Cardinal Perspectives: Steve Rahn, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field

Welcome to Cardinal Perspectives, a series featuring in-depth conversations with alumni, students, faculty, staff and the extended family and community of The Catholic University of America.

Steve Rahn is the director of Cross Country and Track & Field at Catholic University, in his eighth season leading the Cardinals’ programs. With more than 20 years of coaching experience, Rahn has guided Catholic’s cross country and track & field teams to consistent success in the Landmark Conference, including multiple conference championships, NCAA qualifiers, All-Region honorees, and standout individual performances across both men’s and women’s squads.

His leadership has helped elevate the programs’ national standing, with athletes earning top regional rankings and competing on the NCAA stage while also achieving academic distinction. Steve brings a deep passion for developing student-athletes both on the course and on the track, and he continues to make a measurable impact on the Cardinal distance and field programs.

*This transcript is based on an audio recording and has been lightly edited for readability. It reflects the substance of the conversation but may not be a verbatim record.

James
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I have the pleasure to be joined by head track and field coach Steve Rahn. Steve, thanks for taking some time out of your day to join us.

Steve
It's my pleasure. I'm happy to be here.

James
Awesome. First, I wanted to start off, Steve, you're in your eighth year here at Catholic University.

Is their particular moment that stands out to you from your time here so far?

Steve
It's so hard to take the thousands of moments in the last seven and a half years and narrow it down.

Things that definitely stand out: The conference championship titles – two for women's cross and then the one for women's track. Those are absolutely special. To go back-to-back for women's cross, it was an extremely difficult task for them. That second championship was so close. Two teams were one and two points behind us. It came down to literally everybody. That was very special.

And then to win the program's first ever women's track and field title in school history was phenomenal. It took 45 years to do that, and literally took everybody in every single event group. That was a wonderful feeling, too.

Then seeing the greater successes of people reaching their goals and personal bests, whether that's on a regular meet or championship level or NCAA level. We've had 25 national qualifiers, 13 All-Americans, and one national champion in my time here. That was incredible as well.

It's really hard to just narrow it down to one moment.

James
That's a lot to speak on, and over the last three or four years, you have had a lot of success. All of your teams – cross country, track and field, both on the men's and the women's side.

Speaking of that, you’ve had a lot of positive momentum since the fall of 2022 into the spring of 2023 and onward. We just touched on some highlights, but are there more that stick out from both a team and individual perspective?

Steve
Going back to those team titles, I think that's really the big highlight for the team accomplishments. For the men, the first time we finished runner-up in the conference on the track was phenomenal. The guys worked so, so hard to see us go from the perennial bottom of the conference to being something to be reckoned with. It's a privilege when you get to see it on a daily basis of all the work that they put in.

And then for the individuals, watching and recruiting Christian Di Nicolantonio. You know that there was something special there. You always have those conversations of what could possibly happen, it just has to happen on the day.  I was lucky enough to be in the coaching box with him during that national title.

His vault coach's flight got delayed and then canceled, so he wasn't able to make it. I have wonderful coaches and then sometimes I just need to step in and help them out, even though that's not my specific area that I coach. Just to be there for the four hour competition and see all the emotions that he felt during that entire process, it was really awesome to see him achieve his ultimate goal.

James
And for those who don't know out there, Christian Di Nicolantonio as a junior in 2023, was an individual national champion. A great accomplishment and remarkable feat for not only him, but for the program, and for you, as well, to coach an athlete of that caliber. It’s something super noteworthy for the program and for the athletic department as a whole.

Steve
He definitely put in the work to get there and it didn't come out of the blue.

James
You've talked a lot about the past success of teams and individuals. What are your future hopes for the team’s development and success under your leadership?

Steve
We have two new additions to the coaching staff this year that I'm really excited about.

Coach JT Klopcic is the associate head of cross country and assistant of track and field. He's in charge of the distance athletes. And coach Isabella Fabrizio, she's the associate head of track and field and assistant of cross country, and she's in charge of all the throwing events.

Both of them are number one, phenomenal human beings. They provide so much for the team culture and to the athletes. They truly care not just about our athletes, but they're super involved in the rest of the University. I'm really excited about having the two of them aboard.

I've known Coach JT for many years now. He used to coach at Goucher College. We were talking last year about this position, and then he reached out to me over the summer and said he was interested.

It's not easy switching distance coaches and having immediate success, but he came in and hit the ground running, for lack of better terms. No pun intended. He's done a phenomenal job leading the group, and both Coach JT and Coach Izzy are on the same page.

We're all very driven. We have big goals for the teams and individuals, and so we're looking for them to continue to build and grow in their own ways, meeting student-athletes where they are and supporting what their goals are. That's what we're here to accomplish.

And then there’s the recruiting piece. Bringing in more people who can have a bigger impact, both on and off the track, and have success with team culture and academics and post-grad, as well.

James
You touched on something that is very important: the recruiting piece.

Outside of football, you have the largest roster in the department. Between the men and the women, you have close to 100 student-athletes. Only football is bigger.

What strategies do you use to help both the recruits and the current student-athletes thrive as individuals?

Steve
Getting to know them. Not just what their goals are and where they're coming from, but also what makes them tick, that's super important. Especially during the recruiting process.

Division III is wonderful in that we're not here to just sell a program. We're here to sell the entirety of their experience. Academics, athletics, personal life, internships… There's just so much to do.

Getting to know the student-athletes on an individual basis can be difficult with a team of this size and how many people we tend to recruit. But I have a wonderful coaching staff who is there to do the same for their groups and we’re always in communication about those.

James
You have to manage a lot of recruits every year, with a lot of people shuffling out the door, needing to replace those roster spots. What's your biggest recruiting strategy? How do you manage that while also managing a large roster?

Steve
I think the proper term is “grind.” A lot of people just think we're here for practice and then we just go home. but we're a 24-hours-a-day profession. Even if I have practice from 5 to 7:30, I'm on the phone with however many recruits it takes during my drive home. And then it continues from there.

It's a grind. It's consistency, making sure that they understand the value that they're going to get here. The return on investment that they're going to get, and then how the entire family is going to be involved in the sport.

We have a lot of parents who are very involved. We have tailgates that we do – one during cross country, one during the indoor season at our home invitational at PG Sports & Learning Complex, and then we will do another one for Senior Day in the outdoor season, where we have tons of families come down and experience.

So it's not just them being involved, it's also involving their entire family.

James
And touching on involving the entire family, are there any values or attitudes specifically that are most important to you in shaping the culture of the team?

Steve
We talk about those cultural pillars of being super supportive of one another. Track and field can feel like a very individualistic sport. Whatever you put into it, you're going to get out of it.

But at the same time, your training partners are very important to your success, and you are very important to their success. And you might come in and have a bad day. It might be a really rough day in class, and you might have some things going on, but then you'll have your teammates picking you up and supporting you. That's what we talk to recruits a lot about. The number one thing is support. Being supportive of everybody and allowing people to support you, as well.

Aside from that, you have to be dedicated to both your academics, but then also your craft. So whatever that is, throws, pole vault, distance, sprints, hurdles, jumps, everything you have to be super dedicated to.

And then, willingness to communicate. Kevin [Robinson] is really into communication, as he should be, because we don't understand where you're coming from unless you can communicate it to us. And we tell them all the time: in practice, we can't feel what you're feeling unless you tell us. And then we can adjust from there.

It’s making sure that they understand communication is a huge factor in that. Those are the big pieces for us.

James
How would you define your long-term vision for Catholic University track and field going forward? How has it changed from when you started and how have you seen it play out over the course of your eight years here?

Steve
I came from some very successful programs in the past. The vision for the program has always been the same: getting as many team titles, individuals qualifying for the national championship, and All-Americans as we can. In order to do that, we need to see every single person putting in the work and reaching their individual goals.

It doesn't help one individual to be around a team that  isn't driven or looking for the same success. That doesn't just pop out of nowhere.

Christian, he owns his own success. But he did it with a lot of other teammates who are just as driven. They fuel each other.

The vision is to continue to win team titles and to continue to get as many people to their goals and to the national championships and All-America honors as possible. The ultimate title would be an NCAA trophy.

James
That's great. Switching gears a bit to the alumni side. With a big program comes more alumni. Do you have a particular moment or story that highlights the ongoing connection between your alumni and the team?

Steve
In one of my first few years – it might've been my second year here – I had a few people who used to run cross country reach out. They wrote letters to our freshmen at the time, to congratulate them.

For them to be engaged in and understanding what's going on after being removed for 20+ years is just phenomenal. The level of support that alumni give to people that they've never met before.

We see a lot more alumni coming to events now. We had a lot of alums show up at our meet on Saturday. It's an incredible thing to experience, when we have alumni just stopping by, whether it's at a big football event or just at a practice. We've had people from California come and talk to the team and tell stories. That has had the most amount of impact.

James
That speaks to the bond of what Catholic Athletics is as a whole, but also your program and the culture that you've built.

In your view, what are the lasting benefits of competing at the collegiate level?

Steve
We talk about a lot as track and field coaches. With sports in general, you can take all those lessons that you've learned and apply them after you graduate, understanding that you're going to come across a lot of adversity in your life. We talk about how life doesn't get easier, you just get stronger and better at handling it.

Then the closeness of your teammates, making sure that you keep those bonds. We're seeing a lot of those with past alumni, whether it's marriages or just connections, hanging out together. It's really great to see.

It's very important for them to understand how to deal with adversity, but then also how to structure and prioritize your schedules. It's really important to understand how to do that as an adult.

James
Last one for you, what are some meaningful ways that alumni can give back to Catholic Athletics and some big things that are ahead for the track and field and cross country programs?

Steve
Reaching out and even mentoring some of our student-athletes, that goes a very long way. Coming in person and supporting the team. Writing letters to the team, they would love to read those. And I know a lot of alumni will comment on our social media posts and it's great to see.

Aside from that, another big project that we have is our throws facility. That has the biggest impact. We hosted outdoor meets here for a very long time, and we want to get back to that. We want to provide a true home competition.

I know that they see other sports being able to have those home competitions. And right now the only thing holding us back is our throws facility. We received a donation from an amazing alumnus, Doug Casey, who has kicked off our throws project. The shot put circle will be done in March 2026 and we just need the hammer and discus cage in order to host a meet. We're hoping to get some people to help make that a reality.

James
Thank you for joining us. If anyone listening has any questions, feel free to reach out to myself or Steve. As always, go Cards, and have a great rest of your day.

Steve
Go Cards.