Oberlin College Athletics

After 20 years of coaching serving as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, Ray Appenheimer transitioned into the role of associate director of athletics prior to the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

During his tenure, Appenheimer has built Oberlin’s track & field and cross country programs into perennial powers in the nation, region, and the North Coast Athletic Conference.
 
The Appenheimer File

Cross Country

• Led the Yeowomen to six straight NCAC titles and nine overall (2006, 2009-14, 2018-19)
• Six consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championship meets (2009-2014) and nine overall (2017-2019)
• The Oberlin women's team national rankings:
  • 2019 (11th), 2018 (28th), 2014 (Seventh - Highest in School History), 2013 (Eighth), 2012 (Ninth), 2011 (15th), 2010 (27th), 2009 (23rd) 
• Coached All-American women's team runners Joanna Johnson, Molly Martorella, Emma Lehmann and Kyle Neal. Led male runner Geno Arthur to All-America honors in 2014 and 2015, the program’s first since 1995.
• Coached three All-American runners in 2014 (Lehmann, Neal, Arthur) and 11 total in his Oberlin career
• NCAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year 10 times (2005-06, 2009-14, 2018-19)
• Set an NCAC Record with nine All-NCAC runners in 2012
• Coached Linnea Halsten '18 to Great Lakes All-Region and NCAC Runner of the Year honors in 2017
• Led the men's cross country team to its first NCAC Championship in 2022

Track & Field

• In 2020, Adriano Atallah won the NCAC Heptathlon with a school-record 4,475 points
• Pole Vaulter Sarah Voit finished sixth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2019 to earn All-American honors
• Led the Oberlin women to NCAC Indoor and Outdoor titles in 2016-17, marking the first time in school history that Oberlin has claimed both titles in the same season. Repeated the feat in the 2017-2018 and 2018-19 seasons
• USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Indoor Coach of the Year (2017 & 2018)
• Earned NCAC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year honors in 2009, 2010, 2017-19. Also earned NCAC Outdoor Coach of the Year honors in 2017-19.
• Coached eight All-Americans, including 2016 and 2017 honoree Lilah Drafts-Johnson (400 hurdles)
• Mentored an array of NCAC Athletes of the Year, including 2015-16 NCAC Indoor Male Distance Athlete of the year Geno Arthur and 2016-17 & 2017-18 NCAC Indoor and Outdoor Sprints/Hurdles Runner of the Year Lilah Drafts-Johnson
• 2008-09 Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships, the first in program history
• In each year as coach, his teams have earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors
• The Oberlin women placed eighth at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, marking the best finish in program history.
   

Combined

• 19 NCAC Team Championships
  19-time NCAC Coach of the Year
  3 NCAA Individual Champions
  751 All-NCAC Performers
  99 All-Region Performers
  104 USTFCAA All-Academic Selections
  223 Conference Champions
  214 School Records
  37 All-Americans (21 Track / 16 Cross Country)

Athletic Career

• A six-time all-academic selection and 1994 magna cum laude graduate of Colgate University, Appenheimer earned a bachelor’s degree in English and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He earned an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, won the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award twice and became a semifinalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. He also won five NCAA All-American awards in cross country and track.
• Joined the Nike Farm Team in Palo Alto, California where he won the national title at the 1999 United States Cross Country Championships and followed that up with a win in the 3,000 meters at the 2000 United States Indoor Track and Field Championships. Appenheimer represented the United States at the 1999 World Cross Country Championships in Belfast and the 1999 World University Games in Majorca, Spain. He qualified for the 2000 United States Olympic Trials in the 5,000 meters with a time of 13:28.99.