Former Wisconsin/Northern Michigan women’s basketball forward Mariah Dunham and former Grand Valley State distance runner Grant Lofdahl have joined the Lake Superior State coaching staff as assistant coaches.
Dunham is a 2011 graduate of NMU with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies. She averaged 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 2009-10 as a transfer senior for the Wildcats and earned All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Second Team honors. She was an occasional starter during her 2 ½ seasons at Wisconsin, where she compiled 600 points and 349 rebounds.
Dunham, a native of Watertown, Wis., was a member of the Baraga High School boys and girls basketball coaching staffs from 2011-13 and spent one season as a volunteer coach at Finlandia. She also has four years experience as an AAU girls basketball coach, working with 13-16-year-old girls. Her non-basketball work experience includes customer service, marketing, youth program management, and being a member of the Baraga County Fire Department.
Lofdahl joins the LSSU track and field/cross country coaching staff and will assist head coach Matt Sparks with the distance corps. He coached the Allendale High School cross country and track and field teams for six seasons, leading the Falcons’ girls cross country squad to a runner-up finish at the 2009 MHSAA Division 3 State Finals. His top individual protégés include Ali Wiersma, who won eight state track and field titles, and Devan John, who claimed three consecutive MHSAA cross country state championships.
"Grant’s had a history of success at the elite high school level in the state of Michigan, and I am really excited to have him join our staff," Sparks said. "I have no doubt he will build our Cross Country program into a contender."
Lofdahl also coached at Wyoming High School from 2002-04, leading the boys 3,200-meter relay to a Division 2 state title and state record, and he assisted GVSU head coach Jerry Baltes with several events and camps. He worked as a sports reporter for Advance Newspapers in Jenison, Mich., from 2005-10. Lofdahl earned a bachelor’s degree in history from GVSU in 2004.
Lofdahl replaces Steve Eles ’03, who coached the men’s and women’s LSSU cross country teams from 2005-12, and headed the track and field program from 2005-10.
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