Mark Edward Lutz (born December 23, 1951) is an American formersprinter.^[1] He ran for his home country in the200 metres at the1976 Summer Olympics, finishing 5th in his qualifying heat.

Lutz studied at theUniversity of Kansas where he was a key member of theKansas Jayhawks track team between 1971 and 1974.^[2] During his time there he tried to qualify for 200 m event at the1972 Munich Olympics but was eliminated in a qualifying heat at theUnited States Olympic Trials.^[3]

He was renowned at the time he was running for being one of the very few white sprinters at the elite level in the U.S. Lutz won a gold medal at theWorld University Games in 1973 as part of the4 × 400 metres relay. That same year he was runner up at theUSA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 200 metres.^[4]

Lutz the BritishAAA Championships title in the 200 metres event at the1974 AAA Championships.^[5][6][7]

In 1976, and now attendingLong Beach State University,^[8] Lutz qualified for the 200 m at the1976 Montreal Olympics by finishing third at the trials. Lutz was a surprise qualifier. He was even last at the turn in the final, overtaking the more highly fanciedSteve Riddick only in the closing stages.^[3][9] His American teammatesMillard Hampton andDwayne Evans went on to medal in the competition, finishing second and third respectively.

In 1976 he was married to distance star and both a Pacific Coast Club teammate and Long Beach State University classmateFrancie Larrieu.^[10] She hyphenated her name during the period they were married. They divorced in 1978.^[11] He later married hurdlerPatrice Donnelly, also a Montreal Olympian.^[12]

• 1951 births
• Living people
• American men sprinters
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
• Track and field athletes from Minneapolis
• Kansas Jayhawks men's track and field athletes
• Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
• FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States
• Medalists at the 1973 Summer Universiade
• NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from July 2014
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined