University of Mary Athletics

Mike Thorson came to the University of Mary in 1994 after experiencing very successful years at Minot Ryan as head track coach. Mike was also an assistant track coach at North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota. Originally, Mike was hired as an associate track coach to former UMary track & field coach Tim Petrik. Mike immediately was designated as the head coach of the women’s track & field program. In 1998, Mike was named the head men’s track & field coach and since then has served as head coach of both the men’s and the women’s track & field teams as well as the two cross country teams. The University of Mary has seen tremendous growth in numbers and quality under Mike. He has developed the UMary women’s track & field programs into conference, regional and national powers, Since Mike’s beginning at UMary, the women’s indoor track & field teams have placed third (1997) and second (1998 and 1999) at the national level. The women’s outdoor teams have been the national champion runners up in 1997 and 1998 and fifth in 2000. Under Mike’s new leadership, the men advanced to tenth at the 1999 outdoor national meet – the highest placing ever achieved by the UMary men. Mike has coached 17 individual national track & field champions, 163 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-Americans and 26 NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes. For his coaching achievements, he has been named the NAIA Coach of the Year three times (1997, 1998 and 2000).