Rebecca Richtman

Rebecca Richtman is in her third season as an assistant coach with the Purdue track & field and cross country program in 2025-26 and works with the Boilermaker distance and cross country runners.

2024-25
Richtman assisted Purdue’s distance program to three school records during the outdoor season. Payne Turney broke the 5000m record (15:57.78), Douglas Buckeridge broke the 10,000m record (28:51.46) and Caleb Williams broke the 3000m steeplechase record (8:40.44). 

The Boilermakers finished the outdoor season No. 4 in the country at the 3000m steeplechase in USTFCCCA's Event Squad rankings. The distance team had six total entries at the NCAA East First Round.

During the indoor season, Turney took eighth in the 5000m at the Big Ten Championships and the men’s DMR team of Williams, Zach Mylenek, Hugh Jacobsmeyer and Bell also took 8th.

Cross country season was headlined by Douglas Buckeridge’s runner-up finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. He followed the performance with a 43rd-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Buckeridge ran the top two 10k times in school history to end the season.

2023-24
Richtman came to Purdue as an assistant in the spring of 2024. She assisted Emma Squires and Caleb Williams to NCAA East First Round qualifications in the 3000m steeplechase. 

Before Purdue
Previously, Richtman was at Montana Tech, where she helped guide her athletes to five All-America honors and 13 all-conference accolades in 2022-23. As a student-athlete at Montana Tech, Richtman won four NAIA national titles and earned 10 All-America honors. She was recognized as the 2022 USTFCCCA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and swept the 2022 NAIA Most Valuable Performer award, indoors and outdoors.
 
“I am very excited to continue working with the Purdue track & field and cross country team,” Richtman said. “Thank you to Coach Miller for this opportunity and his confidence in me to lead our distance runners. I have quickly learned that Purdue is a special place, and our potential on and off the track is limitless. I can’t wait to get to work with everyone this season, and to continue the momentum we had outdoors last year.”
 
Outdoors with the Boilermakers in 2024, Richtman helped lead the Boilermaker distance runners to historic success. Emma Squires and Caleb Williams each qualified for the NCAA First Round in the 3,000m steeplechase for the first times in their careers. Squires was Purdue’s first distance runner to qualify for NCAAs, indoors or outdoors, since 2018. Five top-10 times in school history were achieved outdoors with Richtman’s guidance, including two in the women’s steeplechase, the first since 2018, and one in the women’s 10,000m, Purdue’s second record-book mark in the event since 2017.
 
As an assistant track & field and cross country coach at Montana Tech from 2022-24, Richtman used a scientifically-based training program to lead her athletes while optimizing fitness and performance. Her first year yielded 13 all-conference honors, nine nationals qualifiers and five All-Americans. Richtman also served as the cross country program’s director of operations during her time at Montana Tech.
 
A 2022 graduate of Montana Tech, Richtman earned a bachelors of science degree in interdisciplinary studies. Her NAIA national titles came in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2021, the indoor mile and 3,000m in 2022 and the outdoor 10,000m in 2022. Along with being recognized as the USTFCCCA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2022, she is a two-time USTFCCCA West Track Athlete of the Year honoree.