Kathy Lanese enters her 12th season coaching cross country and track at Case Western Reserve in 2012-13. She has led the Spartan cross country teams for the past 11 years and has served as an assistant for the track program for five seasons after serving as head coach of the women’s track & field team from 2001-06. Lanese began her second stint at the University when she was appointed to her position on June 5, 2001.

Since her return to University Circle, Lanese has coached a total of 11 All-Americans in cross country and track. She guided the 2008 women’s 10,000-meter run national champion and has led dozens of distance runners and several relay teams to record-breaking performances. Her 2006 women’s cross country team finished sixth in the nation, marking the highest national finish for any Spartan athletic team in school history. Both her men’s and women’s cross country teams have earned All-Academic honors for the past 11 years and a countless number of individuals have been named to the All-Academic team. In addition, four of Lanese’s cross country runners have received NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships and one was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award in addition to receiving the Fullbright Scholarship in Vienna, Australia.

Three years into her second stint at Case, Lanese was named the Ohio Cross Country Men’s Coach of the Year following the 2003 season in which her men's team finished 20th at the NCAA Division III Championships. In 2006, Lanese was named University Athletic Association Coach of the year after leading the women's team to a first-place conference finish and a 10th-place showing at nationals. Lanese also was named the 2006-07 USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year and was named the top coach in the state by the Ohio Coaches Association. In 2008, both the men’s and women’s cross country squads won the All-Ohio Championships and Lanese and her staff won UAA Coaching Staff of the Year honors. Both teams also competed at nationals, marking the first time that both squads competed concurrently at the national championship meet. In 2010, Lanese earned her fifth consecutive Coach of the Year honor from the Ohio Track and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Lanese first came to Case in 1990 when she was named the head women's cross country coach and assistant track & field coach. She left Case briefly in 1993 to pursue a position in sports medicine, but quickly returned to the coaching ranks as women’s cross country and track & field head coach at Cleveland State University from 1994-96. Lanese moved on to serve in the same capacity at John Carroll University from 1996-2001.

In addition to coaching, Lanese is a member of the Behavior Health Committee and the Women’s leadership council at the University level. She held the positions of President of the Ohio Track and Cross Country Coaches and Vice President for the USTFCCCA from 2009-2011. She recently accepted the position of President on a national level for the USTFCCCA for Division III Cross Country. Lanese, a 2010 graduate of the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy, also attended the USTFCCCA Women's Coaching Summit held in San Antonio, Texas in December of 2011.

A graduate of Ohio University, Lanese was a scholarship athlete who competed in middle-distance and distance events. She was a member of the track team that won two-consecutive Mid-American Conference championships (1983-84) and the All-Ohio Cross Country Championships in 1982. Individually, Lanese finished 11th and 14th, respectively, at the MAC championships and was a member of the record-setting 3,200-meter relay and distance medley relay teams. During her senior year, Lanese was named captain of both the track and cross country teams. She was voted the team's most improved runner in 1985 and also set an indoor record in the 1,500-meter run.

Lanese received her B.S. in foods and nutrition from Ohio University and both her certification in athletic training and her graduate studies in exercise science from Cleveland State.

Lanese resides in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and has two children, Evan and Kasey. Evan is a student at CWRU.