U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Athletic Director Kristofer Schnatz announced in the summer of 2020 that Kayla Koelbel has been selected as the next head coach of the men's and women's cross country and track & field programs.
"We are very excited to have Coach Koelbel join the Mariner program as our next head coach," commented Schnatz. "Our cross country and track & field programs have a history of success within the Skyline Conference, and we believe Coach Koelbel's experiences will help prepare our Midshipmen to continue to compete at a championship level."
Koelbel comes to Kings Point after a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Division I Sacred Heart University in Connecticut where she coached the Pioneers' men's and women's cross country teams as well as the middle-distance and distance runners on the track. She also assisted with administrative aspects of the programs including recruiting, budgeting, rules compliance and other day-to-day tasks. Under Koelbel's mentoring, the Pioneers earned a runner-up finish at the Northeast Conference Outdoor Championships in 2019, garnered numerous individual conference champions and all-conference honorees and had two school records broken within her event group.
Prior to SHU, Koelbel served as an assistant coach at her alma mater SUNY Cortland from 2016-2018, while also earning her master's degree and assisting with the athletic department's accounting office. Over two seasons with the Red Dragons, she helped coach student-athletes to 15 NCAA qualifying spots, including nine who earned All-America honors, and one two-time NCAA national champion in the Heptathlon and Decathlon.
As a student-athlete at SUNY Cortland, Koelbel was four-year Pentathlete and Heptathlete who has set school and SUNYAC Conference records which still stand in the 60m hurdles and the Pentathlon. She was a four-time SUNY Individual Champion – twice in the Pentathlon and twice in the Heptathlon – and qualified for the NCAA DIII National Championships in the Pentathlon in 2016. Her success carried over into the classroom, as she earned a spot on the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National All-Academic Team as well as numerous SUNYAC All-Academic Teams throughout her career.
Additionally, Koelbel has served as a Performance Coach & Speed Mechanics Specialist at Victory Sports Performance on Long Island.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to be a part of USMMA Athletics and I am looking forward to coaching such a dedicated and talented group of Midshipmen," said Koelbel. "Student-athletes across the nation are showing their resilience in these months of virtual learning and hiatus from competition. So, I am especially looking forward to sharing in the joy of being reunited in-person to get back to doing what we love, and I can't wait to do so at USMMA! Thank you to Athletic Director, Kristofer Schnatz and the entire Academy administration for your trust in me to help lead these Midshipmen to continued success on and off the track."
Koelbel graduated Cortland in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology of coaching and earned her master's in sports management in 2018. She is a native of Bradford, Pa. She currently resides in Kings Park, N.Y.
