The University of Illinois Springfield cross country and track and field programs will have a new assistant coach in 2019-20. Sarah Fowler has joined the staff after coaching at the University of Nebraska for the last two years.
 
Fowler was a volunteer coach in the Big Ten at Nebraska from 2017-19. She helped train the middle distance and distance runners, and also assisted with recruiting. She was a part of the coaching staff that helped the Huskers win the 2019 Big Ten Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship. In cross country, Fowler helped coached two men's national qualifiers. Both the Nebraska men's and women's cross country teams improved their finishes at the Big Ten meets in her two seasons in Lincoln.
 
Fowler was a star collegiate distance runner at Ohio Wesleyan University. She was a nine-time national qualifier, and a six-time All-American. Fowler won eight individual conference championships, was a two-time NCAC Cross Country Runner of the Year, and the conference's 2017 Outdoor Distance Runner of the Year. Ohio Wesleyan won six team conference titles while Fowler was competing for the school.
 
Fowler graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 2017 with a degree in Exercise Science and Psychology. She was named an Academic All-American while at Ohio Wesleyan. She earned her Master's in 2019 in Psychology from Capella University.