TOM HEATH, NNENNA LYNCH AND GENE MCCARTHY HEADLINE 2024 VAN CORTLANDT PARK CROSS COUNTRY HALL OF FAME

Riverdale, NY – Legendary New Jersey High School Coach Tom Heath, distinguished runner & long-time sport contributor Nnenna Lynch and former Fordham All-American & longstanding footwear executive Gene McCarthy will be inducted into the Van Cortlandt Park Cross Country Hall of Fame. The announcement was made by Kerri (Gallagher) Inman, the event director of the MCXCI who also serves as Director of Cross Country, Track & Field at Manhattan College; and MCXCI Race Director Lou Vazquez.

The induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 13 at the finish line of famed Van Cortlandt Park as part of the 52nd Manhattan College Cross Invitational (MCXCI) Presented by HOKA. 

The Van Cortlandt Park Cross Country Hall of Fame honors individual runners, teams, coaches, administrators and media members who have contributed to the sport of cross country at New York City's Van Cortlandt Park, one of the nation's most acclaimed cross country courses.

Past inductees include cross country journalist Marc Bloom, MCXCI founder and longtime meet director Ed Bowes, two-time USA Olympian Matt Centrowitz, Long Island and Stanford running prodigy Christine Curtin, NYC & University of Penn star Denis Cochran-Fikes, Oregon and Saratoga High School distance standout Nicole (Blood) Freitag, USA middle distance ace Marty Liquori and scholastic cross country writer Walt Murphy.

The MCXCI – the nation's largest, single-day, high school cross country event - features 42 boys' and girls' varsity, junior varsity, sophomore, freshman, intermediate, youth and coaches' races. The 2024 induction ceremony will be live-streamed by MileSplit along with all the MCXCI races.

 The 2024 Van Cortlandt Cross Country Hall of Fame Inductees

TOM HEATH

Long-time head cross country coach at CBA (NJ)-Lincroft, Heath created one of the nation's greatest scholastic running programs. During his 49-year tenure with CBA's cross country team, his Colts won 26 New Jersey state Parochial "A" championships, 21 Meet of Champions crowns, 15 Eastern States regional wins and the 2011 NIKE national championship. And since the Boys' Eastern States Championships moved from Fordham University to the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational in 2008, Heath's CBA squads have won six team titles at Van Cortlandt Park. Heath's CBA Colts harriers also built an amazing national streak of consecutive dual meet wins starting in 1974. The Heath "Streak" at CBA-Lincroft eventually reached 343-straight, dual meet wins. In fall of 2024, CBA dedicated the Tom Heath Cross Country Course on their Lincroft, NJ campus in honor of their long-time coach.

NNENNA LYNCH

Nnenna Lynch, currently the Chair of the Board of Directors at the New York Road Runners (NYRR), has crafted a long and distinguished career both as an elite runner as well as a positive contributor to the sport. A native New Yorker, Lynch captured the 1987 Girls Eastern States title at the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational in Van Cortlandt Park as a scholastic sophomore harrier for New York City's Hunter College.

Lynch later competed collegiately at Villanova where her running resume included five NCAA titles (an individual plus an unprecedented, four team crowns); 17 Big East titles (7 team, 7 relays, 3 individual); 7-All American honors and a NCAA Women of the Year award. At Van Cortlandt Park as a Wildcat sophomore in 1990, she captured the Big East individual title while leading Villanova to an historic, perfect team score and Big East championship. Lynch later became Villanova's first-ever Rhodes Scholar; and was inducted into the university's athletic Hall of Fame.

Post college, Lynch competed both on the track and cross country. In 1998, she placed first at the USA World Cross Country trials in Orlando, qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships in Marrakech, Morocco where she was a part of the fifth-place American team. Lynch also won the US trials in 1997 and qualified for three USA national cross country teams (1996-1998). On the track, Lynch won the gold medal in the women's 5,000m at the 1997 World University Games.

Prior to being named NYRR Chair, Lynch served two terms as Chair of NYRR's Youth and Community Service Committee (now the Community Impact Committee), helping develop the next generation of runners and increase access to running and walking for New York City communities.

Lynch is also the Founder and CEO of Xylem Projects, a mission-driven real estate development company focused on high-impact residential, urban residential, and mixed-use projects.

1975 NYS T&F Scholastic Yearbook

GENE MCCARTHY

Known as "The Godfather of Athletic Footwear," having held senior executive positions at Nike, Jordan, ASICS, Under Armour, and Reebok, as well as at Timberland and Merrell, Gene got his start as an all-New York City cross-country star at All Hallows High School in the Bronx. 

In 1973, at the inaugural MCXCI at Van Cortlandt Park, it was McCarthy who captured the first individual title in the event's first ever, varsity race. That season, McCarthy won all seven major races at Van Cortlandt, including the Eastern States and New York City Catholic Schools Championships. His best "Vanny" time was 12:23.8, which at the time was third fastest. As a collegian, McCarthy was an All-American runner at Fordham, and was a member of the Ram's 4x800M Relay that finished second in the NCAA's. 

Post college, McCarthy moved to Gainesville, FL to train with Marty Liquori. In 1980, Gene ran 3:42 in the 1,500M at the Manley Games in Jamaica finishing third behind world record holders Steve Ovett of Great Britain and Filbert Bayi of Tanzania.

McCarthy spent the first 21 years of his footwear career at Nike, where he became the Global Director of Sales and Retail Marketing for Nike's Jordan Brand. His professional career climaxed as the president and CEO of ASICS Americas. McCarthy recently wrote a book called "CHASING FOUR: A Personal History of Work and Play" which chronicles his journey from the Bronx to the boardroom.