Shippensburg University Athletics

Assistant coach Dave Osanitsch ’96 begins his 10th season as the primary assistant to head cross country coach Steve Spence. Osanitsch will begin his 16th season as a track and field coach at the collegiate level with the start of the 2013-14 campaign. He is entering his ninth season at the helm of the Raider track and field programs.

Osanitsch is a 19-time PSAC Coach of the Year and a 9-time United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) Division II Region Coach of the Year.

Last year, Osanitsch won all four PSAC Track & Field Coach of the Year awards for the third consecutive season. He has won every PSAC Track & Field coaching award issued since the 2010 indoor season. In 2011, he also won three of the four USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year awards.

Shippensburg University track & field has achieved profound levels of success during Osanitsch’s tenure. Along with the help of his dedicated and knowledgeable coaching staff, Shippensburg has won 20 PSAC Championships and has finished second on five occasions.

Along with the team success, Shippensburg University track & field has had four NCAA championship relays, 79 NCAA All-Americans and seven NCAA All-American relay squads during his tenure. In addition, more than 90 school records have been broken while more than 150 NCAA automatic or provisional qualifiers have been achieved along with a multitude of PSAC champions.

Osanitsch began coaching at his alma mater in 2002 as an assistant coach in track and field, primarily working with the jumpers and multi-event athletes, a role he maintains as the head coach. Since his arrival at Shippensburg, the jumps squad has garnered 41 individual PSAC championships and a multitude of all-PSAC honors. Additionally, Osanitsch has produced 75 NCAA provisional qualifiers and 16 All-Americans in jumps or multis competition while breaking 17 school records since 2002.

A 1996 graduate of Shippensburg with a bachelor of science in criminal justice, Osanitsch was a five-time NCAA Division II Championship qualifier in the 55-meter and 110-meter hurdles. He was a two-time PSAC indoor champion in the 110-meter hurdles in 1993 and 1995 as well as a two-time ECAC indoor champion in the 55-meter hurdles. In 1993 and 1995, Osanitsch was a member of both the PSAC and ECAC outdoor track and field championship teams.

Osanitsch was also an NCAA All-American in the 55-meter hurdles in indoor track. In 1994, he finished sixth at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships before placing seventh as a senior in 1996. Osanitsch currently holds the school record in the indoor 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.49 seconds, a mark that is one of the fastest times in PSAC history. For his college athletic efforts, Osanitsch was inducted into the Shippensburg University Athletic Hall Of Fame in 2010.

Osanitsch, along with his wife Julie and children, Madison and Brayden, reside in Shippensburg.