COACHING STAFF
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John
GONDAK
Eighth Year (16th Year Overall) Syracuse, ’95 Director/Head Coach
21-22
MID-DISTANCE • CROSS COUNTRY
championship, Rivers won her third consecutive 800m indoor Big Ten Championship, second consecutive outdoor 1500m Big Ten Championship and second outdoor 800m Big Ten Championship. Rivers’ 2019 list of accomplishments under Gondak’s direction also include; 1,000m collegiate record (2:38.58), 800m indoor school record (2:02.94), mile indoor school record - 10th fastest collegiate time ever (4:29.47) - and third consecutive Mid-Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year award. Along with Rivers in 2019, Domenic Perretta won the men’s 800m indoor Big Ten Championship. This continued Penn State’s dominance in the 800m event as 2019 marked the fourth consecutive year a Penn State student-athlete has won the men’s 800m Big Ten Championship (Isaiah Harris, 2016-18).
Head coach John Gondak enters his eighth year at the helm of the Penn State cross country/track & field program in 2021-22. Overall, Gondak is in his 16th season on staff at Penn State.
Under Gondak’s direction, the Nittany Lions track & field program earned five first team All-American honors in 2019. The 2019 women’s program finished 11th at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Gondak’s resume while with the Blue & White - which can be matched by few middle-distance mentors in the country - includes 53 first team All-Americans, 52 Big Ten Champions, 66 Penn State records, eight Big Ten Freshman of the Year honorees, 12 Penn Relays victories, and four sub-4:00 milers.
During the fall of 2018, the Penn State women’s cross country program advanced to its fourth consecutive top-20 finish at the NCAA Championships under Gondak. Penn State is one of just eight schools to accomplish this feat. Three Nittany Lions earned All-Big Ten honors in 2018.
The Nittany Lions had an accolade filled year in 2021, highlighted by two First Team All-Americans and six combined Big Ten Champions. Competing at her tenth combined NCAA Championship, Danae Rivers closed out her final season at Penn State by becoming a First Team All-American for the seventh time. Maddie Holmberg paired a Big Ten Heptathlon Championship with her fourth combined First Team All-America honor.
In the fall of 2017, the Penn State women’s cross country program ran to its third straight Mid-Atlantic Regional title and advanced to the NCAA Championships for the eighth time in 10 seasons. Following the regional meet, Gondak was named the Mid-Atlantic Regional Women’s Head Coach of the Year.At the NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Nittany Lion women finished in the top 20 for the third straight season. For the Penn State men, Colin Abert and Timothy McGowan advanced to the NCAA Championships, which marked the first time since 2011 that the Nittany Lion men had two competitors at the NCAA Championships. Along with Abert and T. McGowan, John McGowan all brought home all-region honors for finishing in the top-25 at the regional meet.
Penn State boasted three Big Ten Champions in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. With Holmberg, David Lucas and Mark Porter claiming outdoor honors and Domenic Peretta, Sincere Rhea and Victoria Vanriele winning indoor championships. The victories of Peretta and Vanriele continued a long run of 800m success for Penn State, as the Nittany Lions have now won the men’s 800m championship in 12 of the past 14 seasons and the women’s 800m championship in five consecutive seasons. Five current Nittany Lions went on to represent the program at USATF Olympic Trials, with Maddie Holmberg, David Lucas, Tyler Merkley, Mark Porter and Madison Smith competing at the event in Eugene, Ore. Holmberg led the group with a seventh place finish in the Heptathlon. 2020 saw Gondak mentor three more Big Ten champions during the COVID-19 pandemic shortened indoor season. Seniors Billy McDevitt and Danae Rivers continued the Nittany Lions dominance of the men’s and women’s 800m event in the Big Ten. McDevitt capture the men’s 800m crown and became the fifth consecutive Nittany Lion to win the 800m title. Rivers became the only female-student athlete in Big Ten history to win four consecutive 800m indoor Big Ten titles. Rivers followed up her 800m title with the Big Ten indoor mile championships. Rivers was awarded All-America honors in the mile event by the USTFCCCA due to the NCAA Indoor Championships being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2019, Gondak was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year as the women’s cross country team won their fourth region title in the last five years. It was Gondak’s fourth Coach of the Year honor. The women’s cross country program finished 18th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. This marked the fifth-straight year the Nittany Lions placed in the Top20, one of only seven programs to achieve that mark. In 2019, Gondak mentored Danae Rivers to new heights during the indoor and outdoor seasons. Rivers won the first women’s indoor individual NCAA national championship in program history under the direction of Gondak. Along with her national
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CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD
At the 2017 Big Ten Cross Country Championships, Abert (second team) and Jillian Hunsberger (first team) were honored with All-Big Ten plaudits. During the indoor season, the Penn State men recorded the best finish among Big Ten programs at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with a top-10 finish. Individually at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, David Lucas became the first PSU men’s track & field student-athlete to win an indoor national title since 1990 with his school record mark of 78-9.75 in the weight throw. Along with Lucas, Maddie Holmberg, Isaiah Harris, and Danae Rivers all posted first team All-America finishes. At the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships, Harris won his fifth straight 800-meter run title (indoor & outdoor) and Rivers defended her 800-meter run title from 2017. The Nittany Lions built upon their successes from the indoor season to the outdoor season. As a team at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Penn State was the only Big Ten program in 2018 to have both men’s and women’s teams finish in the top-25. Individually at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Harris became the first Nittany Lion to win the men’s 800-meter run in 95 years. Along with Harris, Holmberg, Lucas, Megan McCloskey, Rivers and Morgan Shigo all posted first team All-America finishes. Harris’ outstanding year continued as he signed with Nike and finished second in the 800-meter run at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Harris concluded 2018 with a school-record time of 1:44.42 in the Paris Diamond League meet.
