Corey Mistretta enters his fifth year as SLU track and field head coach.
The Lions are coming off another terrific 2021 campaign as the SLU men finished runner up at both the indoor and outdoor Southland Championship meets.
During the indoor season, the SLU men claimed the Southland title in the one-mile, 3k and 5k while setting school records in all three events under Mistretta's leadership.
The outdoor season saw much of the same. The men's team claimed five Southland titles in the 400m, discus, high jump, long jump and javelin while the Lady Lions earned the javelin title.
The Lions also set four outdoor school records in the 1500m, 5k, 10k, and 4x400 relay. Nine student-athletes qualified for the NCAA East Regional Prelims prior to the national championships.
SLU got six outdoor All-American slots as Frank DiSanza (javelin), Jonathon Sawyer (400m) and the men's 4x400 team each qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
In the 2020 indoor season, Mistretta was named Southland Conference men's indoor coach of the year after leading the SLU men's team to the 2020 Southland Conference Indoor Championship March 2 in Birmginham, Alabama. The title was just the second indoor title for the men in program history (2014).
Mistretta was named Southeastern’s head track and field and cross country head coach March 2018 after serving three years as recruiting coordinator and assistant coach on former head coach Sean Brady’s staff.
The 2020 indoor campaign saw Southeastern break 14 school records under Mistretta. The men’s team twice set new marks in the 200 and 400 meters. The Southland Conference champion Lions also established new standards in the distance medley and heptathlon, while also setting a new league record in the 4x400-meter relay (3:07.67). James Benson II’s time of 46.34 at the Texas A&M Invitational set a new Southland mark in the 400 meters, only to be bested by teammate Jonathon Sawyer’s winning time of 46.23 at the league indoor meet.
Sophie Daigle left quite an impression on the Lady Lion indoor record books, setting new standards in the 800 meters, mile run, while twice establishing school marks in the 3K and 5K runs. Daigle, Jamira Patterson, Tara Stuntz and Lindsey Hutcheson broke the SLU record in the distance medley at the Southland Indoor Championships.
Academically, SLU has been terrific as well under Mistretta with 106 selection to the Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll (77 Track and Field selection, 29 Cross Country.)
From 2011-2014, Mistretta served as the athletic director and head track and field coach at Bishop Sullivan Catholic School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. During his time at BSCHS, he led the men’s track and field team to a Virginia Catholic Outdoor Track and Field State Championship in 2013, the first in school history. He was named the TCIS Conference Track & Field Coach of the Year in both 2013 and 2014.
Mistretta was the head coach of the men’s track and field team, as well as the receivers coach for the football squad at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Hammond from 2009-2011. In 2010, he helped coach the women’s squad to both indoor and outdoor state championships.
For six years, Mistretta worked at Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge. He served as the head track and field coach as well as the football receivers coach, where he was named the LSWA Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2007 and All-Metro Track and Field Coach of the Year twice in a row (2006 ane 2007). He led his Redemptorist men’s team to a State title in 2006, the first in school history, followed by state titles again in 2007 and 2009.
Mistretta returned to Southeastern after serving as the student assistant coach of the track and field team from 1990-1991. He was also a member of the Lion track and field team from 1984-1987.
Mistretta holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Mercer University (2002) and a Master’s of Art in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine (2015).
Notable SLU Accomplishments Under Mistretta:
2020 Southland Conference Men's Indoor Coach of the Year
2020 Southland Conference Indoor Men's Champion
2021 Southland Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year
2021 LSWA All-Louisiana Cross Country Coach of the Year
110 Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll Selections (Track and Field -77, Cross Country 29)
56 School Records
24 NCAA Division I East Regional Qualifiers
19 Individual Conference Champions
14 NCAA Division I All-Americans
8 Southland Conference Records
7 Olympic Trials' Qualifiers
5 USTFCAA All Academic Cross Country Selections
3 Southland Conference Records
3 USATF All-Americans
1 Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year
1 Southland Conference Athlete of the Year
