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FCA-Nebraska Alumni

Matt Utesch
Matt Utesch Graduated from Doane College 90 & Debbie Utesch U. Rhode Island 88
Will celebrate our 15th year of marriage this December
We have two kids. Sydney who is 11 and starting into Middle School. Sydney likes to run and ride her bike and swim. She had a great basketball season wining the pre-season Christmas tournament and then suffering only one loss to a team they eventually beat in the year end tournament. I keep working on her to pole vault but she is a tween so she really wants to do anything other than what I want her to do. Tyson is 5 and is a wild man. He starts school this year an is riding the school bus. He is a yellow belt in karate. He started pole vaulting this year and I hope to have him clearing his age before he is seven.
Both Deb and I are coaches in our 13th season at Lehigh University. Lehigh is a Division I institution in the Patriot League. It is among the top 40 academic school in the U.S.

Deb, up until last year ran both the men and womens XC programs. In 2005, Utesch had one of her most successful seasons, as both the Lehigh men and women finished the season ranked within the top-ten of the Mid-Atlantic Region, and produced top-ten finishes at the prestigious Iona Meet of Champions, as well as third (women) and fourth (men) place finishes at the Patriot League Championships. Four Mountain Hawks were named to the All-League teams, including one woman, who finished second overall for the second consecutive season. She then went onto earn her second straight All-Region and Academic All-American honors. To top it off, she became the first runner in school history to qualify for the NCAA National Championships.
She has now focused on the women only. She was coach of the year in 2000.

I am the head track and field coach for both the men and the women. I have served as a member of the NCAA Cross Country Track and Field Committee, and was also the Chairman of the 2005 National Championships, held in Sacramento. During my time at Lehigh, I have coached several Patriot League record holders and over 125 school records have been set, running the gamut of events from sprints and hurdles to distance (Deb really coached the distance folks) and throws. I have been blessed to have coached nine Patriot League Athletes of the Meet. In the summer of 2007, I was selected for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and given opportunity to travel across the world to Pakistan to take part in a joint venture between the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). I worked with coaches on their systematic training program at the country’s Olympic Training Facility.

FCA has been a great way to keep grounded during my time at Lehigh. We have weekly meetings and weekly leadership meetings. Our leadership group hold two Bible studies for women and men respectively. We are blessed to be able to host the Night of Champions here at Lehigh each year. We invite all of the area high school huddles to come and have a great time with fun and food and fellowship. In the past we have had several of our student - athletes attend our home church (Ebenezer Bible Fellowship) with us.

Allisha Melroy
Holdrege High and Doane College FCA huddle member and leader

Attended several Weekend of Champions as a student and huddle leader

Summer Camp Huddle Leader

Currently teaching journalism and sophomore English at Grand Island Northwest High School

Assistant softball and track coach

Assistant Huddle Coach for GINW FCA and lead a girls' bible study

How FCA has impacted me...

FCA and the principles on which it's founded, impacted me in a way
that nothing else could. As a teenager obsessed with athletics, FCA
drew me in with its athletic focus and presented the gospel in a way I
could relate to it and apply it to my life. I accepted Christ as my
savior and have continued to build a personal relationship with Him
because of the impact the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the
people involved with the organization have had on my life. I am so
thankful for FCA and its positive influence on me and the kids I work
work with daily!

Sean Denney
I was a FCA huddle president and also vice president (in different years) at McCook Senior high school between 1986-89. I did camps, weekends of champions, and any other event we could go to. Now, I live in Kearney and am a cardiologist, married to wife Lindsey and the father of 4 (5th on the way in March).

Brad Johnson

FCA reinforced in me the need to model the Christian life and to instruct others in the truth of God's Word. I would not be who I am, or where I am without FCA Nebraska! Travelling to other towns to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified was absolutely a blast!

- lettered two times for the Husker football team

- FCA Pres (UNL) in ‘84/85 school year

- Co-College Athlete of the Year ’85; proudly shared with my buddy Ken Kaelin

- married to Deb (Block) of Gothenburg for 21 years(married my trophy wife first)

- two children, Parker (14), Mary Claire (10)

- recently re-located to York, NE after more than 17 years in Texas

-- formerly (in reverse order)Family Life Pastor; Youth Pastor; Buildings an & Grounds Director,
Research Analyst, 7^th Grade Bible Teacher, Football and Track Coach

- currently senior pastor at Arbor Drive Community Church in York, NE (3 mos.)

- Husker FB season ticket holder since 2006 (!)

- two-time graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary (M.A. –Christian Ed., M.A. – Biblical Studies)

- loves studying the Scriptures and teaching them

- passionate about disciple-making, connecting people to God’s Word, and stomping out lawn pests like chinch bugs, grubs and more (did I mention we like to landscape?)

- loves the music of U2 and Switchfoot

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