– The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) announced today that SUNY Cobleskill Head Cross Country Coach Mitchell Tomaszkiewicz has been selected as league’s 2009 Men’s Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year and 2009 Women’s Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year.
Tomaszkiewicz helped guide the Fighting Tigers to a sweep at the 2009 NEAC Cross Country Championships hosted by SUNYIT in Utica, NY on Saturday October 31st. The Cobleskill women started the day by posting a team score of 56 points to capture their first NEAC title with four team members earning All-NEAC Team honors while the men’s team won their second consecutive conference championship with a score of 20 points with eight team members earning All-NEAC Team acclaim. During the regular season Fighting Tiger runners were awarded Cross Country Student-Athlete-of-the-Week recognition by the NEAC seven times.
“While it is always nice to be recognized by your peers, I would be lying if I said this was a one person operation,” said the Fighting Tiger mentor. “My assistant Jamie Julie who was a two-time NJCAA All-American for us in our junior college days and the IC4A Champion while at Adelphi University has brought and exceptional amount of energy, knowledge and running experience to our program this year. Head Track & Field Coach Brad Fichthorn has helped tremendously with our recruiting and does an exceptional job of developing young people throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons while our trainer Elise Fitzsimmons works extremely hard for us on a daily basis. We also couldn’t accomplish this level of success without our technical assistants Ryan Gunzinger and Mike Jorgensen, Fitness Center Director Bill Makarowski, our secretary Cindy Handy and of course my boss our Athletic Director Kevin McCarthy who has somehow managed to keep me in line for the last 17 years. I am extremely grateful to all of these people who without their efforts on our behalf these championships would not be possible.”
Coach Tomaszkiewicz is the longest tenured coach in SUNY Cobleskill Cross Country history having completed his seventeenth season with the Fighting Tigers. During this time he has guided the Orange & Black to 74 invitational, seven con championshipsThe Chicago, IL area native graduated from St. Laurence High School, in Burbank, IL in 1980, Lewis University in Romeoville, IL in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism/Communications and from Loyola University of Chicago in 1989 with a master’s degree in Educational Administration/College Student Personnel. Tomaszkiewicz also serves the college as Director of Sports Information a position he has held for 13 years.
