Christian Patzka
Residence: Mazomanie, WI
Date of birth: 12/07/2001
Hometown: Mazomanie, WI
Occupation: Teacher/Coach
College: UW-Whitewater, History Education -2025
Favorite Pre-Race Meal: Chicken Alfredo
Favorite Pump-Up Song: Stronger by Kanye West
Funniest Mid-Race Thought: During a cross country race I won in college, I was wondering why I kept getting weird looks and comments during the race until after it, I saw on Instagram I got posted on nocontextxctrack with a BYU split shorts wardrobe malfunction.
Personal Bests
1500m
Mile
3000m
5,000m
10,000m
15k
Half Marathon
​
4:18.16
4:36.46
9:00.76
15:28.16
32:19.37
49:24
1:13:09​
Achievements
2025 USA Cross Country Championships, 2nd​
2024 USATF Club XC Championships, 7th
2024 World Cross Country Champs team member
2024 USA Cross Country Championships, 5th
2023 NCAA DI Outdoors, 6th in 5000m and 10,000m
Multiple times Conference Champion
Multiple times All American
2021 - NCAA DI XC Championships, 4th
2021 -USA Olympic Trials - Track & Field, 10,000m.
Christian was a standout runner for Wisconsin Heights - Barneveld High School in Mazomanie, WI. As a Vanguard, he ran PRs of 15:24 (5K), 9:39 (3200), and 4:31 (1600). He became the WIAA Division III state champion in cross country his senior year before the COVID-19 pandemic cut his senior year of racing short.
After high school, Patzka attended UW-Whitewater, a Division III track and cross country powerhouse. Though COVID kept him from a freshman cross country season, a full fall of training set him up well for his first collegiate track seasons. He found his sweet spot in the steeplechase right away, qualified for the NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and placed 7th, which would be the first of fifteen first team All-American honors for the Warhawk. Christian finished out his collegiate career a 7 time school record holder, 6 time national champion, and the Division III record holder in the steeplechase with a time of 8:31.89.
Christian joins Minnesota Distance Elite with Olympic dreams in the steeple and a drive to find success in racing at the elite level.