Former State Champ and College All American Returns to Alma Mater

When Oldenburg Academy was in need of a cross country coach for this fall season, the first person to inquire about the job had a pretty impressive resume.  The applicant was a former high school state champion for Oldenburg Academy in cross country, and track in the 3200.  He was also the Charles F. Maas Mental Attitude Award winner in cross country.  He ran collegiately at Purdue University where he was All American, 1st team All Big Ten in cross country, and is the school’s 3k record holder.  Anyone familiar with Oldenburg, or the running world, knows that this applicant could be none other than the village of Oldenburg’s own, Curt Eckstein.  Eckstein is bringing a wealth of running knowledge and experience to an historically strong program.  

Eckstein graduated from Purdue University this past year with a degree in mechanical engineering.  He accepted a job with Rolls Royce in Indianapolis, and he will start his career in early September.  Even though Eckstein will be about an hour away once his job starts, he is still going to be connected with the team by providing workouts and training to assistant coaches.  Eckstein still plans on attending every meet he can.  While he is still in town, Eckstein is using this time to connect with the runners, figure out individualized training for each and to get them into a routine.  

Eckstein on coaching at his alma mater,“I am excited to be able to help out with OA and give back.  Working with the athletes has been great and I really enjoy spreading my knowledge to them and helping them develop to be better runners and people.”

From AD Michael Higdon on having Eckstein help out, “We are very excited to have Curt coaching our cross country teams.  He is obviously a very qualified coach, but more than that he is a great person.  I have known Curt since he was in high school and he has always been the same person.  Through all of his well deserved success, he has stayed humble, kind and giving.  Curt is always giving back to the Oldenburg community and this is just one example of his generosity.  He is just a perfect example to the runners of how to be a first class citizen.”

The Twisters have one returning Regional qualifier back and have a young core of runners for both boys and girls.  They look to keep improving this year thanks to Eckstein’s help.