Aaron Crawn, who has spent the past four years as assistant cross country coach at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, has been named Interim Head Track and Field and Cross Country Coach at SMWC. 
Associate Vice President of Athletics Kevin Lanke will continue to search for a long-term replacement for Zach Whitkanack, who guided SMWC to the 2023 women's River States Conference outdoor track and field championship. Whitkanack, the first coach for track and field at SMWC, resigned his position in May.
"I am very excited that Aaron Crawn has chosen to serve as interim head coach for our successful cross country and track and field programs for the remainder of the 2023 calendar year. Coach Crawn has been incredibly dedicated to the growth and development of the cross country teams during this transition period, and I know his passion will carry over to the track and field program." 
Crawn is an elementary physical education teacher at Clay Community Schools. The 2000 Northview graduate was a standout soccer and track runner at Northview before running cross country and track for the late coach John McNichols at Indiana State. 
 "I'd like to pick up where Zach left off with everything he built and created here as far as track," Crawn said. "He had the cross country program improving each year. I hope to build off what he started.It's been my career goal to be a collegiate head coach. To get the opportunity on an interim basis. It's a great opportunity.
Crawn has high school head coaching experience. He was the head Merillville girls cross country coach from 2008 to 2013. Crawn coached Northview's girls soccer program from 2013 to 2015 and took over the boys program from 2015 to 2019, winning a Western Indiana Conference title in 2018. 
Crawn will be looking to hire multiple assistant coaches. Email Crawn at aaron.crawn@smwc.edu or contact Lanke at kevin.lanke@smwc.edu. 
"We are also starting the process to hire multiple position-specific assistant coaches for track and field, which will give Coach Crawn and our team members more depth in advancing the overall student-athlete development," Lanke said. 
Crawn resides in Terre Haute with his wife Molly and their children Landon and Lucy.