Greg Binstock, who competed for Augustana during the 1990s, has returned to the Vikings' track and field program as assistant coach.
The Sioux Falls native served as assistant director of financial aid at Augustana for three and a half years, but returned to the track and field circuit in August of 2012 where he assumed the direction of Augustana's sprints, jumps, and hurdles coaching.
In 2022, Binstock helped lead freshman Kylee Sallee to an indoor pentathlon conference win. He also led senior Kaly Banks to the school record for outdoor triple jump.
Binstock, the 2021 indoor USTFCCCA Central Region Coach of the Year and NSIC Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year, helped the men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams to second-place finishes at the NSIC Championships. Binstock helped guide Tyl Woelber to his second-straight NSIC High Point Performer at the NSIC Indoor Championships. He also led four Vikings to the national meet in Woelber (heptathlon), Elizabeth Schaefer (pentathlon), Lawrence Lokonobei (60m hurdles) and Mearah Miedema (high jump). All four of which earned All-America honors, Woelber, Miedema and Schaefer earned first team All-America while Lokonobei earned second team All-America.
The 2021 outdoor season, Binstock guided Woelber to three school records in the decathlon, high jump and javelin throw. Woelber was named NSIC Field Athlete of the Year after winning both the decathlon and javelin. Binstock led two Vikings to automatic-qualifying marks in Mearah Miedema (high jump) and Woelber (decathlon). Mathias Kollberg joined the duo at the national meet with his school record breaking leap of 25 feet in the high jump. Woelber placed 10th to earn second team All-America honors in the decathlon.
Binstock helped lead the 2019-20 men’s and women’s indoor track and field squads to second-place finishes at the NSIC Championships. Working primarily with sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers, Binstock helped guide Tyl Woelber (high jump) and Olivia Montez Brown (60 meter) to nationals. The two athletes also qualified for nationals in the heptathlon and pentathlon, respectively. Woelber broke the Augustana high jump record with a height of six feet, 11.5 inches which was eighth in the nation and third in the conference. Montez Brown’s 60 meter hurdle time of 8.63 was first in the conference and 13th in the nation.
Behind the leadership of Binstock, the 2018-19 Augustana Track and Field season was a storied year. At the DII Indoor National Championships, junior Olivia Montez Brown scored 3,915 points in the Pentathlon, bringing home Augustana’s third-ever indoor women’s track and field individual championship.
The Title marked the sixth ever women’s track and field individual championship (indoor & outdoor) in program history. Montez Brown followed up her historic performance with a runner-up finish at the DII Outdoor championships in the spring.
Other impressive individuals included Paul Meloche who qualified for the Indoor Championships in the the 60m Hurdles. On the team side, the Viking women ended their conference season with a third-place finish with 111 points and the men took home fifth place with 58 points.
During the outdoor season, five individuals qualified for the DII outdoor championships with each one improving off their ranking coming into the championships, and four Vikings earning All-American status.
The 2017 outdoor track and field season ended with two All-Americans being crowned in Bradenton, Fla. with some help from Binstock. Binstock assisted in Olivia Montez Brown’s fourth place finish in the heptathlon and Kelsey Kaufmann’s sixth place finish in the high jump. Overall, Binstock played a part in all four student-athletes who qualified for Nationals, including two first timers in Valerie Moos and Josh Barrows.
At the NSIC Outdoor Championships, Vikings men’s and women’s teams took fourth place and garnered 12 All-NSIC accolades. Binstock also tutored three of the four NSIC champions in Olivia Montez Brown (heptathlon), Kelsey Kaufmann (high jump) and Josh Barrows (400-meter hurdles).
Over the course of the outdoor season, the Vikings saw three school records. Olivia Montez Brown (long jump), Carina Hofmeister (200-meters) and Valerie Moos (400-meter hurdles) all topped school records on the season with Binstock’s assistance.
Augustana’s student-athletes also excelled in the classroom during the outdoor season. Binstock helped 22 student-athletes earn Academic All-NSIC accolades and Josh Barrows and Zach Tuschen were named CoSIDA Academic All-District selections.
In the 2016-17 indoor season, coach Binstock played a big part in two of the three student-athletes that qualified for the NCAA Championships. Binstock helped Josh Barrows qualify in the 800-meters and guided Olivia Montez Brown to All-American honors in the long jump and the pentathlon.
Binstock also was a part of Montez Brown's repeat NSIC pentathlon title and Barrows' breaking the NSIC meet record in the 800-meters.
All-in-all, Binstock helped the Vikings have three student-athletes qualify for five events at the NCAA Championships and come away with four All-American awards, have five student-athletes earn seven All-NSIC awards and three student-athletes earn five All-Central Region awards. Also have 25 student-athletes earned Academic All-NSIC honors and oversaw four school records fall with his help.
During the 2015-16 school year coach Binstock helped guide numerous athletes to individual and team honors in cross country and indoor and outdoor track.
During the 2015-16 Indoor Track and Field season he helped lead both indoor track and field teams to second place finishes at the NSIC Indoor Championships. Binstock guided 12 athletes to All-NSIC honors.
At the Indoor National Championships Binstock helped lead Ryan Heuer to All-American honors in the 60-meter hurdles after coming in seventh. Freshman Olivia Montez Brown earned All-America honors in the Pentathlon after finishing ninth with 3773 points.
At the NSIC Outdoor championships Binstock helped guide the men’s program to a second place finish and the women to a third place finish. He led 11 individuals and two relay teams to All-NSIC honors on the men’s side and seven individual and two relay teams earn All-NSIC honors on the women’s side.
At the NSIC Outdoor Championships Bree Woelber won the High Point championship which is the award given to the athlete that earns the most points at the championships. Kayla Mescher earned her fourth consecutive conference championship in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.73. Harald Karbo won the 3000-meter Steeplechase while the men’s 4x400 meter team also took home first. Keegan Carda won the men’s 5000-meter run with a time of 14:59.73. Bree Woelber earned Field Athlete of the Year and Montez Brown earned Newcomer of the Year.
Binstock sent four student-athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Florida. Kayla Mescher earned All-America honors in the 400-meter hurdles while also breaking her own school record. Bree Woelber earned All-America honors in the high jump after jumping five-feet, eight inches. Olivia Montez Brown earned All-America honors in the heptathlon after a sixth place finish. Montez Brown scored 5,254 points, a school record.
Coach Binstock continued his coaching success during the 2014-15 school year, with success in both cross country and track and field.
The women’s indoor and outdoor teams improved once again under Binstock’s watch. After third place finishes in 2014 at the NSIC Championship, the women took home the second place trophy after solid performances from seven All-Americans. The men’s team finished with two All-American’s during the indoor and outdoor seasons which included top four finishes in both NSIC Championship meets.
In 2014, Binstock took the program to new heights with 23 Vikings under his direct supervision earning All-NSIC honors, 12 collecting All-American accolades, and seven new Augustana records.
With a revamped sprints, jumping, and hurdles program, Binstock improved the men's and women's NSIC Indoor Championship finishes to second and third, respectively, with the help of four conference champions groomed by him. Both teams continued to improve and threatened to capture the conference title, as three Vikings earned NSIC individual championships.
Binstock guided Kayla Mescher and Carina Hofmeister to a pair of individual school records as well as pieces of three more Augustana all-time marks. Hofmeister took down the outdoor 200- and 400-meter dash records while Mescher set the new indoor 600-meter and outdoor 400-meter hurdles record. Both Hofmeister and Mescher ran legs on the Augustana women's indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter record-setting relay teams as well as the new record-holding outdoor distance medley relay squad.
With the guidance of Binstock, the women's 4x400-meter relay team also earned a spot in the NCAA Outdoor Championship field and Mescher qualified for the 400-meter hurdles at the national meet. Kelsey Kaufmann swept the indoor and outdoor conference high jump competitions and qualified for the NCAA indoor Championships.
In his first season with the Vikings, Binstock led the men's team to a third-place finish at the NSIC indoor championships and a runner-up finish at the NSIC outdoor championships. Under Binstock's guidance, the women improved on a sixth-place finish at NSIC indoor championships to finishing third at the NSIC outdoor championships.
Binstock helped 12 athletes earn bids to the 2013 NCAA Championships with nine earning All-American accolades. Binstock is USA Track & Field Level I Certified and has coached at the NCAA Divsion I, II, and III levels.
Binstock competed in the 400-meter run and long jump at Augustana, graduating in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in health, physical education and recreation. He was a graduate assistant at Bemidji State University for two seasons, helping the team's jumpers to six Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles.
He was the head track and field and cross country coach for five years at The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., where he rebuilt the programs. He was named 2002 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference track and field coach of the year.
Binstock spent one season as the interim head women's track and field coach at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. He coached one NCAA All-American and guided athletes to five school records and three freshman records.
He was a member of the South Dakota State University staff for four years. During his first season with the Jackrabbits he coached five athletes to runner-up finishes in the jumps/vault at the 2006 Division I Independent Championships.
Binstock and his wife, the Rev. Heidi Binstock, who also graduated from Augustana in 1995, are the parents of two children, Peter and Clara.
