A Storied Run
Olympic Gold Casts Glow on Track and Field Tradition by Steve Fink Harry Marra, C’69, has spent the last seven years coaching two track and field athletes in Eugene, Ore. And while two people may not sound like much, when it’s Olympic decathlete Ashton Eaton and his wife, heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, it’s not your average coaching job. Especially after Eaton won his second straight Olympic gold medal for the United States in Rio de Janeiro, and Theisen-Eaton, who competed for Canada, took home the bronze.
Rio’s success was a fitting way to go out for Marra, who said this was his final Olympics. He celebrated his 69th birthday the same day Theisen-Eaton won the bronze. It turns out Marra is one of many track athletes who found success as a Mountaineer. The school became a Mecca for track in the 1970s, and the tradition continues today. Most recently, junior javelin thrower Kelly Yanucil became the first woman Division I All-American for the University following a stellar season that included her second consecutive conference championship.
“It was really nice to see that…. We had our ups, we had our “It is an honor to wear that Mount emblem on my chest, downs over the years. Good days, bad days, injuries. ‘Yeah, to have that uniform on every single time I throw,” I just kicked butt,’ that was the feeling I had,” Marra said. Yanucil said. Of course, it might not be this way if it weren’t for Mount St. Mary’s.
Like Marra, Yanucil recognizes the Mount’s decorated history can be traced back to the Deegan, who, even after retiring in 2006, still volunteers to coach the pole vaulters today.
It was at the Mount that Marra was introduced to the decathlon by longtime head coach Jim Deegan and economics professor Frank Zarnowski, C’65, who helped “Inevitably, every program has to have a leader and Deegs Deegan coach decathletes. Marra remembers his time well. was the guy. His enthusiasm was infectious,” Marra said. “Positive enthusiasm and a sincere desire to get better at what you’re doing, to work hard and get better. I think I learned how to compete at the Mount with no fear of failure, and that’s the biggest detriment that any athlete or coach could have,” he said.
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MOUNT MAGAZINE FALL 2016
It is late July, smack in the middle of this year’s brutal heat wave, and Deegan could be cooling off in a pool somewhere, kicking his feet up and enjoying a relaxing
