Pete Barth is in his fifth year serving as head coach of the Lakeland men’s and women’s cross country teams. He served as co-coach with Julie Steinert for the 2017 season before taking the sole reins of the program in 2018.
Barth has given a needed charge to the Muskies cross country program, increasing squad numbers and performance. The program has seen an increase in numbers and regularly has fielded scoring teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Championships, including in 2018 when the men’s and women’s teams posted team scoring finishes together at the NACC Championships for the first time in conference history. In his first year in 2017, the men’s team fielded a full scoring team for the first time since 2001, and the women’s team also posted a full team score for the first time since 2004. In addition, Kassahun Lehman became the first Lakeland harrier to earn all-NACC honors.
Barth is also Lakeland’s head men’s and women’s track & field coach and this fall is serving as the Muskies' women's tennis coach. He took on his first collegiate head coaching jobs in the 2017-18 season with both the cross country and track teams, and in 2021 coached the NACC Outdoor Championships' men's 4 x 400 relay that won the Muskies' first track & field conference title since 2013.
Before taking over head coaching duties at Lakeland, Barth was previously an assistant with the Lakeland women's soccer team in the 2016 season. He also has experience coaching with select-level girls soccer in the Sheboygan area, including coaching an eighth-grade team of which the core played on the United States' youth level team in the Donosti Cup international competition in Spain. A cross country and track & field athlete in high school, he also has competed in half-marathons, triathlons and other competitive races.
