Cost
Full Resident: $295 (all meals, housing, materials)
Day Camper: $195 (noon and dinner meals, materials)
Commuter: $145 (materials only — no meals)

Discount Offers:

• $35 discount for each camper with five or more from the same team (applies when mailed in the same envelope)
• $45 discount for each child with two or more from the same family, when registered at the same time

Application deadline: July 5, 2012
Online Registration Form--pay by credit card
Team Discount Online Registration Form--pay by credit card
Family Discount Online Registration Form--pay by credit card
Printable Registration Form--pay by check

Additional camp information: Registration, check-in and check-out information, camp regulations, refund policy, and what to bring to camp

Staff

Camp director Jeff Wettach has been on the camp staff for 24 years, 14 of them as director of the camp. He was the Luther men’s cross country coach from 1997-2004. Jeff is currently the Luther men’s and women’s head coach for track and field. This past season was his twenty sixth as head men’s coach and his seventh season leading the women’s team. Jeff was named the Iowa Conference coach of the Year in 1995. The 2010 men’s squad had 13 All-Conference (top three places) performers and 13 men received Iowa Conference All-Academic recognition. The women had 19 All-Conference performances and 22 women received All-Academic honors. A 1979 graduate of Luther, Jeff earned a master of arts degree from the University of Iowa. Since joining the Luther College Health, P.E., and Athletics Department in 1985, he has coached 402 All-Conference athletes, 77 conference champions, 90 NCAA meet qualifiers, and 35 NCAA All-Americans. This includes the 2001 Indoor NCAA Champion men's distance medley relay team.

Yarrow Pasche recently finished her seventh year as the women’s cross country and distance track coach at Luther College. She continues to build on the strong tradition of women distance runners at Luther College. Her Luther women won both the Varsity and JV team titles at the 2010 Iowa Conference Championships, won the Central Region championships, and went on to finish sixth in the country at the NCAA National Cross Country Championships. Likewise, she leads a great group of distance runners on the track in the spring that are among the best around. Coach Yarrow has been selected IIAC Coach of the Year three times and NCAA Central Region Coach of the Year twice. She is a graduate of Macalester College (MN) where she ran both cross country and track. She was a two-time All American in cross country and a four-time All American in the 1500m on the outdoor track.

Steve Pasche enters his eighth year as the men's cross country and distance track coach at Luther College and seventh year on the staff of the Luther College Distance Running Camp. Under his guidance at Luther, the Norse men distance runners have established their position as one of the top squads in the country. They are similarly one of the best distance groups in the conference on the outdoor track. The past five seasons, the Norse cross-country team won both the Varsity and JV Iowa Conference team titles. In 2010, the men's cross country team won the Iowa Conference Championship and placed twenty-sixth at the NCAA National Cross Country Championships. In his six years at Luther, Steve has been named the IIAC Coach of the Year five times. Pasche is a graduate of Saint John’s University and holds a Master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Iowa.

Additional Camp Staff

• Dee Brown—Iowa Central Community College Cross Country and Track and Field Head Coach for Men and Women. Dee’s men’s cross country team placed second at the NJCAA championships in 2005 and 2007 and the women’s team was crowned National Champions in 2007 and 2008. Dee was named the 2005 Men's NJCAA National Coach of the Year and the Women's Coach of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. Dee has been named NJCAA Region Coach of the Year five times for each men and women, and National Coach of the Year three times.
• Rob Serres—Head Boy’s and Girl’s Cross Country and Track and Field Coach at Platteville (Wisconsin) High School, where his track and field teams have won two state championships. Rob has served on the camp staff for 25 years
• Adam Frye — Men's and Women's Assistant coach for Cross Country and Track and Field at Luther since 2009. Adam ran cross-country and track for Luther, graduating in 2007; he still competes on the track and on the road.
• Jane Wheeler — Girl's Cross Country and Track Coach at Pleasant Valley (IA) High School the past nine years.  Multiple time Conference and Regional Coach of the Year.  Her 2011 cross country team won their 7th straight MAC title and placed third in the state meet.
• Brian Solberg — Head of the Athletic Training Department at Luther, with 21 years of experience.  Brian is a specialist in care and prevention of running-related injuries.

Camp Format

The Luther College Distance Running Camp includes a daily "coaches hour" in which staff members present topics such as training theory and progression, nutrition, goal-setting, and motivational topics. Each day also includes a master workout emphasizing a theme for the day: hill-training, threshold-pace training, trail running, interval training, hydro-training (water workout), and a long run.

Morning sessions involve either an early bird run or group stations with coaches, covering hydration, core strength training, relaxation and visualization, and running form development drills. Our week also includes recreational time after supper for ultimate-frisbee games, bocce ball, sand volleyball, and a night at the Decorah public pool. Each evening has a special camp activity:

We encourage you to run at least 20 miles per week in the three to four weeks prior to camp. The camp is designed for boys and girls, grades 7-12, and we typically have between 90 and 130 campers. Our coach to camper ratio is 14:1 and we have one college athlete counselor for every ten campers.

Housing and Meals

Campers live in a comfortable, air-conditioned residence hall on the Luther campus and eat in the Dahl Centennial Union dining hall. College athletes serve as camp counselors and provide full supervision and help direct all camp activities. Medical services for campers are available through local clinics, as well as the emergency room at the Winneshiek Medical Center. Individual campers are responsible for any medication, and hospital and physician fees.

Luther College Sports Facilities

Regents Center indoor facilities include six tennis courts; a six-lane, 200-meter track; six full-sized basketball courts; 25-yard, six-lane swimming pool; locker, training, and equipment rooms. The Legends Fitness for Life Center offers a strength and fitness facility with its own climbing wall. The outdoor facilities include 12 tennis courts, a cross country race course, fitness trails, and an all-weather track, which was installed in the fall of 2009.

Past Participants' Comments

I was pleased from the start that the focus of your camp was on learning to become a better runner through intelligent training, not intense competition. - Paul Bolstad, North Crawford High School, Gay Mills, Wisconsin

Your camp was so positive and motivational; it made me realize that I had a lot of desire to win. - Cara Kennedy, New Hampton, Iowa (former cross-country captain and three-time all-conference runner)

Going to camp at Luther College has really motivated me to become a better runner and to make myself work harder to achieve that. - Emily Klein, South Hamilton (Iowa) High School (State Champion in cross-country in 3,000 meters senior year)

For more information, please contact:
Summer Camps Office—phone (563) 387-1309 or e-mail sumcamps@luther.edu
Coach Wettach—phone (563) 419-0886 or e-mail wettacje@luther.edu