The 2023-24 academic year will be Rachel Sharpe's fifth year as head track & field coach at Hanover College and the 10th year overall with the program.
Under Sharpe's guidance, the Panther women's track & field team has continued a standard of excellence winning the HCAC Indoor track & field championships in 2020. For her efforts, Rachel and her staff were named the HCAC Coach of the Year. Later that season, Kenna Hunter went on to qualify for the NCAA Indoor nationals in the heptathlon, which was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns.
The 2021 campaign saw Hanover continue to be a top contender in the HCAC as they placed third as part of both the indoor and outdoor championships.
The 2022 season would see Sharpe raise the program to new heights once again as she lead the Panthers to a third place mark as part of the indoor HCAC track & field championships before claiming a runner-up mark as part of the HCAC outdoor track & field championships hosted at Alumni Stadium. For her efforts, Sharpe and her staff picked up their second HCAC Coaching Staff of the Year accolade. Furthermore, Jessie Stenger qualified for the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships in the discus becoming just the second Hanover Panther in program history to garner All-American status. Rachel also watched several records fall including the 10-year old 800-meter run record.
In 2023, Sharpe and her staff picked up their third HCAC Coaching Staff of the Year honor after winning the women's outdoor track & field title. She also helped guide Hanover Senior Athlete of the Year, Jessica Beckman to the prestigious HCAC thrower of the year accolade. Furthermore, Beckman and Jessie Stenger qualified for the NCAA Division III Track & Field Outdoor Championships becoming the fourth student-athletes to do so under her guidance.
On the men's side, she led the Panthers to a sixth place mark as part of the 2022 indoor HCAC championships before placing fourth as part of the outdoor HCAC championships hosted at Alumni Stadium. For her efforts, Rachel and her staff picked up HCAC Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. Furthermore, Sharpe watched several records fall including the pole vault record set in 1963.
In 2020, she guided the Panthers to a third place mark as part of the HCAC indoor championships. The 2021 campaign would see Hanover register a third place mark at the HCAC outdoor championships, while watching several records fall throughout the season including the 800-meter run record set in 1979.
Sharpe, was a four-year member of the Panthers' track & field team as a student where she set school records as part of both the indoor 4x200m relay and the outdoor 4x400m relay. She was part of the team that won back-to-back indoor and outdoor HCAC Championships and ran a leg in the 4x400m relay that won the event her senior year. In addition, she currently ranks second all-time in school history in the outdoor 400m with a time of 59.45.
Sharpe garnered All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference honors on three separate occasions while competing as a Panther.
Twice she has been named a USTFCCCA Great Lakes Assistant Coach of the Year nominee guiding 40 sprinters to All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference honors during the 2018-19 Indoor and Outdoor Championships. During the 2019 Indoor Championship the men’s and women’s sprint and relay teams garnered 65 combined points, while posting 76 points during the Outdoor Championship.
Sharpe graduated from Hanover College in 2013 with a degree in Health and Movement Studies and as a Business Scholar. She currently is pursuing a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership in Higher Education.
She has run four half marathons and one full marathon, and lives with her husband, Devon Sharpe (Hanover, 2013), in Madison, Ind.
