Parkside Athletics

Mike DeWitt rejoined the Parkside Track and Cross Country Program in the winter of 2025 to assist with the Cross Country and Track Program.

DeWitt has a long history of success as a coach and athlete that began with being a member of the 1st ever Parkside Cross Country and Track Teams in the fall of 1968 for Cross Country and Spring of 1970 for Track and Field.  He is the first ever UW Parkside Track All American, earning the honor at the NAIA Indoor Championships in 1972 in the 2 mile Race Walk.

His coaching resume includes being the Head Women’s Coach for Cross Country and Track at Parkside beginning in the fall of 1981 in Cross Country and then added track in the 1982 season.  He also was the coordinator of the Race Walking Program.  DeWitt added the Men’s Program in the winter of 2007.  He departed UW Parkside following the 2010 season.  His Women’s Cross Country Program earned 27 National Meet appearances in his 29 year career, which included the 1986 NAIA Championship as well as 4 other Top 4 National Meet finishes and a total of 13 Top 10 finishes.  Along with the dual membership the program placed 5th at the NCAA II meet two times as well.  During the GLVC years, the program won 7 GLVC Championships and never placed lower than 3rd in the 16 years.  Individually 127 runners and Race Walkers earned NAIA or NCAA II All American Honors, as well as having a total of 287 individual All American Awards and 33 National Champion.  9 individuals for the Race Walking Program earned spots on the USA Team in the Olympics covering 1984 to as recent as 2020.
DeWitt grew up in Kenosha, attended Tremper High School and is a member of the 1st 4 year graduating class at UW Parkside in 1972 with a BA in Geography and Teacher Certification.  His Masters Degree in Education is from Arizona State University.  During his Parkside Coaching career, he was a full time elementary school teacher in the Racine Unified School District, and throughout his coaching career he continued to teach full time in all but 6 of his 40 year college coaching career.

He served in the US Army from July of 1972 to July of 1975 and was a member of the All Army Track Team during those years.  He began his teaching and coaching career in Phoenix, Arizona, coaching High School Girls Cross Country and Track at Phoenix Union HS and West Division HS, from 1975 through the spring of 1979.  In the fall of 1979, he returned to Kenosha to coach the Gateway Technical College for Track and Cross Country and in the fall of 1981 began his UW Parkside coaching.

In 2010, he departed Parkside and started cross country and track programs at Ave Maria University (FL) in 2010, then Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina in 2011.  In 2014 he began the University of Illinois Springfield program.  He left Springfield in 2018 to return to Kenosha after 40 years of college coaching.  He began coaching high school at Racine Case High School Girls Cross Country and Track, in the fall of 2018 and currently continues to coach the program.

The athlete, DeWitt, competed in the US Olympic Trial 20km and 50km Race Walks in 4 different trials, placing in the Top 10 of the 50km Race Walk in ‘84 (8th), ‘88 (10th), and ‘92 (9th).  He represented the US internationally on 5 occasions including the 1989 World Cup of Race Walking in Barcelona, Spain where he finished 53rd of 135 walkers with a lifetime best of 4:22:23 at 50km.

DeWitt is married to Pam, since November of 1971 and they have 4 adult children, each of whom competed on the track and cross country teams, as well as earning All American and/or All Conference honors and completed at multiple National Championship meets and graduated from UW Parkside.  They also have 9 grandchildren, ranging for 26 to 13 years old.