A two-time Midwest Region Coach of the Year, Rebecca Wilmes enters her 12th season as a coach at the University of Missouri, focusing her efforts on the women's and men's cross country teams and the women's middle distance and distance runners in track and field.
Wilmes was promoted to head cross country coach following the resignation of her husband, Jared, over the summer as he will look to care for the couple's family. Wilmes is now the head coach of the men's and women's cross country teams and is an associate head coach for the track and field team. She was an assistant for 11 seasons. Laying down a strong foundation since being named Assistant Cross Country Coach in 2000, Wilmes has had tremendous success with the women's program.
Wilmes was also the primary coach for freshman Kaitie Vanatta during the 2009 cross country season. Vanatta became the first Mizzou freshman to take home All-Big 12 honors since 2002. She also placed eighth at the Midwest Regional, earning All-Region honors and placed 54th at the NCAA Championships as the fifth true freshman to finish the race.
The women's team gained valuable experience throughout the 2006 season. The Tigers still pulled off a strong seventh place finish at the Big 12 Championships, later finishing sixth in the NCAA Regional Championships. Kate Greer and Amanda Bales earned All-Region honors for her performances.
The 2004 campaign proved to be one of Missouri's finest, as the harriers took first at the NCAA Midwest Regionals, qualifying for the program's ninth national appearance in 10 years. Competing on the national stage, the team finished 11th at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 22. The finish was Missouri's best in over 20 years.
Wilmes has produced a women's cross country program that has become an annual conference power, placing among the top three teams for seven of her nine years as coach. Earlier in the 2004 campaign, running in the highly competitive Big 12 Conference, Wilmes' women's team took second place behind eventual National Champion, Colorado.
Making gradual improvement over the years, MU's 2003 squad finished 12th and in 2002, Wilmes led the women's cross country team to a 16th place finish at the national meet and a first place finish at the Midwest Regional Championship where she was named NCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year for the first time. She has coached two cross country All Americans. Her first, Ann Marie Brooks, also received All-America accolades on the track in the 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter run. In 2003, it was Bales who claimed yet another All-America honor, finishing 23rd on the challenging 6K course, the best MU finish since 1990. On the track, Serena Ramsey earned All-America honors in the 10,000-meter run at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships, setting a school record time of 33:52.29.
Responsible for Missouri's 2001 Big 12 and National Champion women's distance medley relay team, Wilmes also guided the 2004 and 2005 distance medley relay teams to a Big 12 Conference indoor title.
Wilmes' athletes excel well beyond collegiate competition. In 2003, Wilmes coached All-American Ashley Patten to a first place finish in the 800-meter run at the USA Junior Track & Field Championships in Palo Alto, Calif. Patten went on to represent the United States in Barbados for the Pan-American Games. Brooks, one of 13 cross country All-Americans, made the USA Track & Field National Under-25 Team in the 5,000-meter run in 2002, later going on to make two U.S. teams in cross country when she ran at the World Cross Country Championships in 2003 and 2004.
Under her guidance, five student-athletes have earned All-America recognition and four have captured Big 12 titles. Three conference standards have been set during Wilmes' coaching stint and she led both the women's 4x800-meter relay team in 2001 and the women's 4x1600-meter relay team in 2002 to Drake Relay titles.
Wilmes has proven to be an excellent recruiter for the Tigers, as her efforts have brought aboard several of the nation's best high school performers. Aside from coaching, Wilmes runs the Missouri Track and Field Official's Organization and assists with summer camps.
As a student-athlete at Missouri, Wilmes was the 1996 Midwest Regional Cross Country Champion and twice led her teams to the NCAA Championships. Wilmes was a two-time All-American in the 800-and the 1500-meter run. She was the Big Eight Newcomer of the Year in both cross country and track (1993-94). A two-time conference champion, Drake Relays champion and five-time Kansas Relays champion, Wilmes received the Missouri Coaches Award, the Bill Rawson Award and the Tom Botts Award. In 2000, she was an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 1500-meter run. In the spring of 2005, Wilmes was one of three members inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame.
Academically, Wilmes earned multiple Academic All-America and conference awards. She graduated magna cum laude in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education and completed a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2005.
Rebecca and Jared are married and reside in Columbia, Mo. They have a two-year old son named Garrett.
