Since his hiring as Millersville's wrestling coach on June 5, 2017, Kerry Regner has championed "The Resurgence." In three seasons, Regner has infused energy into the program, producing Millersville's first national champion in 39 years, three All-Americans, and led the team to its most dual wins in a decade.
In Regner's first season, Shane Ruhnke became Millersville's first All-American since 1991. The very next season, Ruhnke won the 165-pound national championship and was voted NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler, the nation's most dominant performer and PSAC Wrestler of the Year. He won Millersville's first PSAC Championship since 1995-96. Colton Dull joined Ruhnke as an All-American, giving the Marauders two in one season for the first time since 1980.
Four Marauders earned podium spots at the 2019-2020 NCAA Super Region 1 Championships.
In 2017-18, Regner led the Marauders' to their best PSAC Championships finish in seven years and their highest placement at the NCAA Super Region 1 Championships since the program moved to Division II. The Marauders put five wrestlers on the podium at the NCAA Super Region 1 Championships in 2019. Millersville also won the Rupp Cup over Franklin & Marshall for the first time since 2010.
Regner came to Millersville after leading the Williams Baptist College program since 2014.
A two-time American Midwest Conference Coach of the Year, Regner built the NAIA affiliated Williams Baptist program from the ground up and seemingly overnight turned it into a nationally-relevant team. Not only did his teams win back-to-back American Midwest Conference titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17, but in just three seasons, he developed 23 national qualifiers, six All-Americans and a 2016 national champion. In 2016-17 his club reached a No. 3 national ranking—the highest of any team in the history of Williams Baptist Athletics. That team went on to finish fourth at the NAIA Championships. In all three seasons his teams finished in the NAIA's top 25.
Regner is no stranger to the wrestling landscape of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Northern Michigan in 2010 and a run as a wrestler at the Olympic level of Greco-Roman wrestling, Regner became the varsity and junior high wrestling coach at Beaver High School in Western Pennsylvania. He inherited a roster of five wrestlers and quickly recruited students and broke the school record for dual meet wins and regional qualifiers. He then landed a role as the graduate assistant coach at Division I Clarion University where he coached four national qualifiers and an All-American, directed summer camps and assisted in recruiting a top-10 recruiting class according to FloWrestling.
As a wrestler, Regner was a resident of the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich., from 2003-10. He also trained in Boise, Idaho, and at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., before retiring from competitive wrestling. He was a member of the U.S. Senior National Team at 60 kilograms in 2007-08 and competed in the 66 kilograms weight class at the 2010 University World Championships. He was a four-time placewinner at the U.S. Open and placed at tournaments in Cuba, France, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Regner received a bachelor's degree in communication studies from Northern Michigan and a master's degree in mass media and journalism from Clarion in 2014. He, his wife Sarah, and children Jack, Liam and Lucy. reside in Millersville.
