Eleanor "Ellie" Rynda, one of the true pioneers of University of Minnesota Duluth women's athletics, died earlier today from cancer in her hometown of Montgomery, Minn., two days shy of her 84th birthday.

Rynda started the UMD women's track (1966) and women's cross country (1975) programs and coached both teams through 1993. She also served as the head coach for men's track from 1969-90 (resurrecting that program after an 11-year layoff) and men's cross country from 1968-89. A member of the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame (class of 2001), the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame (2000) and Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Hall of Fame (2012), Rynda directed the Bulldogs to eight conference championships (women's cross country in 1988, 1992 and 1993; women's indoor and outdoor track in 1991 and 1992; and men's cross country in 1987) and coached 11 All-Americans, including UMD's first NCAA individual champions (high jumper Jodi Swenson in 1991), and over 250 All-Conference selections. Her 1971 men's cross country team was the first from UMD to qualify for an NCAA national event. The recipient of the 1989 NCAA Division II National Men's and Women's Cross Country Coaches Association Distinguished Service Award, Rynda held the distinction of being the first woman in the country to be employed as head coach of a collegiate men's track and men's cross country team. From 1965 until her retirement in 1994, she was an assistant professor in UMD's physical education department.

Funeral arrangements are pending.