Hall of Fame
Coach Jack Preus never imagined he'd one day become a coach after studying to become a pastor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Raised in a family of pastors, Preus had every intention of following his father's footsteps, but God lef him to become a teacher and coach at Orange Lutheran High School instead. Coach Preus began his coaching career at OLu in the fall of 2002.Â
Fully embracing the teaching and coaching ministry, Coach Preus integrated his faith into his work each day. He was the head coach of Orange Lutheran's boys and girls cross-country and track and field programs, guiding his teams to many victories during his tenure between 2003 and 2010, including Orange Lutheran's first girls California State Championship in cross-country in 2007. Named Orange County's Coach of the Year in 2009 by Orange County Register, Coach Preus was undefeated in the Trinity League as the girls head coach, winning seven consecutive Trinity League championships from 2007-2010 in both cross country and track and field.Â
All total, the teams Preus coached won eight league championships, two Southern Section championships, five Southern Section runer-up trophies, two California State runner-up trophies and a California State Championship. Among individual athletes and relay teams, he coached five CIF-SS champions, one State Champion, and 9 All-State athletes.Â
Coach Preus was particularly proud ot have coached alongside so many passionate and gifted assistant coaches through the years who not only trained the athletes to reach their greatest potential but ensured that sharing Christ remained the focus of the program. Coach Preus was most satisfied with grounding the programs in the msision and purpose of the school.Â
"Through God's grace, over the course of the eight years coaching at Orange Lutheran, we celebrated team and individual championships and records broken. But most importantly, we celebrate that, by God's grace, our program was centered on Christ and His message of salvation."
