Full Article Spread in Villanova Magazine

By Christopher Graziano, for Villanova Magazine

Which came first: the brilliant athlete or the visionary coach? In the case of Villanova's Men's and Women's Track and Field programs, the question is almost impossible to answer. Through the decades, athletes and coaches have worked hand in baton to enhance the University's reputation as a powerhouse in the sport. That reputation continues to attract world-class talent and to produce men and women whose names are synonymous with record breaker, gold medalist and hall of famer.

The numbers speak to Villanova's prowess in indoor and outdoor track and field, and cross country competitions. In terms of team accomplishments, the women's program owns nine NCAA championships and 38 BIG EAST titles; and the men's program, eight NCAA championships and 19 BIG EAST titles. The number of individual titles also is impressive. The men's and women's programs have 116 individual championships at the national level and 557 individual championships at the conference level.

Wildcats also have vaulted to glory in global competitions, including at least one Villanova Track and Field Olympian in every Summer Olympics since 1948. Beginning with the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia, when Charles Jenkins Sr. '58 VSB won gold in the 400-meter and the 4-x-400 meter relay, and Dubliner Ronald Delany '58 VSB broke the tape in the 1,500-meter final, Villanovans have won 11 gold and silver medals in track and field events.

Behind the numbers are athletes and coaches who have made Villanova a magnet for successive generations of standouts. The impact of Wildcats excelling first in cleats and then with clipboards has been especially strong. In his 32 years as head coach at Villanova, for example, former short- and middle-distance runner James "Jumbo" Elliott '35 VSB became a living legend in college athletics. He was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1981.

Today, two alumni who competed internationally are expanding Elliot's legacy. Gina Procaccio '87 VSB, whose accolades include running on relay teams that set collegiate, American and world records, is in her 16th year as head coach of the Women's Track and Field, and Cross Country teams. Atop her long list of coaching achievements are nine team BIG EAST championships and two team national championships. The latter strengthened Villanova's position as the most successful women's cross country program in collegiate history, with nine NCAA titles.

Being personally a part of the legacy that her student-athletes are growing drives Procaccio to succeed. "You don't want to be that coach who lets the legacy down," she says. Procaccio was a Wildcat when the Women's Track and Field program began its ascent in the 1980s. "I had a coach who told me when I ran, 'It all started with you.' It can't end with me."

Marcus O'Sullivan, '84 VSB, '89 MBA, a four-time Olympian and one of just three people ever to run more than 100 sub-four minute miles, is in his 18th year as the Frank J. Kelly Endowed Track and Field Coach. The head coach of the men's program, O'Sullivan has coached 15 national champions, 93 All-Americans and 180 BIG EAST champions, among other successes.

Procaccio, who was born in Drexel Hill, Pa., and O'Sullivan, a native of Ireland, exemplify how Villanova draws elite student-athletes, be they local or international. The University and the Emerald Isle have a particularly strong affinity.

"Villanova was founded to educate Irish immigrants," O'Sullivan says. "That eventually evolved to Irish athletes meeting at the Olympic Games and encouraging one another to come here."

O'Sullivan is proud of his staff's recruiting success overseas. "I don't look at it as, 'We're bringing a foreign student here.' I look at it as, 'We're fulfilling the mission upon which our University was founded.'"

In the long line of Irish athletes coming to Villanova, Sonia O'Sullivan '91 VSB was the first woman. She was determined to set the bar high. "The Jake Nevin Field House had a picture of Ronnie Delany kneeling down in thanks after winning Olympic gold," she says. "It was a daily reminder of what is possible for Irish athletes passing through Villanova." O'Sullivan found out for herself in 2000, when she won silver in the 5,000-meter in Sydney.

Delany and Sonia O'Sullivan both medaled at Olympics in Australia-- a country from which Villanova now recruits. The groundwork for that relationship was laid when Marcus O'Sullivan recruited Adrian Blincoe '03 VSB from New Zealand. Blincoe, in turn, helped bring Patrick Tiernan, now a senior, to Villanova from Australia. Tiernan's teammate, senior Jordy Williamsz, came at the advice of his coach in Australia, Nic Bideau-- Sonia O'Sullivan's husband.

Tiernan and Williamsz hope to extend the University's Olympic legacy by qualifying for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. They will compete at Australia's Olympic trials. Canadians Rob Denault '15 VSB and Sheila Reid '12 CLAS, and Americans Nicole Schappert Tully '10 VSB and Bobby Curtis '08 VSB are expected to compete at their respective countries' trials.

"Every young athlete dreams about the chance to represent their country at the Olympics," says Tiernan. "I think Villanova's reputation at the Olympics helps with recruiting."

But it is more than the chance to join the list of Olympians that has shaped Tiernan's and Williamsz's Villanova experience. They also have savored victory at the historic Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track and field competition in the US. Villanova has won a record 95 men's Championship of America titles and 37 women's titles.

"Penn Relays will be pretty hard to top," says Williamsz, who along with Tiernan, Denault and Sam McEntee '15 CLAS, won the 4-x-Mile relay in 2015. "Because of the achievements of everyone who has come before us, there's a big emphasis on being successful."

"Everyone who has come before us": This is the distinguished group that inspires every student-athlete and coach who comes to Villanova. This is the storied tradition to which they hope to add their marks.