Q&A: Mark Coogan

Former Dartmouth head women's cross country coach and assistant track & field coach Mark Coogan has ties to two current #IviesinRio, as he coached both Abbey D'Agostino and Alexi Pappas at Dartmouth and is D'Agostino's current coach. #IviesinRio asked him about coaching a pair of Olympians.

You coached two #IviesinRio while you were at Dartmouth, Alexi Pappas and of course Abbey D’Agostino. How proud are you of their accomplishment, earning berths to Rio? I am extremely proud and excited for both Abbey and Alexi. Just making the Olympic Trails is a huge accomplishment but to be able to compete is the Olympics is a whole different ball game. When I see Abbey and Alexi race now that they are out of college I feel a sense of pride because I know how hard they have worked and I have seen all of the sacrifices they have made to be world class athletes. I am just as proud of them as people too, they sure know how to represent Dartmouth and the Ivy League in the best of ways. I am happy to be a small part of their successes. Talk about Abbey’s growth over the past four years and how hard she worked to clinch a spot on Team USA. Abbey has made running one of the top priorities in her life for the past few years. With all of her dedication and hard work she has reached the pinnacle of our sport. It took a lot of hard work, time and dedication for Abbey to win seven NCAA titles at Dartmouth. Abbey sure did sacrifice a lot at Dartmouth, if she was not studying she was figuring out what could help her be the best athlete should could become. Her confidence has grown every year since she was a freshman. I would say she is not intimidated by any distance runners from anywhere in the world. She has developed the perfect attitude to succeed at the world class level and she started developing this attitude at Dartmouth. Both Alexi and Abbey were standout runners while at Dartmouth, did you know then that at some point both would be competing in the Olympics? Once Alexi found a love for distance running during Abbey’s freshmen year she improved by leaps and bounds. At Dartmouth, we tried to make practice the best two hours of the day for the distance runners and once we did this the whole team improved. Alexi is a special athlete and I knew she would be running world class times if she stuck with the sport once she graduated from Dartmouth. I knew Abbey could be an Olympian during her sophomore year. She just barely missed the Olympic team by less the .2 (.2 tenths of a second). I figured if she stayed healthy she could make the team this year. What do you feel they each took away from their time at Dartmouth that helped them reach their goal of going to the Olympics? Dartmouth created an environment where they both could reach for their dreams. They had support from the track coaches, the athletic department and the entire school. I don’t think there could have been a better college anywhere for Abbey and Alexi to reach their goals both academically and athletically. Dartmouth was great for them! I guess that’s why they both have Lone Pine tattoos. How excited are you to watch both Alexi and Abbey run in Rio? I would have paid my own way to Rio to see them run in the Olympics. I am lucky that I still coach Abbey and she is part of my team at New Balance. I know that Abbey and Alexi will represent the Dartmouth community really well in Rio. I can’t wait to watch them run. There is no way I would not be in Rio to see these two fantastic women run!