) in the 110m hurdles and 12th (2017) in the 60m hurdles. Older brother Brett finished as a First-Team All-American in indoor high jump in 2016, tying for fifth, before a 10th-place, Second-Team All-American finish in the same event at outdoor nationals. 

Nate Pozolinski's back-to-back trips to the NCAA Meet in the 110m hurdles marks the fourth by a Panther in the last six years, joining Busby. In 2014, Busby finished First-Team All-American by taking seventh overall in the 110m hurdles. That result marked the first time Milwaukee scored as a team at the National Championships.

Busby also went on to represent the Black & Gold on the international level, earning a spot at the prestigious Commonwealth Games for his home nation of Trinidad & Tobago.

Corfeld's athletes have also excelled off the track, as Nate Pozolinski earned the Horizon League's prestigious Coleman Medal of Honor in 2017. He was the program's fifth recipient of the honor after Brett Pozolinski in 2016, Josh Nygren in 2006, Jonathon Manke in 2002 and Paul McGinley in 2000.

Corfeld's coaching career began at St. Mary's Academy in 1980. Three years later he became the head track and field coach at Milwaukee Area Technical College. At MATC, he was named Region XIII and conference coach of the year three times. Corfeld graduated from UWM in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in science. He was then named assistant coach for sprints, hurdles and relays at Northern Colorado, where he also worked on a master's degree. In 1989, after completing his degree, he was named the head cross country and track and field coach at UWM. Since taking over the Panther track program, Corfeld has helped to elevate UWM to a regional and national program.

Corfeld and his wife, Linda, reside in Whitefish Bay, Wis.