Southard Joins Cross Country/ Track & Field Staff

MIDLAND, MICH. - The Northwood University track & field/cross country teams announced the addition of Assistant Coach Connar Southard to its coaching staff Friday morning (August 30). 

Northwood's newest assistant is very excited to join the staff. "I am excited to join the Northwood University cross country/track & field staff. I was drawn to Northwood by Coach Lacy's vision for the cross country program as well as the vision that track & field Coaches Garrett Rohlk and Heather Johnson have. I am excited for what this season and future ones will bring and the contributions I will make to it", said Southard.

Southard, a graduate of Central Missouri with a master's in Kinesiology (2023), spent the last two years at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) as a graduate assistant coach. In 2022, he coached five new UCM all-time top-10 performances on the track including one All-Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) performance for the Mules in the 800m. In 2023, he helped coach two All-Central Region performances with one qualifying as an individual to the National Championship in Joplin, Missouri. 

Southard earned his undergraduate degree from Pittsburg State University (PSU) where he was a 13-time All-MIAA selection. He was a three-time All-American winning the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in 2021. He later finished his career as a member of the 2022 Division II Outdoor National Championship team for PSU.

"Connar brings a wealth of experiences at the highest level of NCAA DII both as an athlete at Pittsburg State and as a graduate assistant coach for two years at Central Missouri, both of which are some of the most accomplished programs in all of NCAA DII. I am excited for what he will add to our coaching staff to enhance our student-athletes experience here at Northwood", said Head Coach Garrett Lacy.

He continues to hold PSU program records in the 1500m (3:42.90), as well as the distance medley relay (9:37.45) (No. 2 in NCAA DII history at the time). He was also top 10 in the indoor mile (second - 4:07.97), indoor 800m (fourth - 1:52.55), and outdoor 800m (10th-152.20). Southard graduated with a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from PSU in 2022.

Cross Country begins its season with the Northwood Invitational on Saturday, September 7. The men's race begins at 10 a.m. followed by the women's at 10:45 a.m. at the Fisher Family Trails on Northwood's campus.