Former Nebraska Wesleyan All-American runner Jackie (Spelts) McKenzie begins her sixth season as an assistant coach for the Prairie Wolves cross country program. She also is an assistant for the NWU track & field program.
Last season she received her third straight Conference Coaching Staff of the Year honor helping Coach Ted Bulling lead the NWU women to the American Rivers Conference Championship. The previous two seasons she was part of the Iowa Conference Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2016, she helped the NWU women win their first IIAC Cross Country Championship and joined Coach Ted Bulling in being named the IIAC Coaching Staff of the Year in the team’s first year of the new league.
McKenzie, a 2010 NWU graduate, joined the staff after coaching stints at two other institutions. She spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State University where she earned a Master’s degree in exercise science. During the 2013-14 season, McKenzie served as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska.
As an NWU student-athlete, she was a two-time All-American in cross country. Her fifth place finish in 2008 at the NCAA III Cross Country Championships is the highest finish for a NWU female runner. She was also an All-American in track in the 5,000 meters. She won seven individual GPAC Championships and holds four school records. In 2010, the Lincoln Journal Star named her the State College Athlete of the Year. Later that year, Jackie was one of 29 women in the nation to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
In addition to her coaching duties, McKenzie is also an admissions counselor at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
She is married to Derrick McKenzie, a 2012 NWU graduate and former member of the track & field program who is an assistant for the Prairie Wolves track team.
