Cheryl McLean enters her sixth season at the helm of the Lourdes University cross country programs in 2025.
McLean was hired in July 2019 as the head coach for both the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs at Lourdes. After leading the track and field teams for two seasons, she transitioned to the role of assistant coach for track and field, while maintaing to serve as the head cross country coach. Following the discontinuation of the track and field program ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, McLean remains in place as the head coach for the Gray Wolves’ men’s and women’s cross country programs entering the 2025 season.
Under McLean’s leadership, the cross country programs have continued to build momentum, highlighted most recently by Jenna Ramsey becoming the first runner in program history to qualify for the NAIA National Championships in 2024. During her tenure, McLean has guided her athletes to a total of seven WHAC Runner of the Week honors in cross country—four on the men’s side and three for the women—as well as one WHAC Track Athlete of the Week award.
McLean has guided several standout women's runners to top-10 performances in program history in both the 5K and 6K distances. Aaliyah Perez etched her name into the record books in 2021 and 2023, while Olivia Mathis made her mark during the 2021 season. Sheila Samoei, one of McLean’s early standouts, earned a spot on the list in 2019, the coach’s first season at the helm. Most notably, Jenna Ramsey broke into the top-10 in both 2023 and 2024, and now holds the school records in both the 5K and 6K following a historic 2024 campaign.
On the men's side, Elliot Ramsey secured the top-10 program times across four consecutive seasons from 2020 through 2023, while Liam LeBlanc joinied the elite list in 2022 and 2023. Most impressively, LeBlanc currently holds the top three all-time spots in the 8K distance, setting a high standard for future Gray Wolves runners.
Academically, McLean’s teams have excelled, producing 16 NAIA Scholar-Athletes and 14 WHAC All-Academic Team selections on the women’s side in cross country alone. On the men’s side, her athletes have earned 12 WHAC All-Academic honors and 12 NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards.
McLean arrived at Lourdes having spent seven seasons as the head girls cross country coach at Dexter High School in Michigan while also serving as the assistant track and field coach for five years. Her teams qualified for the state championships three times under her guidance, finishing as high as 17th in Division I in 2014. That same season her team earned Academic All-State honors as a team, finishing second overall in Michigan. In two other seasons, McLean had individuals qualify for the Michigan state meet.
An experience runner herself, McLean was a professional track athlete competing in national and international races. She competed in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. During her collegiate career, McLean earned NAIA All-American honors in both cross country and track. She then transferred to the University of Michigan where she earned All-Big Ten accolades and served as a team captain as a senior.
McLean is a 1989 graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in sports management and communications and earned her master’s degree in special education from the University of Toledo in 1998.
