WCCCA Officers

President—Craig Olson (Menomonie)

Vice President—Glen Gardiner (Wauwatosa East)

Secretary—Tim Olson (Wausau East)

Treasurer—Dominic Newman (Shorewood)

Past President—Bryon Graun (Colby)

Historian—Mark Aslakson (Kenosha Bradford)

President—Craig Olson

I'm Craig Olson, head girls cross country coach and head boys track coach at Menomonie High School. I am a social studies teacher, mostly teaching civics and economics classes. I ran track and cross country at Burlington High School, coached by previous WCCCA president Rick Koceja. I then attended UW Stevens Point, running track and cross country under coach Rick Witt. I began my coaching and teaching career at Menomonie in 1998. As of 2025 I've coached distance runners for over 50 seasons - 27 seasons of cross country and 26 seasons of track and field. I've been involved with the WCCCA for over a decade, first as a D1 girls ranker and then as a the WCCCA district 3 rep. I have two high-school aged sons and an amazing wife. I consider myself to be very privileged and honored to be the president of this awesome association.

Vice-President—Glen Gardiner

Glen was XC and track athlete at North Bend High School (OR), located next to the hometown of Steve Prefontaine (Coos Bay/Marshfield) and Marquette University. He started his coaching career as the coed head coach at Milwaukee Vincent in 1995. In 2011 Glen started as the Head Girls XC coach at Wauwatosa East. He has been coaching for a total of 26 years. Glen began his teaching career in 1995, and he has spent the last 11 years teaching science at Tosa East. He has coached numerous athletes at the state level and enjoys sharing his experience with runners new to XC.

Glen has unique experiences both as an athlete (rural) and as a coach in an urban and suburban setting. He enjoys all the great coaching relationships he has formed both in southeast Wisconsin and across the state. He takes great pride in seeing former athletes continue their running after high school and when former athletes start their own coaching careers as well.

Glen is married (Stacey) and has a son and daughter in the Tosa school system. His daughter is an athlete at Tosa East on the XC and track teams.

Secretary—Tim Olson

Tim Olson has been coaching in some capacity for the past 30 years. Before taking over the girls’ track program at Wausau East in 2000, “Ole” ran collegiately at UWSP, coached at SPASH, UWSP and Pacelli. In 2005 he also became the head Lumberjack cross country coach. Along the way he has learned that the journey is as important as the destination and that it is important and fun to show kids how to enjoy the journey. Tim has been married to Kim, the love of his life, for 27 years and they now reside in Wausau where they are enjoying coaching track together. Ole still runs occasionally and enjoys spending time with his family, geocaching and working on projects at home and at the Olson Family Lake House.

Treasurer—Dominic Newman

Dominic Newman has been working with the Shorewood Cross Country and Track Program program since 1999. He started out as an assistant to Tim Kenny for 5 years and then Coach Newman took over the program in 2004. Newman has served as past president of the WCCCA and Hall of Fame committee. Coach Newman has been teaching elementary physical education in Shorewood since 1999.

Newman graduated with a degree in Exercise Sport Science, from UW-LaCrosse where he ran Track and Cross Country for 4 years. As a runner and coach, Newman has always favored cross country over track and field. Cross country has a much stronger team component it emphasizes a group effort as opposed to just an individual effort. Part of his coaching philosophy is to encourage his runners to gain strength from their team affiliation. Newman wants his athletes to embrace the concept of using their teammates, both physically and mentally, to make themselves better runners and competitors.

When not coaching or teaching Coach Newman enjoys spending time with his family, riding his fat tire bike and enjoying the slow pace at the families lake cabin.

Past President—Bryon Graun

Bryon is the head cross country coach at Colby/Abbotsford and assistant track coach at Colby. He also teaches 8th grade math and Social Studies at Colby Middle School and is also Co-Athletic Director for the Colby School District. He is an avid runner, completing few races each year. Bryon loves to travel and be in the outdoors. He spends much of his summer each year traveling with his biggest supporter, his wife Olivia, and their black lab Kona. During the winter you will find him exploring the different downhill ski resorts of the Midwest and Colorado. Because of Bryon’s love of running, he is a big supporter of many college and professional runners. He was a WCCCA rankings administrator from 2015-2017. He is also the current WCCCA president, serving since 2019. In 2023 Bryon was elected as the Vice-President of Cross Country for the National High School Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association which meets each year at the USTFCCCA Convention.

Historian—Mark Aslakson

Mark has been the Head Men and Womens Cross Country coach at Kenosha Bradford since 1976 for a total of 43 years. He has also been the Head Mens Track coach for 31 years and was previously an assistant coach for 13 years. He also coached mens basketball for five years. Mark retired from teaching in 2011 after having taught for 36 years as a psychology/sociology teacher at Kenosha Bradford High School. Aslakson graduated from UW Madison in 1975 with an emphasis in secondary education and coaching. In 2001, he earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from National Louis University. He was a three sport athlete at Marshfield High School from 1967-1970 competing in cross country, basketball, and track. He also competed in junior college basketball for two years at UW Marshfield. He has been the WCCCA Historian since 1991 and keeps extensive records and statistics for his own cross country and track teams. Mark has been married to his wife Martha for 21 years. Martha is a clinical instructor in nursing at UW Milwaukee and UW Parkside. She is also a church organist at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. They reside in Racine, WI.