Alumni Spotlight: Vicki Mitchell

CORTLAND, N.Y. - Vicki Mitchell, class of 1991, was inducted into the Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame in 2004. A women's track and field and cross country runner, Mitchell is the most decorated female student-athlete in Cortland's history. She was a seven-time individual national champion, a 10-time All American and a member of three national championship teams.

After her graduation from Cortland in 1991 with a BSE in Physical Education and a minor in music, she pursued a masters in exercise physiology at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.  

Mitchell was able to continue a professional running career after graduation from 1991-2000 where she qualified for two USA Olympic Trials (10,000m in 1996 / marathon in 2000), and competed for the USA on five different National Teams. She retired from professional running in 2000, although she made sure to note that she does still run today, albeit at a much slower pace.  

Mitchell began her professional career as a physical education teacher and a coach at Angels Academy in Buffalo, NY (an all-girls catholic school) in 1993 where she stayed until 1998. In 1998, she moved to Kansas City, Mo. and began her first collegiate teaching and coaching position at William Jewell College, which is a division II institution today. She only stayed at the college for a short time until she returned east in July of 1999 to become the assistant track and field/cross country coach at the University of Buffalo (UB). 

Mitchell credited her time at William Jewel as an amazing opportunity to begin her coaching career. In 2003, she was named the head coach at UB and she is currently the Director and Head Coach of the men's and women's track and field/cross country at the university. 

Mitchell shared, "Buffalo is my hometown, and to be afforded the opportunity to coach at an NCAA Division I University in my hometown was a dream." Mitchell has led the UB's track and field/cross country program for 22 plus years and expressed her hope to continue well into the future.  

Today, Mitchell is involved in a multitude of organizations in Western New York outside of her coaching position at UB. She is the Race Director for the Girls on the Run-Buffalo 5k races (the largest 5k race in Buffalo averaging over 3,000 entrants each June). She is also the coach for Checkers Running Club, Western New York's largest and most competitive running club with over 600 members. She currently serves as the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Cross Country President. Mitchell was a true champion in her days as a runner, and she has translated her winning ways into her professional career.