Monday, August 31, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS – After serving three years as a key part of Division II’s decision-making body for track and field, Western Oregon interim director of athletics Randi Lydum has been selected to chair of the NCAA Division II Track and Field Committee.

“I have really enjoyed the last three years as a member of the track and field committee and I look forward to assisting with the many challenges that we ahead of us this year,” Lydum said. “I love the sport and all that it has given me and my family over the years so I think it is a great way to give back.”

Lydum’s one-year term as committee chair begins on September 1.

The Track and Field Committee is responsible for overseeing the participant selection procedures for the Division II Indoor and Outdoor Championships as well as making recommendations to the Championships Committee on future host sites. Committee members assist the NCAA liaison by maintaining the technical, host and participant manuals for the championships as well as providing support throughout the year to the upcoming host sites.

Lydum was named interim director of athletics in May after former director Curtis Campbell left to become athletic director at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Before her appointment, she served as Western Oregon’s associate athletic director, compliance director and senior woman administrator. She has also served in staff positions at Defiance College and Arizona.

Prior to entering athletics administration, Lydum was the head men’s and women’s cross country coach and head women’s track and field coach at San Francisco State.

A 1990 graduate of Western Oregon, Lydum was a nine-time NAIA All-American in cross country and track and field. She was elected to the Western Oregon Hall of Fame in 2007. The berms on the east side of the university’s Ash Creek Preserve cross country, the Taruscio Berms, are named in her honor.

Track and field runs in the Lydum family. In addition to Randi’s longtime history in the sport, her husband, Matt, is the head cross country and track and field coach at Division III Pacific University in Forest Grove. Their son, Max, competed in the throws at Oregon where he qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the hammer in 2019.

Lydum is one of three GNAC administrators to be named to chair Division II national committees during the 2020-21 academic year. Western Washington athletic director Steve Card will chair the Championships Committee while Azusa Pacific athletic director Gary Pine will chair the Football Committee.