- Led men's cross country team to 2018 NESCAC & New England Championships
- 2018 NESCAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year
- 2018 New England Region Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year
- Coached 27 All-America Performances
- Coached 15 NESCAC Champions
Cassie Funke-Harris has been on the coaching staff of the Amherst College track & field programs since 2012 and assumed her current role as head cross country coach in 2018.
Serving as the head coach of the women's track & field and cross country teams from 2012–18, Funke-Harris guided Amherst athletes to 12 NCAA Division III Championship meets and mentored Naomi Bates '14 as she won national championships in the long jump both indoors and outdoors. In Funke-Harris' six years leading the women's programs, Amherst produced 11 NESCAC individual and relay champions, 28 All-NESCAC and 19 All-American performances.
In 2018, the track & field programs were reorganized and Funke-Harris took over as head coach for both the men's and women's cross country teams and assistant coach for the men's and women's track & field teams, becoming the first female head coach of a men's team in Amherst College history.
Under Funke-Harris' leadership, the men's cross country team won the NESCAC Championship and the NCAA New England Regional Championship in 2018. The Mammoths have qualified as a team for the NCAA Division III Championships in each of her three seasons, finishing sixth in the nation in 2018 (the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Funke-Harris was selected as the NESCAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year and the New England Region Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2018. The Mammoths have earned 5 All-NESCAC and 11 All-Region selections in the three seasons that Funke-Harris has led the men's team and Clark Ricciardelli '20 raced to an All-American finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
In Funke-Harris' nine seasons at the helm of the women's cross country team, Amherst has produced three NESCAC champions and the team has been selected for the NCAA Division III Championships on three occasions, with individual runners qualifying in three other seasons. Amherst harriers have earned 9 All-NESCAC, 19 All-Region and 5 All-America selections, highlighted by Keri Lambert '13, who won the 2012 NCAA New England Regional and finished third at the NCAA Championships.
As an assistant coach with both the men's and women's track and field teams since 2018, the middle distance and distance runners that Funke-Harris coached combined for 4 NESCAC championships along with 9 All-NESCAC, 28 All-Region and 8 All-America performances.
Prior to her 2012 arrival, Funke-Harris spent six years as an assistant cross country and track & field coach at her alma mater, Carleton College. She was a four-year letter-winner for the Knights, notably earning an All-America selection during the 2004 cross country season before graduating with honors in 2005.
During her coaching tenure at Carleton, Funke-Harris helped the women's cross country team capture a pair of MIAC titles and three NCAA Championship berths. She was instrumental in producing 10 All-Conference honorees, 13 All-Region performers and a pair of All-America selections.
Also working with the women's track & field program, Funke-Harris helped guide Carleton student-athletes to 19 individual MIAC titles, 34 All-Conference selections, 19 NCAA provisional qualifying marks and nine All-America performances. The Knights' cross country and track & field teams garnered 21 USTFCCCA All-Academic Awards in the last six years, as well a a CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honoree.
Earning a bachelor's degree in biology from Carleton in 2005, Funke-Harris earned her master's in kinesiology and exercise physiology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008.
CASSIE FUNKE-HARRIS COACHING CAREER
2018–present: Head Cross Country Coach/Assistant Track & Field Coach, Amherst College
2012–18: Head Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Coach, Amherst College
2006–07; 2008–12: Assistant Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Coach, Carleton College
