Reagan wins Coach of the Year awards, again
Submitted photo
Albert Gallatin graduate Patrick Reagan gives high-fives with fans lined along the running route of the Ultravasan 90K race in Mora, Sweden. Reagan finished second. (Photo courtesy of Vasaloppet Organization)
Submitted photo
Albert Gallatin graduate Patrick Reagan runs in the 2018 Javelina Jundred 100-Mile Endurance Run in Fountain Hills, Ariz., in October. Reagan finished first for the second-straight year with a time of 13:42:59. He holds the course record time of 13:01:14. (Photo courtesy of Hoka One One)
Though neither realized the other was at the race, two Albert Gallatin graduates were a part of the NAIA Cross Country Championships held last Friday in in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Xavier Stephens, the more recent of the graduates, finished 142nd overall, breaking his Point Park 8K record when he crossed the finish line in 25:59.
The older graduate didn’t participate in the race, but was coaching the runners from SCAD-Savannah in the national championship.
Patrick Reagan, Class of 2005, led both the men’s and women’s teams from Savannah College of Art and Design to the finals with the women placing 20th overall and the men finishing 32nd in the team standings.
Sophomore Lemi Wutz earned All-America honors after finishing seventh with a time of 17:39. Reagan almost had a second runner earn All-America honors with senior Jessy Scarpone missing by three seconds in 32nd place with a time of 18:06.
“It was a good year, a solid year. We had a resurgent year,” said Reagan. “(Wutz) went from 87th to seventh. We expected her to be in the top 20.”
The men’s team won its fourth straight Sun Conference Championship for an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships and the women won its fifth conference title in six years to advance to the national final.
Reagan, who started at SCAD in 2011, was honored as the men’s and women’s Coach of the Year.
“We look at it as it shows a body of work, how we work together,” Reagan said of the successful programs. “We have a positive program culture. It’s a reflection of the family.”
Reagan is also the college’s track & field coach, but he still manages to find time to run ultra-race distances around the world. The Slippery Rock graduate has participated in several lengthy races over the past 12 months.
He finished first in the Javelina Jundred 100-Mile with a time of 13:42:59 in October, repeating the title he won in 2017 with a course-record time of 13:01:14 at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills, Ariz. Reagan also has back-to-back second-place finishes in the Ultravasan 90K in Mora, Sweden.
He was rewarded for his work in 2017 as the USATF Ted Corbitt Ultrarunner of the Year.
Reagan works his training schedule around coaching responsibilities and does his long runs, 25-30 miles, on Sunday. He’ll do recovery runs with his athletes through the week.
“I pick races that work around my work schedule, races in December, June, July and August,” explained Reagan.
Reagan has made the podium as the top American finisher at the Ultravasan 90K three years in a row, placing third in 2016. The course covers 60 kilometers (37.3 miles) of forest road, 6 km (3.7 miles) on gravel, 18 km (11.2 miles) through paths and 6 km (3.7 miles) of asphalt. The track incline is 867 meters, or just over a half-mile.
“It’s beautiful. It runs along a cross country ski trail,” said Reagan. “I had to run a 6:35 pace for the 56-mile race for the podium.”
Reagan placed 12th — and was the first American — in the Comrades Marathon in South Africa in 2017.
“It’s a 90K road race. The first marathon has a 4,500-foot climb,” Reagan said of the course.
Although he ran in the 2016 Olympic marathon trial, Reagan will continue his focus on longer races.
“I’ll be concentrating on 100K and 100-mile races. I want to challenge myself from 100K to 100 miles. That’s my home base now,” said Reagan. “A 2:20 marathon is not relatively fast. I want to stay engaged in the ultramarathon community and the stories that changed their lives.”
Reagan plans to add a 24-hour race to his resume.
“It’s a 24-hour race on a 400-meter track. Every four hours you change direction,” said Reagan.
So how does Reagan occupy his mind when on his feet for hours?
“I have to stay active and engaged. I do something every 10 minutes. I focus on my nutrition or hydration, or I’ll just bonk. I have to stay very sharp,” said Reagan.
Reagan is also coaching former Uniontown standout Scarlett Graham, who lives in Washington state, as she progresses into her ultra-running career.
“She’s an amazing ultra-runner,” praised Reagan.
Running is what Reagan does, and he can’t see a time when it won’t be part of his life.
“Distance running is the best thing. You can do it for your whole life as a fan watching, or with your family, or running,” said Reagan, adding, “It’s my whole life. It’s what I do.”