Indiana University Kokomo

Jason VanAlstine was named the first IU Kokomo head men's and women's cross country coach in April 2012.  Coach VanAlstine attended Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, receiving a B.A. in Economics in 2002.  He was a four-year member of the varsity cross country and tennis teams at Saint Vincent.  He subsequently moved to Indiana to attend graduate school at Indiana University in Bloomington.  While at IU, Coach VanAlstine received his M.A. in Economics in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Economics in 2009.

Coach VanAlstine began working at IU Kokomo in 2007 as an Acting Assistant Professor of Economics.  Since 2009, he has served as an Assistant Professor of Economics in the School of Business at IU Kokomo. He also serves as a faculty advisor for the Students in Free Enterprise team.  The team has completed numerous community service projects in the Kokomo area and has been named Regional Champions in 2011 and 2012 under his guidance. He also received recognition for outstanding working in the classroom from the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching in May of 2014.

Since the cross country teams’ beginning in 2012 as an NAIA program, five of its runners have been named Daktonic-NAIA Scholar Athletes.  Both the men and women’s team have received the NAIA Team Scholar award. Many of Coach VanAlstine’s runners have been named Academic All-Conference Athletes.  In 2013, Coach VanAlstine sent the first IU Kokomo athlete to compete at NAIA Nationals.  The men’s team finished sixth overall in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC), and the women’s team finished seventh overall in the KIAC.  Coach VanAlstine is hopeful that this season will show great improvement from last season due to a strong incoming freshmen and transfer class.