Karen Godlock enters her sixth season as the head coach of the Barton College men's & women's cross country and men's & women's track and field programs in 2015-16.
In 2013, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) named Godlock one of the top female athletes in the organization's 100-year history. Nationally-ranked in both cross country and track and field, Godlock claimed an amazing 17 NCHSAA state titles - nine outdoor, five indoor and three cross-country - and was the first to win three cross-country crowns in a row.
Her track accolades included consecutive state championships in the outdoor 800m, 1600m, and 3200m run as well as consecutive indoor titles in the 1000-yd dash, the one-mile and two-mile runs. In doing so, Godlock set several high school records, many of which stand to this day. She was a Footlocker Regional Champion and Footlocker National finalist. She also won the Millrose Mile at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.
She went on to a stellar career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she won Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships in both cross country and track. She became the first female runner in ACC history to win three consecutive ACC Cross Country Championships (1994-97) - running 16:22 her senior year - and was an ACC Champion in both the indoor and outdoor 1500 meter run (4:28.04).
Godlock received All-ACC Honors, All-Conference and All-American honors in both cross country and track and field in each year of her participation while leading her teams to conference championships. She was also a part of UNC’s Indoor Distance Medley Relay National Championship team. She made an incredible 11 All-ACC teams out of a possible 12 in outdoor track, indoor track and cross country combined in her four years at UNC-Chapel Hill. Godlock also earned a spot on the United States of America's Junior National team.
In 2009, she was honored as a member of the UNC women’s cross country/track & field teams that were inducted into the North Carolina Tar Heels Hall of Fame.
Godlock ran professionally with New Balance before beginning her career as a coach and physical education teacher, first in the prep ranks and then as an assistant at Winston Salem State University. At each stop, she was instrumental in building and developing cross country and track programs.
In 2010, Godlock was called upon to lead Barton’s men’s and women’s cross country programs, begin a women’s track and field program and re-establish the men’s track and field program, which had disbanded in 1981. Always a trailblazer, Godlock became the first African-American head coach in the history of the athletic program at Barton.
Godlock wasted little time in surpassing program milestones. In her cross country first season, she coached freshman Ericka Skinner, Barton's first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship individual qualifier in the sport. In 2012, she led the Lady Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the league, the program’s best showing since 2005, and last season helped Barton match that third-place performance. The 2012 men’s cross country team also matched the program’s best league finish in school history – sixth – behind Sammy Serem, who became the first male all-conference performer in Godlock’s tenure.
Godlock has coached a total of six all-conference and three all-region performers in cross country during her four seasons at Barton as well as one Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year. Her women’s cross-country teams have produced three team victories, including a win in the inaugural Bulldog Cross-Country Invitational in 2013, and four second-place finishes, while the men have one team win and five second-place showings.
In addition to leading the BC cross country program, Godlock was also instrumental in introducing track and field at Barton for the first time in the NCAA Division II era.
In her first season, 2011, Barton earned four all-conference awards in track and field, and the following year, two Bulldogs and two Lady Bulldogs were accorded NCAA DII All-Region status. The 2012 women’s team also won three individual conference titles, the first in school history, and the men’s program gained one, the first ever at the NCAA DII level. In 2013, Barton claimed its first individual conference title in a men’s field event in the modern era.
Both the men’s and women’s outdoor teams enjoyed their best conference finishes ever under Godlock in 2014, the men placing sixth and the women taking fourth. The women’s team produced three individual titles and a relay crown, and the Lady Bulldogs walked away with a school record eight all-conference awards, not including those for the relay finish. Together, the men’s and women’s programs have received 37 all-conference honors and 24 all-region awards in Godlock’s four seasons and won 11 individual titles.
Under Godlock’s leadership, Barton also added indoor track and field programs for the first time in school history. BC began competing as a team indoors in 2013, with the women enjoying particular success, gaining a regional ranking during the season and recording five all-conference performances at the league meet. The Lady Bulldogs added another five all-conference awards to the collection in 2014. The men earned their first all-conference honor in 2013, and produced their first individual indoor event champion in school history in 2014 after Kendrick Smith won the 60-meter crown at the league meet. Together, the two programs have produced 20 indoor all-conference awards and 14 all-region honors in just two seasons of existence.
Coach Godlock is a member of the Alliance of Women Coaches and a graduate of the 2011 NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in sports administration from Canisius College.
