Chris Sauer joined the Northwestern State Athletics staff as the head cross country and distance coach in July 2016. "We looked at a lot of resumes, but we kept coming back to (Sauer's)," Heimerman said. "Sauer was a good runner before coaching with the Stony Brook program, and he handled his interview very well."
Since joining the NSU staff, Sauer has made an immediate impact on the distance program. In just two short years, Demon distance runners have more than tripled the points at Southland Conference Track Championships over the previous four years combined. During that time school records have been set in the men’s mile, women’s steeplechase, women’s DMR and men’s 3000m.
One of Sauer’s most notable standouts on the men’s side has been Maryland native Joshua Wilkins. Wilkins led off his senior year with the highest cross country finish for Northwestern State in 13 years with his 6th place conference finish. This was followed by a stellar regional meet where he placed 38th in the South. Indoors that year, Josh set school records in the Mile running 4:12.15 as well as the 3000m running 8:38.82. He went on to place 3rd indoors in the mile as well as in the 1500m outdoor that same year. His time in the 1500m or 3:49.83 ranks 4th in NSU history.
There’s an ever-growing collection of PRs by his runners. Joshua Wilkins made a huge progression and realized his potential with the best finish in 15 years, sixth, by a Demon cross country runner at the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships in 2017. He also coached the most improved female to make the 800m final at the 2017 Southland Conference Meet in Jasmine Dansby. Sauer has coached athletes at NSU to school records in the women's distance medley, women's 3000m steeplechase, and men's mile The former Stony Brook distance runner and team captain served as a volunteer assistant with the Seawolves in 2015. Sauer hails from Sparta High School in New Jersey, where he still holds school records in six events and was a six-time team captain. He then joined Stony Brook University's cross country team, where he was a team captain and helped the Seawolves capture the American East Cross Country Championship in 2012. Sauer returned to Stony Brook in 2014 as a volunteer assistant to work with middle and long distance event groups, aid in meet preparation, and generate recruiting databases.
