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Six-time National Coach of the Year Dr. Ted
Bulling, Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Director of
Cross Country/Track & Field, is recognized as one of the
best college coaches in the country, and his reputation grows
each year. Under his guidance, the Prairie Wolves have won
nine NCAA team trophies, awarded for top-four finishes, since
2001.
Under Bulling, Nebraska Wesleyan finished the 2005 outdoor
season ranked No. 1 in the Men’s Track and Field Power
Rankings for NCAA Division III for the first time in school
history. The power rankings are based on the performances
of every team’s top two athletes in each event and finishing
the season No. 1 is also commonly referred to as being “dual
meet national champions.”
In 2000, Bulling became the first coach in history to be named
as the National Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year at
both the Div. III and NAIA levels. That same year, he was
also honored as the Omaha World-Herald’s Coach of the
Year and as the winner of the Roy G. Story Award, given to
a Nebraska Wesleyan faculty member or student who has “significantly
enhanced the national stature and reputation of Nebraska Wesleyan
University.”
During his tenure at Nebraska Wesleyan, Bulling has guided
the Prairie Wolves to national prominence. He has coached
36 national champions, and 120 of his athletes have earned
a total of 547 All-American awards. In addition, the Lincoln
Journal Star has selected one of Bulling’s athletes
for its State College Athlete-of-the-Year award seven times.
In 19 of the last 23 years, the NWU men have finished in the
Top 10 at the indoor and/or outdoor NCAA Div. III Track &
Field Championships. His teams have dominated at the conference
level as the Nebraska Wesleyan men have won 19 consecutive
outdoor team titles and 16 of the past 18 conference indoor
crowns.
The Nebraska Wesleyan women’s track and field program
has also grown under Bulling’s direction. As a team,
it has recorded Top 10 finishes in 10 of the last 19 years
at the indoor and/or outdoor NCAA Div. III Track & Field
Championships.
In 1996, Bulling received national Coach-of-the-Year honors
from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches
Association (USTFCCCA) during both the indoor and outdoor
seasons for NCAA Div. III, as the NWU men placed fifth and
third, respectively. He was also named the Lincoln Journal
Star’s State College Coach of the Year.
“I look at these awards as recognition of our whole
program,” Bulling said. “Our coaching staff has
been together for a number of years and truly understands
our philosophy. And it’s not just the coaches. Our current
athletes are our best ambassadors, and they are what our program
is based upon.”
In addition, his track teams have been recognized for academic
excellence by the USTFCCCA during each of the past 10 years.
In 2006, Erin Powell, was named ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-American of the Year in the college division. Three members
of the men’s track and field team were also named to
the Academic All-America team in 2006, which was more than
any other school in the country.
Bulling graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology
from Nebraska Wesleyan in 1980. He held the school’s
discus record for 10 years and was also a four-year letter
winner and three-year starter on the defensive line and lettered
four years in football.
Bulling completed his Ph.D. in educational psychology at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1992, and is an assistant
professor of education in Nebraska Wesleyan’s department
of education. Bulling and his wife, Denise, have two children,
Emily and Elliott.
 Scott Etherton
Hurdles Coach
Scott Etherton is in his 20th season as an
assistant coach at Nebraska Wesleyan, working primarily with
the hurdlers again this year. He has coached 21 athletes to
83 All-American awards in hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
Etherton’s athletes have also claimed four national
crowns. On Feb. 1, 2003, he was recognized as a winner of
the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
A 1987 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan, Etherton is one of the
most decorated track athletes in school history, winning 10
All-America awards during his career at NWU. He also won national
titles in the 60-yard high hurdles at the 1986 NAIA Indoor
Championships and in the 110-meter high hurdles at the 1987
NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.
In addition to coaching, Etherton is the Program Director
of the Lancaster County Crisis Center. He has two children,
Olivia and Eli.
 Chris
Baum
Vertical Jumps
and Multi-Events Coach
Chris Baum is in his 17th season as an assistant
coach, working with Nebraska Wesleyan’s high jumpers,
pole vaulters and multi-event athletes. Baum has personally
coached 26 national qualifiers, 15 of whom earned a combined
total of 31 All-America awards and four national titles. He
was also recognized as a winner of the AFLAC National Assistant
Coach of the Year Award on Jan. 31, 2004.
A three-time Conference Champion and All-American himself,
Baum is a 1991 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan with a bachelor’s
degree in physical education and health (K-12). He has earned
his masters in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
where he studied post secondary athletic administration.
Baum also currently works as a physical education instructor
at Kahoa Elementary School. He and his wife, Stephanie, have a son Jacob.
 Ann
Ringlein
Distance Coach
Ann Ringlein is in her 14th season as an assistant
coach for Nebraska Wesleyan’s distance runners. Also
an assistant coach for the NWU cross country teams, she has
been instrumental in the development of the Prairie Wolves
as a national power in track and cross country.
Ringlein, a native of Red Cloud, Neb., has been running competitively
in the Midwest for more than 20 years. She won the Kansas
City Marathon in 1990 and was the champion in the 1991 Lincoln
Half-Marathon. Ringlein also won the Master’s Division
8K road race at the 1999 and 2000 Drake Relays.
In 2000, she received the prestigious Ambassador Award from
the Lincoln-Lancaster County Women’s Commission presented
at the annual Girls & Women in Sports & Fitness recognition
luncheon. During her career, Ringlein has made coaching stops
at three Nebraska high schools, including St. Paul, Lincoln
Northeast and Lincoln Pius X. Ann and her husband, Ray, have
two daughters, Tessie and Mo.
 Kurt
Nielsen
Horizontal Jumps Coach
Kurt Nielsen is in his sixth season at Nebraska
Wesleyan as the horizontal jumps coach. During his first year
with the Prairie Wolves, he coached triple jumper Lee Seberger
to a NCAA Div. III indoor national championship, and under
Nielsen’s guidance, Erin Powell has earned All-America
status in the long jump and triple jump in five of her seven
national meet appearances. In the past five years Nielsen
has coached four athletes to a total of 14 All-America awards.
Nielsen received a physical education degree from NWU in 1975
and had a stellar track and field career. As an athlete at
Nebraska Wesleyan, Nielsen was a 10-time Conference Champion,
winning eight high jump titles and two long jump titles. He
still holds the both the indoor and outdoor school records
in the high jump. In fact, his high jump of 7-2 3/4 in 1973
was the third best in any collegiate division that year and
remains the conference outdoor meet record. For his efforts,
the Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World-Herald named Nielsen
State College Athlete of the Year. Then, in 1974, he won the
NCAA Division III crown in the high jump.
Nielsen served three years as an assistant track and field
coach at Gering High School before returning to Lincoln. He
then served 10 years as an assistant and 14 years as the head
track and field coach at Northeast High School. Nielsen currently
teaches at Pound Middle School. He and his wife, Becky, have
two sons, Justin and Jared.
 Dan Bulling
Javelin
Dan Bulling coaches Nebraska Wesleyan in the
javelin. He was first a member of the NWU coaching staff from
1987 to 1994 and returned to the program in 1997. He served
as throws coach through 2001 and has since been specializing
in the javelin.
A 1985 Nebraska Wesleyan graduate, Bulling has coached 12
All-American athletes who received a total of 24 All-American
awards, including 2000 NCAA Division III discus champion Josh
Beaver. Bulling is currently a physical education instructor
at Lincoln Northeast High School. He and his wife, Karen,
have two sons, Zach and Nathan.
 Derek Frese
Throws
Derek Frese is in his first season at Nebraska Wesleyan as a throws coach. Frese came to NWU from Northwest Missouri State University where he served as a graduate assistant track & field coach the past two seasons. He earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from NWMSU in 2007.
Frese earned a bachelor’s degree in sports administration from University of Nebraska-Kearney in 2005. While at UNK he was a four-year member of the track team. Frese was a four-time NCAA II All-American in the throws and earned All-RMAC recognition in seven of the eight seasons he competed. He was also a team captain during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Frese, a Bancroft, Neb., native lives with his wife Karla in Lincoln. |
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