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A long-time and respected collegiate cross country coaching veteran, John Fulkrod begins his 17th season with the University of Minnesota Duluth men's team and his 15th year as head coach of the Bulldog women in 2007.

During the past four seasons, Fulkrod has directed the Bulldog men a a pair of successive berths in the the NCAA Division II Championships (2003 and 2004) and their best finish ever (second place) at the 2006 North Central Conference meet. Prior to hooking up with the NCC in 2004, Fulkrod's charges captured 11 consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles (1993-2003). The UMD women, meanwhile, have run off with 10 conference crowns (NSIC from 1994-2003) under his watch and qualified for the school's only NCAA II Championship appearance in 1994. Fulkrod has also helped produce the school's only two NCAA II All-Americans in Sara Frederickson (2004) and Tammy Stang (2001). Fulkrod, who also doubles as the Bulldogs' head men's and women's track and field coach, came to the UMD campus in the fall of 1992 after serving a 20-year coaching stint at the now-defunct University of Minnesota-Waseca. A native of East Peoria, Ill., Fulkrod started the Minnesota-Waseca men's cross country and track and field programs in 1972-73 and stayed on as the Ram's head coach for two decades. He also headed the women's cross country and track and field teams for 15 years before Minnesota-Waseca closed in May 1992. Six of his cross country clubs captured National Junior College Athletic Association Region 13 titles.

The 65-year old Fulkrod, a six-time NSIC men's Coach of the Year award winner (1993, 1997-99 and 2002-03), earned an undergraduate degree in 1963 from Eureka College (where he was a four-sport letterman), his Master's degree in 1967 from Purdue University, and his Ph.D. in 1971 from Iowa State University. Also employed as a professor in the UMD's Chemistry Department, Fulkrod and his wife, Linda reside in Hermantown. They have two adult children -- Shelly and Kevin.