Kris Boey returns for his 24th season as men’s and women’s track & field coach at Ohio Wesleyan University having succeeded in returning the Battling Bishops to the top of the North Coast Athletic Conference standings.
In June 2010, Boey became director of track & field and cross country at Ohio Wesleyan, adding additional administrative duties to his head coaching positions.
During Boey’s first 23 years at Ohio Wesleyan, the Bishops produced 209 NCAA qualifiers, 59 All-Americans, 53 North Coast Athletic Conference Athlete of the Year selections, 587 NCAC champions, and 1463 All-NCAC honorees, and have broken 190 school records. The women’s cross country and track & field program has won the University’s Bob Strimer Director of Athletics Cup for academic achievement in 9 of the last 21 academic years.
Last year, the Bishop women's team finished third in both the NCAC indoor and outdoor championship meets, while the men's team was sixth indoors and fifth outdoors.
Boey is the winningest track & field coach in NCAC history with a total of 32 team championships.
He has been recognized by his peers, receiving NCAC Coach of the Year honors for men (indoor and outdoor) and women (indoor and outdoor) a total of 29 times. He received Regional Coach of the Year honors from the USTFCCCA for women (outdoor) in 2016, marking his 10th regional honor since 2007.
"This is a great place for me," Boey said. "Ohio Wesleyan has a great deal to offer both academically and athletically, and that combination was the big draw for me, along with the history of the programs and the ability to be in a place where I can build a program and establish a great tradition for the future."
Boey’s philosophy for success stresses the total development of the student-athlete. The first aspect allows each student-athlete to receive the attention and quality coaching that he or she needs to improve throughout his or her career.
Boey and his staff believe in putting student-athletes in a position to be successful. The quality of the Ohio Wesleyan track and field schedule is a key to the program’s success. Student-athletes in the Battling Bishop track and field program travel to numerous invitationals providing a challenging mix of Division I, II and III competition, allowing each member the opportunity to participate, learn, and improve.
The core of Boey’s agenda is building a program that fosters a family atmosphere in which student-athletes learn, mature, and graduate at the culmination of their career at Ohio Wesleyan. Many valuable lessons can be learned in practice and through competition; however, the primary goal of the Ohio Wesleyan track and field and cross country program is to help each student-athlete grow and reach his or her full potential in a challenging but supportive environment.
Boey served as head coach of men’s and women’s cross country from 2002-09. The Ohio Wesleyan harriers made great strides during Boey’s final 4 seasons. In 2009, the men’s team finished sixth in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet, the Bishops’ best finish in a regional meet since 1981, and sent a runner to the NCAA Division III championship meet for the first time since 1983. The Battling Bishop women had an all-region performer in each of those 4 seasons, sending a runner to the NCAA Division III championship meet in 2006, and the women’s team’s second-place finish in the 2008 NCAC championship meet equaled Ohio Wesleyan’s best conference finish ever.
Boey also serves as the campus advisor for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He served as a member of the NCAA track & field committee as well as the Great Lakes Region representative for the USTFCCCA. Boey also served as the meet director for the 2005 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s cross country championships, the 2011 and 2014 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s outdoor track & field championships, and the 2017 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional cross country championship. He has served as the president and vice president of both the NCAC track & field and cross country coaches caucuses. Boey also is the college liaison to the Ohio Association of Cross Country and Track & Field Coaches.
Prior to coming to Ohio Wesleyan, Boey was head coach of men’s and women’s track & field and cross country at Muskingum College for 2 years. He coached one NCAA Division III All-American, 17 national qualifiers, 17 Ohio Athletic Conference champions and 47 all-conference honorees.
Before going to Muskingum, Boey spent 2 seasons at Rhodes College, where he was an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country teams. During his time at Rhodes, the Lynx won 3 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles in men’s and women’s cross country.
Boey is a 1998 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, with a B.A. in history and secondary education. He went on to earn his M.S.Ed. in sport and leisure commerce from the University of Memphis in 2000.
During his undergraduate career, Boey earned All-America honors as a member of B-W’s 1600-meter relay team in 1996. He also competed in the 800-meter run at the national championship meet that year. Boey qualified for the NCAA Division III championship meet in each of his 4 years at B-W. He won 4 individual OAC championships and 2 All-Ohio individual titles and helped the Yellow Jackets win one OAC title as well as an All-Ohio team championship. He was named the team’s Most Outstanding Athlete in both cross country and track and was the team’s Distance Most Valuable Runner in track for 3 years. Boey, who graduated magna cum laude, also was a 2-time Academic All-OAC honoree in addition to his 17 All-OAC awards on the track. He was a member of Intercollegiate Cross Country All-Academic Teams during 3 years of his career.
Boey is a native of Grafton, Ohio. He is a member of the Baldwin-Wallace University Athletic Hall of Fame, the Lorain County Track & Field Hall of Fame, and the Midview High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Leslie, live in Delaware with their daughters, Abbie and Avery, and son, Alex.
