Marlon Brink is in his 26th year (2025) as the Head Coach for Cross Country at Wayne State College.
In the 2024 season, the Wildcats were 10th in the men's division while the women's team finished 13th at the NSIC Cross Country Championships in Minot, North Dakota. Both Wildcat cross country teams continued to shine in the classroom during the 2024 season as the WSC men received the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Award for the 13th straight season with a 3.468 grade point average while the Wildcat women's team collected the All-Academic Team Award for the 11th time in the last 12 years with a 3.385 cumulative grade point average.
Wayne State finished ninth in the women's division and 11th in the men's division at the 2023 NSIC Cross Country Championships in Bismarck, North Dakota. For the second straight season, the Wildcat men had an athlete selected as the NSIC Elite 18 Award winner as junior Quentin Dreyer was honored with a 4.00 grade point average majoring in skilled and technical science education after Gabe Peitz won the honor in 2022.
In 2022, Brink coached the first Wildcat men's All-NSIC performer in over a decade as Brandon Mundorf placed 18th at the NSIC Championships in Wayne to earn All-NSIC Second Team honors. He was the first All-NSIC runner in cross country for Wayne State since 2010 when John Kern collected All-NSIC First Team honors with a seventh place finish.
Under Brink, the WSC women captured their first NSIC team title in 2006 while recording runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2007. Meanwhile, the men's squad captured their first NSIC team title in 2005 while posting second place finishes in 2000, 2001 and 2007. Brink was named the NSIC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2005 and the NSIC Women's Coach of the Year in 2006 after guiding each team to NSIC titles.
In the 2009 season, Brink coached the Wildcat women's cross country team to its best ever finish in the NCAA Regional Meet placing ninth overall. The Wildcats were sixth in the NSIC Championships, led by senior Megan Zavorka who earned All-Conference honors for the third time in four seasons. The WSC men's squad was eighth in the NSIC Championships and 15th at the NCAA Regional with junior York Thomas earning All-Conference honors for the third consecutive season.
Under his tenure, Brink has coached 18 All-Conference male cross country performers and 11 women All-Conference runners. He has also coached three NSIC individual champions and one All-American. Erin Norenberg won the 2005 NSIC women's title, Jeremiah Herron captured the 2006 NSIC men's crown and Nate Preston crossed the line first as the 2007 NSIC individual men's champion. In 2007, Preston became Wayne State's first NCAA national qualifier in cross country since 1997 (James McGown) after placing 18th at the NCAA Div. II North Central Regional Championships. As a senior in 2008, Preston earned All-American honors placing 27th out of 184 runners at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. He is just the second NCAA All-American runner at Wayne State, joining James McGown (1997).
Wayne State has hosted numerous conference and NCAA regional championships thanks to the efforts of Coach Brink. For the fourth time in the last five years and seventh time overall (other times 2004, 2010, 2014, 2019, 2021 and 2022), Wayne State College hosted the Northern Sun Conference Cross Country Championships in 2022 at the Wayne Country Club. Wayne State also hosted several regional events during Brink's time, hosting the NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships five times - 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2014.
Wayne State cross country teams have also excelled in the classroom under Brink. The Wildcat women's squad posted the top grade point average in NCAA Division II during the 2021 season maintaining a cumulative 3.859 grade point average, earning the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Award. WSC was eighth in 2019 with a 3.75 team GPA. Wayne State's men were closed behind with the second-best GPA in the 2021 season at 3.705 after recording the #1 grade point average in 2019 at 3.82. There were no academic awards in the 2020 season due to COVID-19 canceling the 2020 fall sports season.
Before coming to Wayne State College, Brink spent six years at Mount Marty College in Yankton, S.D. He spent his last five years at Mount Marty as the head coach of the men's and women's cross country and track and field programs. He was an assistant coach with the Lancers during the 1994-95 season.
Brink was instrumental in building successful programs at Mount Marty. He took over the programs in their third year of existence and quickly turned them into one of the top teams in the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference. He has coached 34 SDIC individual conference champions, 16 NAIA Scholar-Athlete award winners and 9 NAIA All-Americans. In addition, 72 school records have been set or broken during Brink's tenure.
The Lancer women's track team placed 20th at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships. On the men's side, the cross country team placed second at the 1995 SDIC Championships, while the indoor track and field team finished second at the SDIC Championships in 1998.
Brink, a native of Atkinson, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at South Dakota State University. He spent two years with the Jackrabbits.
A 1991 graduate of Midland Lutheran College, Brink was a standout cross country and track and field performer for the Warriors. He qualified for the 1990 NAIA National Cross Country Championships, and he was a two-time national qualifier in the marathon. In 1991, Brink placed 12th at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships. In addition, Brink earned three NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards.
Marlon and his wife Jeanne are the parents of five children - daughters, Courtney (21) and Marissa (12) and sons Andrew (19), Lance (17) and Max (15) - and they reside in Wayne.
Updated 7/14/25
