Robin Balder-Lanoue, who also serves as Saint Benedict’s head track coach, has led the cross country team to 16 top-five finishes in the MIAC, including four times third or better.
CSB has finished third five times at the MIAC meet (2023, 2022, 2013, 2002 and 1997). Twelve times, CSB team have finished top-eight in the NCAA DIII North Region with four top-five finishes. In 2022, Balder-Lanoue coached the repeat MIAC and North Region champion Fiona Smith who then finished a program-best second at the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships. In 2023, the Bennies finished third at the MIAC Championship as Fiona Smith again captured the MIAC individual title. Led by Smith, the Bennies was sixth at the NCAA Regional. Smith won the individual title, becoming the first in recorded MIAC history to win three straight regional titles. Annie Kiolbasa was 18th as the Bennies qualified two runners to nationals. At the NCAA DIII nationals, Smith became CSB's first-ever individual champion. With a clocking of 19:54.1 in the six-kilometer race at the 2023 NCAA DIII national championship, Smith set a championship record and became the first-ever in DIII history to clock sub-20 minutes.
In her first year as head coach in 1997, Balder-Lanoue led CSB to the NCAA National Championships where they finished in 12th out of 21 teams. That marked just the second NCAA appearance in school history for Saint Benedict.
Balder-Lanoue has guided Saint Benedict to a top-10 region finish in 19 of her 28 seasons. Saint Benedict has never finished lower than eighth in the conference.
Balder-Lanoue has coached 29 All-MIAC First Team selections, 24 All-MIAC Honorable Mention athletes, 40 All-Region athletes and five NCAA Division III All-Americans, and one individual national champion - Fiona Smith.
As well as being successful on the course, CSB’s cross country teams have had plenty of success in the classroom as well. CSB has won 26 straight USTFCCCA All-Academic Team awards dating back to 1998, and 44 individuals have been honored in that time.
Balder-Lanoue is a 1991 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict and participated in both track and field and cross country for four years. She still has one of the top-50 5K times in CSB history, and earned All-MIAC in track and field in 1990 and 1991. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and secondary education from CSB in 1991, and graduated with a master’s degree in education from Hamline in 1998.
From 1991-96, Balder-Lanoue taught and was the head Nordic ski coach and assistant cross country and track and field coach at Monticello High School in nearby Monticello, Minn. She came to CSB as the head cross country coach in 1997, and served as an assistant track coach before taking over the program in 1999.
Balder-Lanoue is a five-time MIAC Track and Field Coach of the Year (2009 Indoor, 2010 Outdoor, 2011 and 2016 Indoor and 2017 Outdoor), and still actively competes in road races. She took 15th at the Twin Cities Marathon in 1996, and competes in various team relays such as Ragnar or the Hood to Coast Relay – which span nearly 200 miles – every year. Her relay team, Baba Yaga, was the first women’s team to cross the finish line at the Ragnar Wasatch Back in Utah in 2019.
Balder-Lanoue and her husband, Bruce, live in St. Cloud with their daughter.
Additional Coaching Experience:
2005: USA Track and Field Level II coaching - throws
1997-1999: Assistant track and field coach at CSB
1991-1996: Assistant cross country and track and field coach at Monticello High School
1991-1996: Head Nordic ski coach at Monticello High School
College Education:
1998: Master's degree in education from Hamline University
1991: Bachelor's degree in mathematics and secondary education from St. Ben's
Athletic Career:
1984-Present: Competes in the Hood to Coast Relay every August in Oregon
1991-Present: Actively competing in road races
1996: Finished 15th in the Twin Cities Marathon
1987-1991: Competed in cross country and track and field at St. Ben's (All-MIAC)
Coaching Honors:
2017: MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
2016: MIAC Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
2011: MIAC Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
2010: MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Co-Coach of the Year
2009: MIAC Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
