Kevin Bjerke begins his fourth season as the head women's triathlon coach at MSUB in 2022-23. He also begins his second season as an assistant coach for the Yellowjacket men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams.
As the first head coach in the history of the program, Bjerke built the MSUB Triathlon team from the ground up in 2019-20, the inaugural season. Under his guidance, the Yellowjackets competed in six triathlon events, including the NCAA West Region Qualifier, NCAA East Region Qualifier, and NCAA National Championship where freshman Madisan Chavez claimed 21st place among all Division II entries.
Deemed an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women in 2014, triathlon has a 10-year window to demonstrate sustainability as an NCAA sport option. USA Triathlon is more than halfway to its goal of reaching 40 schools by 2024 — and its momentum is growing, with eight new programs announced since mid-October.
Bjerke continues to be at the forefront of the effort to grow the sport in the city of Billings and he brings more than 10 years of Division II coaching experience to MSUB.
Prior to joining the coaching staff at MSUB, Bjerke served as head track & field and cross country coach at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota for six seasons. While at Northern State, athletes under Bjerke's guidance broke 47 school records and 20 student athletes were named All-Americans. Bjerke was promoted to head track and field coach in 2012 after four seasons as full-time assistant coach.
Bjerke earned a master's degree in sport science from South Dakota State University in 2008, where he was a graduate assistant coach in track & field and cross country. In 2005, he completed his bachelor's degree in health promotion at South Dakota State.
Bjerke is a USA Triathlon certified coach and has additional certifications including the USTFCCCA Endurance Event Specialist and USTFCCCA NCAA Strength and Conditioning Coach. Bjerke is an avid triathlete and helped to host the Wolves Triathlon multiple years at Northern State, which brought 50-100 local and regional triathletes to the city to compete on an annual basis. He was also responsible as faculty advisor for developing and implementing a six-week training program for the public, which introduced the sport of triathlon to those wishing to participate for the first time.
