Dan Cloeter is a retired athlete and current pastor in Osceola, Nebraska. While attending Concordia University Nebraska, Cloeter was forty-eighth at the 1972 Amateur Athletic Union Cross Country Championships and seventh at the 1973 NAIA Men's Cross Country Championship. Between 1973 to 1981, Cloeter competed in American marathons including multiple appearances at the Chicago Marathon. When the Chicago event started out as the Mayor Daley Marathon, Cloeter won the 1977 event and was third in 1978. Upon the marathon's name change to the America's Marathon-Chicago the following year, Cloeter rewon the Chicago event in 1979. Apart from Chicago, Cloeter was twentieth-fourth at the marathon during the 1976 United States Olympic Trials and eighteenth at the 1978 New York City Marathon. Outside of running, Cloeter began his religious career working for Lutheranism churches in 1978. Between the 1980s to 2010s, Cloeter primarily held pastoral positions in Nebraska while working in various cities of Midwestern United States. During this time period, Cloeter was chosen to hold the opening ceremonial prayer at the 1999 USATF Junior Olympics.
From 1973 to 1982, Cloeter primarily ran in American races ranging from the ten kilometers to marathon. When the Mayor Daley Marathon premiered in 1977, Cloeter won the event with a time of 2:17:52. The following year, Cloeter was third at the 1978 Mayor Daley Marathon. When the event was renamed to the America's Marathon-Chicago in 1979, Cloeter won the event in 2:23:20. After the event, Cloeter received medical treatment for dehydration. The following year, Cloeter stated he would not compete at the 1980 Chicago Marathon leg injuries he sustained from a dog. Outside of Chicago, Cloeter was eighteenth at the 1978 New York City Marathon. Competing in the Olympic Trials, Cloeter was twenty-fourth during the marathon event at the 1976 United States Olympic Trials. Years later, Cloeter qualified to participate at the 1980 United States Olympic Trials. After the United States decided not to attend the 1980 Summer Olympics, Cloeter pulled out of the Olympic Trials that year. Apart from the United States, Cloeter appeared at racing events in Bermuda, Puerto Rico and The Bahamas before his last marathon in 1981.
Religious career
While competing in running, Cloeter began working at Lutheran churches in 1978. Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cloeter was a minister and assistant pastor at a church in Norfolk, Nebraska. In 1982, it was announced that Cloeter would continue his religious career in Racine, Wisconsin. During this decade, Cloeter initially stayed in Wisconsin until he took a minister position in Hutchinson, Minnesota during the late 1980s. At the beginning of the 1990s, Cloeter remained in Hutchinson. By the end of the 1990s, Cloeter had gone to Omaha, Nebraska to continue his pastoral experience. While in Omaha, Cloeter was selected to perform the opening ceremonial prayer at the 1999 USATF Junior Olympics. In the 2000s, Cloeter stayed in Omaha until he continued his pastorship at Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2002. After he stepped down from his senior pastoral position in 2004, Cloeter worked for a San Antonio, Texas financial company until 2006. In 2007, Cloeter and his wife went to Lincoln, Nebraska to open up a church. For the majority of the 2010s, Cloeter continued to work in pastorship in Osceola, Nebraska after starting there in 2012.
