Greg Lautenslager

Greg Lautenslager begins his fifth year as the Head Coach of the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country & Track Program at Hill College. 

Last season, in only the fourth year of the program’s existence, Lautenslager led the men’s team to its third straight North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC) Cross Country Championships and 16th in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Championships in Richmond, Virginia. The women’s team finished runner-up in the conference for the second straight year and 16th in their first-ever trip to nationals. 

In 2023, the men’s team was runner-up at the NJCAA Region V Championships in Hobbs, New Mexico, and 13th at Nationals in Huntsville, Alabama. During his second year at Hill College, he led the men’s team to win the 2022 NTJCAC Championship. The team finished third in the NJCAA Region V meet with an 11th-place finish at the NJCAA Championships in Tallahassee, Florida. Lautenslager’s son, Jared, was the first American finisher and the first Hill College Cross Country All-American with a 14th-place finish. A total of eight Hill College runners have earned athletic scholarships to universities.  
 
Lautenslager returned to Texas after a 20-year coaching career in New Zealand, where he was the coach of the National Academy of Distance Running. He led the team to 12 national titles with 306 national medals. Four of his runners set national records, and one runner competed in the 2016 Olympics. Nineteen athletes received full scholarships to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 schools, and 21 represented New Zealand overseas. 

Lautenslager began his coaching career at the University of North Texas in 1998. In four years, his runners won seven Big West and Sun Belt Conference individual titles. In 2000, he was named the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. Under Lautenslager’s direction, the distance runners led the UNT team to its first conference track and field title in 26 years. Two runners went on to earn All-American honors at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. 

While attending Texas Tech University, Lautenslager won 28 races and held the school record for the 5,000 meters for 30 years. He qualified for two NCAA Cross Country Championships and two NCAA Track and Field Championships. He also competed in four U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. 

After college, Lautenslager competed for Nike in Eugene, Oregon, and in Boston, Massachusetts, before completing his career in Dallas with the Asics Track Club. He then went on to tour Europe, set a stadium 5,000m record 13:33.39 in defeating the Olympic champion at a meet in Bern, Switzerland, and ran the 28th fastest 10,000m time in the world (28:08.39) at a meet in Paris, France. 

Lautenslager has been inducted into the Texas Running Hall of Fame and the Mesquite Athletic Hall of Honor. He has written two novels, Following the Flame and Ghosts of the Gridiron, and currently teaches a writing class at Hill College. 

Lautenslager’s three sons, Craig, Jeff, and Jared, are all accomplished runners as well. Craig won six conference titles at the University of Texas at Arlington and was an NCAA Second Team All-American in the 5,000m. Jeff competed for Boise State’s conference cross country champion team. Jared earned All-Conference track honors at Manhattan University in 2024.