Skip Navigation

Varsity Athletics has migrated to SIDEARM Sports

Varsity Athletics Site in SIDEARM Sports | Varsity Athletics SIDEARM admin

Varsity Athletics

Women's Track and Field

Carleton Athletics
Go

Coaching Staff

Donna Ricks, Amelia Campbell


Donna Ricks, women's track and field

Head Coach Donna Ricks
Phone:
(507)222-4485
Office: Recreation Center 232
Email: dricks@carleton.edu

The 2017-18 season was the 24th for Donna Ricks, professor of physical education, athletics and recreation, as head women's cross country and track and field coach at Carleton. She was selected as 2016 Central Region Coach-of-the-Year by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Ricks was named MIAC Indoor Track and Field Coach-of-the-Year in 2012 after guiding Carleton to a second-place conference finish and is an eight-time MIAC Coach of the Year in cross country where she has led the Knights to the seven conference titles, including first-place finishes in 2013-2014-2015.

Ricks’ coaching talents are reflected in the fact that she can maximize individuals’ talents across a number of event specialties. She has coached 48 track and field All-Americans in her time at Carleton, including 7 national champions. Those NCAA titles came in a half-dozen different competitions: 100m dash, 400m hurdles, javelin, discus, pentathlon, and heptathlon (2x).

While Aminah Ricks ’94 and Sandra Helquist ’00 won national titles on the track, the Knights' recent success on the national stage has come in the field events. Amelia Campbell ’16 closed her career with her third NCAA crown, winning the heptathlon in 2016. Two years earlier, she became just the second Division III student-athlete to win the NCAA pentathlon and heptathlon in the same year, doing so in record-breaking fashion for both events. The 2014 season also saw Kao Sutton ’14 add a national title in the discus. Kelly Lovett ’11 earned three All-America awards in the javelin, including the NCAA crown in 2011.

Ricks is also involved in national competition-she served as the U.S. National Women’s Heptathlon Coach in 1996.

Ricks came to Northfield after six years as head cross country and track and field coach at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she earned a B.S. degree and an M.A. degree in athletic administration. As a student there, Ricks was a cross country and track and field standout and All-American performer. In honor of her accomplishments, Ricks' alma mater inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 1998 and named her the fifth-greatest female athlete to attend the school in the past century.

She is involved in national competition and served as the U.S. National Women's Heptathlon Coach in 1996.

Ricks resides in Northfield with her husband Dave (also the Carleton men's cross country & men's track and field head coach) and their daughter, Karissa.

 

Laura Roach, Cross Country HeadshotAssistant Coach Laura (Roach) Albares '10
E-mail: lroach@carleton.edu
Phone: 507-222-7150

Laura (Roach) Albares served as the Knights' interim head coach during both the 2017 indoor and outdoor seasons. She returned to her alma mater in August 2012 as the Knights' top assistant coach for both the women’s cross country and track & field programs. She previously spent two years as an assistant coach at Hamline University.

Albares was a captain and four-year letter winner for the Knights in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. In cross country, she helped the Knights capture the 2009 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) crown and earned a trio of All-MIAC honors. She also ran three times at the NCAA Championships, improving her placement each instance and culminating with an All-American performance in 2009. On the track, she earned all-conference distinction four times and added All-MIAC honorable mention in eight additional events. Albares graduated with a major in Biology and earned a Masters in Exercise Physiology from the University of Minnesota.

 

Ruth Steinke, women's cross country headshot, 2015Assistant Coach Ruth Steinke '16
E-mail: rsteinke@carleton.edu
Phone: 507-222-7150

Ruth Steinke ’16 joined the Knights coaching staff prior to the 2017 season. She completed her collegiate career as a five-time All-American as a distance runner, earning four of those awards during her senior season. She was a top honoree for the 2016 NCAA Woman-of-the-Year Award. Steinke became the second women’s cross country runner in school history to earn multiple All-America awards after placing fourth in 2014 and fifth in 2015. She added a runner-up result in the 5K and a fifth-place finish in the 3K at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships before closing her career with a fifth-place showing in the 5000-meter run at the 2016 outdoor national championships.

 

Bill Terriquez, headshotAssistant Coach Bill Terriquez

Bill Terriquez ’70 came out of retirement to coach hurdles and jumps for the Knights in 2017. A multi-sport athlete as an undergraduate, his largest contributions to the Carleton athletics came later in his roles as a teacher, coach and administrator. He served as men’s athletic director from 1984 to 1989 and guided four programs during his 22-year coaching career—athletes during his tenure earned more than 60 All-American citations. As coach of the cross-country and both the men’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams, he guided all three programs to at least one national top-10 finish. As cross-country coach from 1984 to 2006, he steered his team to MIAC titles in 1994, 1995, and 2002; one regional crown; and seven top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships. His indoor and outdoor track and field teams achieved a trio of national top-10 finishes during his time as coach from 1984-2004. Further demonstrating the depth of his athletic knowledge, Terriquez also served as co-coach of Carleton’s men’s and women’s alpine ski teams from 1997 to 2002.

Bill Huyck, Men's Track and Field HeadshotAssistant Coach Bill Huyck

Bill Huyck ’53 has been a part-time assistant coach with the Knights since 1999, focusing most recently on the javelin where he tutored Kelly Lovett to the 2011 NCAA title in the event. Huyck coached men’s cross country at Carleton from 1958-1983, including the 1980 NCAA Division III Championship squad which earned the only team-sport national title in College history. He also guided the men’s track and field program from 1959-1984. During that time, Carleton teams earned 16 Midwest Conference cross country championships, two indoor track, and four outdoor track titles.