2007 – MCAC runner-up, 7-4 record, first state play-off appearance since 1997.
2008 – MCAC Southern Division champion, 7-3 record after 6-win start and No. 9 national ranking
2009 – MCAC champion, 20-14 overtime win vs. Rochester, 10-2 record with 15 All-MCAC performers from CLC and Division Coach of the Year honor, Graphic Edge Bowl (Cedar Falls, Iowa) appearance.
2010 – MCAC Southern Division champ, state runner-up, 10-2 record, Valley of the Sun Bowl (Phoenix, Ariz.) appearance.
Telephone: 218-855-8212
E-mail: gmedeck@clcmn.edu

Volleyball
Head Coach Jane Peterson is among the most successful in the National Junior College Athletic Association. 2011 is her 21st season at CLC, where she has led teams to three national titles and nine appearances in the national meet. Her CLC teams have earned six conference championships.
Coach Peterson is a three-time National Coach of the Year (NJCAA Division III). Her record through 20 seasons is 469-208. Raider volleyball teams under Coach Peterson have been in the national rankings on a consistent basis, having earned their way to the NJCAA tournament 8 of the last 11 years.

After taking the Raiders to the national championship in 2007, Coach Peterson was named the 2007 Two-Year College Southwest Region Coach of the Year and the 2007 Two-Year College National Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Coach Peterson, a California native, was a Hall of Fame athlete at the College of William and Mary before earning her master’s degree in athletic administration from St. Cloud State University. She was an SCSU assistant coach before coming to CLC. Jane teaches physical education and has also coached softball and been athletic director for the Raiders.
Telephone: 218-855-8210
E-mail: jpeterso@clcmn.edu

Golf
Jim Russell, Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach, is in his 11th season with the CLC golf program. In the fall of 2000 he watched Jason Nearing of Little Falls earn state and regional medalist honors, and a year later the men’s team qualified for the first of seven straight national tournament appearances.
In the spring of 2005, the Raider men brought home the college’s first national championship trophy. The 2006 and 2002 teams placed third, in 2007 they were seventh, and in 2008 they finished fifth.

Recognizing the CLC success based on golfers qualifying for the Nationals, the Minnesota College Athletic Conference and Region 13 coaches have honored Coach Russell with “Coach of the Year” honors several times. Coach Russell continues to recruit quality golfers who appreciate tough competition. Fall performances in state and regional play determine who qualifies for the men’s national meet in Chatauqua, N.Y., and the women’s championship in Dayton, Fla., both held the following spring.

Coach Russell continues to build a full women’s golf team (at least 5 players) with a commitment from the students to work hard and participate in every meet so the women may reach the national stature gained by the men’s program. Several CLC golfers – men and women – have qualified for national championship individual golf against topnotch Southern golfers with year-round course access. Several Raider men have finished among the leaders to earn All-American status.
Telephone: 218-855-8213
E-mail: jrussell@clcmn.edu

Men’s Basketball
Head Coach Jim Russell, who is also the CLC Athletic Director, has never had a losing season in 14 years here. He is the winningest men’s basketball coach in school history. It had been 37 years since CLC had advanced to a Region 13 championship game prior to Coach Russell’s tenure.

His Raider trademarks are defense and teamwork. Those qualities launched the Raiders into the 2008 NJCAA championship tournament and bestowed Regional Coach of the Year honors on the CLC mentor.
The veteran coach, who has always called himself a “student of the game,” has compiled a record of 266 wins, 116 losses. Last year, CLC had a 26-3 season in which the team was highly ranked in the NJCAA poll, closing at No. 6. CLC won the regular-season title in their new home, the Southern Division of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference. Coach Russell has taken his teams to the State Tournament 13 times in 14 years. Four times – including his first at CLC – he has been named MCAC Coach of the Year.

Coach Russell earned his master’s in Athletic Administration from St. Cloud State University and holds bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Recreation from Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kans.
Telephone: 218-855-8213
E-mail: jrussell@clcmn.edu

Women’s Basketball
Head Coach Dennis Eastman (223 wins,136 losses) has been the Raider women’s basketball coach for 18 seasons, returning early in the 2007-08 campaign after a two-year absence.

He has led CLC to eight state tournaments. The 2007-08 Raiders had a losing record but earned a trip to the NJCAA national tournament. During a stretch of four years ending in 2003, the Raiders had a record of 80 - 47 in basketball under Coach Eastman. His 1996 team won the first and (so-far) only national championship in basketball for Central Lakes College. He has led the Raiders to eight state tournaments. His philosophy can be boiled down to one fundamental belief: No matter what, never give up.

Coach Eastman also has been head football coach for CLC (1994-98 and 2003 and ’04). He led the Raiders to state play-offs and coached dozens of All-Division and All-Region athletes as well as an All-American. He himself was an outstanding high school athlete – North Dakota Athlete of the Year and Converse All-American in basketball. In college he was Conference Player of the Year and a two-year starting quarterback at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Dennis has also served as head softball coach at CLC, leading his teams to the national tournament in 200 and 2001.
Telephone: 218-855-8194
E-mail: deastman@clcmn.edu

Baseball
Head Coach Pat Held is in his third year in that capacity at CLC after serving as an assistant for the Raiders from 1997 to 2005 under three different head coaches. He was part of the 2000 CLC team that made the college’s only appearance in the NJCAA World Series. Described as a “baseball lifer,” Coach Held has coached at every level of baseball, from T-Ball to college. During his 42 years of coaching, he has been the varsity coach at Motley and Staples high schools, player-manager for the Motley Mets amateur team, and a coach in Babe Ruth League play, VFW, and American Legion teams in Motley, Staples, and St. Augusta. Coach Held has twice been selected to coach in the Lions’ All-Star Series and was District 24 Coach of the Year in 1988.

In 2010 Coach Held received the Dick Siebert award named after the former coach of the University of Minnesota Gophers, considered the “Father of Minnesota Baseball.” It goes to a coach who has served high school baseball with distinction, professionalism, involvement, and longevity. Coach Held serves on the Minnesota Twins Season Ticket Advisory Council. Retired from teaching in the Staples-Motley School District, Pat earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and a master’s from Hamline University.
Telephone: 218-855-8206, 218-575-2400 or 214-395-7948
E-mail: pheld@clcmn.edu

Softball
Head Coach Greg Medeck has served as fast-pitch softball coach at CLC for two seasons, establishing himself as one of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference’s most versatile and capable mentors. His Raiders have been competitive in keeping with tradition of a highly regarded athletic program. “A successful precedent was set,” Coach Medeck said when he took the reins. “There’s been a name built for CLC softball in the region.”

From 2004-09 the Raiders softball team won two state and four region titles and finished fifth, second, sixth and seventh in national tournaments. They went 179-61 (.746) in that stretch.
In his first year as head softball coach, Greg led CLC to a 27-16 record and runner-up finishes in the Northern Division of the MCAC (14-6) and Region 13.

The 2011 season was also successful, as the Raiders went 21-15, pushing national powerhouse Itasca to a sudden-death showdown in the Regional championship playoff before falling, 4-3. CLC defeated Itasca five of the 8 times they met.
Telephone: 218-855-8212
E-mail: gmedeck@clcmn.edu