Men's Cross Country

The Christians Coaching File

Craig Christians begins his sixth season as the men’s and women’s cross country/distance track head coach this fall. He will also lead Bruin athletes during the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Christians comes to Bellevue following a long and successful career coach both track and cross country at the high school level. He arrives at Bellevue after a 24-year stint at Bellevue West High School. Christians was the head boys and girls cross country coach for the Thunderbirds for the final 12 years of his tenure there, guiding the boy’s team to four top-10 finishes at the Nebraska Class A State Meet including a third and fourth-place finish, respectively. He also twice led the girl’s team to the Nebraska Class A State Meet.

At Bellevue West Christians coached at least one individual state qualifier in 11 of 12 seasons while six individuals were state medalists under his tutelage, including the girls runner-up at the 2005 meet. He oversaw an average roster size of 43 student-athletes during his tenure.

Prior to serving as the head cross country coach at Bellevue West he was a volunteer assistant cross country coach for six seasons (1993-1998) and the assistant cross country coach for another six seasons (1999-2004). As an assistant he helped lead the boys team to a Class A Runner-Up finish in 1995, saw 10 of 12 teams qualify for the State Meet from 1999-2004, and mentored the Girls Class A Individual State Champion in 2001.

Coach Christians also has an extensive resume in coaching track and served as distance coach at Platteview HS during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. From 1994-2016 he was a member of the Bellevue West coaching staff, including serving as the head coach from 2007-2011 and directed the team to three Top-10 Finishes at the State Meet. He was a volunteer assistant (distance runners) for four years (1994-1997) and an assistant coach (distance runners) for a total of 14 years (1998-2006, 2012-2016). As an assistant he coached All-Class Gold Medalists in the girls 1600m (2006) and Class A Gold Medalists in the 3200m 4x800m (2002).

Additionally, Christians has coaching experience with the Bellevue Breeze Track Club. He was with the club from 2000-2009 as the head cross country and assistant track coach. He’s also served as a road race director at various events since 1986 and has directed or assisted in directing an average of about 10 road races per year.

Christians brings over 40 years of experience as a competitive distance runner in which he’s totaled over 65,000 career running miles. He’s competed in nearly 750 races with distances ranging from 1 mile to marathons and remains competitive in national age-group events. During the summer of 2019, he was the USATF age-group national champion in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase and also won bronze in the 5,000 meters at the outdoor track championship meet in Ames, Iowa.

Outside of athletics, Christians spent his professional career as a design engineer (1986-1989) with the City of Jefferson, Mo. Public Works Department; a project engineer (1989-2000) with the City of Omaha, Neb. Public Works Department; and as a division manager (2000-2016) with the City of Omaha, Neb. Sewer Maintenance Division before retiring from full-time employment in January of 2017.

Christians earned his A.S. in Pre-Engineering from Willmar Community College in Willmar, Minn. In 1981 before going on to earn his B.S. in Civil Engineering from South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. in 1983. He holds a M.S. in Municipal Engineering from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa which he earned in 1986.

Interested recruits can contact Coach Christians via email at cchristians@bellevue.edu, by phone at 402.557.7155, or by filling out a prospective athlete questionnaire.