Assistant Coach | 14th Season
Dirk Bortz enters his 14th year as the Mountaineers throws coach in 2021-22. In his time at Eastern, he has had 12 All-Americans, 52 student-athletes qualify for the NAIA Track & Field Championships, 12 conference champions, 98 conference qualifiers, and six throwers that currently hold school records.
Under his guidance, the EOU throwers have been able to make an impact on the all-time lists both indoors and outdoors. For indoor, 13 men and 13 women are currently on the top-10 list. For outdoor, 13 men and 16 women are in the all-time top-10.
Prior to coaching at Eastern, Bortz coached throwers at La Grande High School from 2007-08 and at Union High School in 2004. At La Grande, he had eight state qualifiers in the throws and a top-three finisher in the javelin.
As an athlete, Bortz competed for Eastern Oregon and North Idaho College. He was a six-time NAIA national qualifier, two times in the Hammer, Discus, and weight throw and he was an NCAA Division III qualifier in the discus in 2003.
While at Eastern, he set 11 school records in hammer, discus, and weight throw. He still holds the discus record of 171-2. He was a two-time All-American, third in the weight throw in 2005 and second in the hammer in 2005. In addition, he was an eighth-place finisher in the discus at the 2003 NAIA Outdoor National Championships. He held the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships discus record for several years with a throw of 168-6. He also won two titles in the discus and one in hammer at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships.
In 2005, Bortz set the still standing school record in discus with a throw of 171-9. He graduated as the school record holder in hammer and weight throw also.
Bortz earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Eastern Oregon University. He majored in Mathematics as an undergrad and received his Master’s in Education. He presently teaches math at Elgin High School in addition to coaching the throwers.
Bortz and his wife, the former Sarah Biechler, live in Imbler and have two children (Emma and Luca). The Bortz’ met as teammates on the EOU Track and Field team as Sarah was a thrower on the team too.
EOU School Records:
Maggie Ledbetter, Shot Put (indoor): 47-4
Maggie Ledbetter, Discus (outdoor): 151-8
Brooke Randall, Javelin: 150-0
Chris Dilley, Weight Throw (indoor): 62-0 1/2
Chris Dilley, Hammer Throw (outdoor): 204-3
Quinten Baxter, Shot Put (Indoor): 51-4
EOU All-Americans:
3rd- Chris Dilley Weight Throw, 2009 indoor: 60-11 1/2
2nd- Chris Dilley Hammer Throw, 2009 outdoor: 204-3
3rd- Chris DIlley Weight Throw, 2010 indoor: 61-8
2nd- Chris Dilley Hammer Throw, 2010 outdoor: 196-3
4th- Brooke Randall 2012: 145-10
3rd- Brooke Randall 2013: 145-9
4th- Pancho Saldana 2013: 190-4
6th- Brian Wickham Weight Throw, 2014 indoor: 60-5
5th- Brian Wickham Hammer Throw, 2014 outdoor: 191-1
3rd- Maggie Ledbetter, Shot Put, 2020 indoor: 47-5
8th- Maggie Ledbetter, Shot Put, 2021 outdoor: 45-2 1/4
7th- Maggie Ledbetter, Discus, 2021 outdoor: 145-6
