The University of Michigan women's track and field team won the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championship at Spire Institute in Geneva, OH on February 24, 2023.

Steven Rajewsky has been named Great Lakes Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Rajewsky, a 2000 graduate of Blue Earth Area High School, has been an assistant track and field coach at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, since September of 2013.

“I was quite humbled to receive this award,” Rajewsky says. “There are nine regions and I am thankful to be honored by the Great Lakes Region.”

It is quite an accomplishment for the man, who, on his Facebook page, still describes himself as a small-town Minnesota boy.

“Growing up in Blue Earth, I had the opportunity to participate in track, tennis, football and basketball,” he comments. “And in my younger years I got to be the manager for the football and basketball teams and hang around the high school athletes. To a little kid those guys were larger than life.”

Rajewsky said his father is the person who inspired him to get involved with track in high school which led to him eventually becoming a coach in the sport.

“In middle school I played tennis. My father, who passed away between my eighth and ninth grade years, had always encouraged me to try track,” he explains. “I participated in both sports in ninth grade. I had success in track and made the All-State team my sophomore year.”

He did not completely abandon his tennis career, and in his senior year he had the distinction of participating in the Minnesota State High School League Tournaments in both sports: tennis and track and field.

His love of sports and people are what led him to become a coach.

“I enjoy the relationships I am able to build with the young athletes,” Rajewsky shares. “They come to college as 18-year-old kids and leave as 22-year-old adults. I enjoy the opportunity I have to make a positive impact on them as a person.”

And, that brings him back to his Minnesota roots.

“Growing up in Blue Earth, I always felt cared for by my neighbors, teachers and other parents,” Rajewsky comments.

He says he was also fortunate to have been mentored by excellent coaches and other people while attending BEA.

“I played for guys like Randy Kuechenmeister, Gary Holmseth, Tom Plocker, Steve Fernholz and Travis Armstrong,” Rajewsky says. “Even sports I did not participate in had great coaches who were good influences on kids – guys like Jack Eustice, Randy Wirtjes and Dave Pfaffinger, who were the wrestling coaches, and Rob Norman, who was the athletic director. Another great example of someone who is a positive influence is Steve Frederickson. These are guys who have continued to support me.”

Holmseth, who was Rajewsky’s basketball coach at BEA, says Rajewsky was showing signs of being someone special even at a young age.

“He became my student manager for the basketball team when he was in fourth grade,” Holmseth recalls. “He was all-in as a manager and he was all-in as a player. He was a leader and a positive person and has carried those characteristics into his coaching career.”

Holmseth notes Rajewsky has never forgotten about his hometown.

“You could say he has gone big-time by coaching at Michigan,” Holmseth comments. “But, he still has a pulse of what is going on with BEA athletics. He still bleeds a little bit of Buccaneer Maroon and Gold.”

Before joining the Michigan coaching staff, Rajewsky was an assistant for track and field at Kent State University from 2008-2013 and at Ball State from 2006-2008.

His first college coaching job was as a volunteer assistant track and field coach at the University of Minnesota from 2004-2006.

Rajewsky graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2004 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology and social studies. He later earned his master’s degree in sports administration.

According to the information on the University of Michigan website, which is updated through 2022, Rajewsky has coached two World Championship finalists, one NCAA champion, 12 different student-athletes to a combined 24 NCAA All-America honors, 51 conference champions (including seven at Michigan) and 26 school record-holders (eight at Michigan).

He has also coached his athletes to 108 all-conference honors and has helped student-athletes advance to the NCAA Championships on 17 occasions at Michigan. Rajewsky has been a member of 17 conference title-winning teams as an athlete and coach.

“The people who influence you stay with you,” Rajewsky concludes. “I am thankful for those people who have guided me along my life’s journey.”

And, looking at Rajewsky’s accomplishments, it is clear that the young boy, who grew up in a small town in southern Minnesota, is making quite an impact on the lives of the young people he now gets to mentor.