On the World Track

Coach Nichols is invited to work on the international cross-country championships in Dublin.

by Amy Ward

Jim Nichols (right) has accomplished a lot during his years as head men’s cross-country and men’s track and field coach at Ithaca College. Now Nichols is going global: he has been selected by USA Track and Field (USATF) to serve on the staff for the 2002 World Cross Country Championships (WCCC). The only Ithaca College coach ever to be chosen for such a position, he will serve as the team leader for the U.S. junior men’s team that is competing in Dublin, Ireland, this spring.

Nichols’s duties include serving as the chief facilitator for the athletes and aiding in the trials and the selection of the team. "The USATF is the national governing body for track and field, long-distance running, and race walking, and for them to choose me for this position is a great highlight of my career, an experience of a lifetime," says Nichols. "And it’s not only an honor for me, but for all the athletes I have worked with, who have allowed me this recognition. I am very proud to represent our country."

It is an honor that came as no surprise to some of his former athletes. "Ithaca College cross- country and track have become national contenders through his knowledge and perseverance," says Jason Trumble ’92, now boys’ cross-country and track and field coach at Ithaca High School. "Coach Nichols’s selection as the Team USA world juniors’ cross-country coach is a fitting tribute to someone who has devoted his life to the sport." Before coming to Ithaca, Nichols was head cross-country and track and field coach at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. There he coached the 1986 NCAA Division III 800-meter indoor champion. Nichols was also an all-American cross-country runner at North Central College and a member of his school’s national championship teams in 1978 and 1979.

The World Cross Country Championships, begun in 1973, consist of six races: a men’s and women’s short race, a men’s and women’s long race, a junior men’s race, and a junior women’s race. At the 2000 championships, 76 countries (the most ever) were represented, with a record 814 athletes overall and 166 in the junior men’s race.

In the junior men’s division, the United States has won five gold medals (the most recent in 1981), one silver, and one bronze. U.S. teams have produced four individual champions, one second-place winner, and two third-place finishers. At last year’s race, held in Ostend, Belgium, the team finished fourth overall, and its top individual scorer, Dathan Ritzenhein, placed third. Before Ritzenhein, the last time an American junior stepped on the podium in a World Cross Country Championship was in 1981.

USATF is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organization with a small staff of program administrators and nearly 70,000 individual members. It offers programs at all levels of the sport, from children through adults, from newcomers to Olympic champions. Member organizations include the U.S. Olympic Committee, NCAA, NAIA, Road Runners Club of America, Running USA, and the National Federation of State High School Associations. Fifty-seven USATF associations oversee the sport and its 2,500 clubs at the local level. Nichols will be in charge of the men who finished in the top six at its winter cross-country national championships, which were held in Vancouver, Washington, in February.

"This is my first opportunity to work with USATF on a team competing internationally," says Nichols. "It will be a new experience, traveling with the elite of our national athletes." Nichols says he will be able to juggle the new position and his commitment to the men’s track and field program at Ithaca, missing only one meet at Cornell in February. The WCCC falls between the indoor and outdoor seasons, so he will be back in time to begin the spring portion of the track and field season.

Nichols just completed his 10th year as head coach of the Ithaca College men’s cross-country team and is now in his 16th year as the head men’s track and field coach. Nichols also coached the women’s track and field team from 1987 to 1993 and 1999 to 2000. During his tenure the cross-country team has qualified for the NCAA championship four times, placing ninth in 2001 (the highest finish in program history).

Nichols has coached 24 all-Americans at Ithaca, including the 1992 national champion in the women’s outdoor 5,000-meter run. His teams have won 16 state championships, including titles in men’s cross-country and first-ever titles in men’s indoor track and field and men’s outdoor track and field in 2000. (For that mark, Nichols was named New York State Collegiate Track Conference coach of the year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.) He has also coached his teams to five Eastern College Athletic Conference championships.

The 1982 field hockey team became the first Ithaca College team to win an NCAA championship in a women’s sport. The Bombers beat Trenton State 2-1 in the finals and finished with an 18-3 record. Front row: Assistant coach Andrea Golden, Paula Majeski ’83, Liz Parry ’83, Patty Brady ’83, Cathy Foto ’83, Diane Rapp ’83, Mary Klecha ’83, Cheryl Scott ’83, head coach Doris Kostrinsky. Second row: Peggy Radkiewicz ’86, Reenie Horn ’86, Raeann Winkler ’85, Eileen Beairsto ’85, Clare Lamont ’84, Heather Doyle ’85, Tracy Moyer, Mary Jane Boyle ’86. Third row: Kathy Garrett ’86, Janet Eppinger ’85, Jennie Powers ’86, Beth Traub ’85, Maureen Brady ’85, Colleen McDonald ’85, Karen Howarth ’86. Fourth row: Gina Tuttle ’86, Lisa Clarke ’85, Leila Kime ’87, Barb Wachowiak ’85, Linda Amuso ’84, Jane DeGrenier ’86. Fifth row: Managers Lisa Monacelli ’86 and Jill Dunphy ’82, M.S. ’83; trainers Marsha Grant, Stephanie Atman, Scott Stanley.

Ithaca High School’s Jason Trumble (with Nichols in photo) says, "I ran for Coach Nichols from 1988 to 1992. Quite honestly, I would not have attended IC had he not recruited me out of high school. To run for Coach Nichols was a gift that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. He is the type of coach an athlete respects, works hard for, and feels that he or she received the best coaching in the country from. Coach Nichols’s determination and personability are a model for athletes and coaches alike."

Ithaca College athletic director Kristen Ford is proud of Nichols’s accomplishment and looks forward to the impact his appointment may have on the College as a whole and the men’s track and field program in particular. "The invitation to serve with the U.S. national team is quite an honor and is a strong reflection of Jim’s extensive coaching experience and abilities," she says. "This is a wonderful opportunity for Jim and will enhance the general recruiting efforts of the track program and the College."