PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Gina Procaccio is one of the top cross country and track and field coaches in the country.
She has led the Villanova women’s teams since 2000, and her time there included back-to-back NCAA cross country championships in 2009 and 2010.
Procaccio started her college career running at the University of Florida, but after a few years down south, she made the move to Villanova.
“By my junior year, I was running slower than I ran in high school. It just kind of wasn't working there, and I felt like I still had it in me to be good,{ said Procaccio.
“Marty Stern took over Villanova and I kind of knew him from high school, and I saw him at the Penn Relays and they were signing some a couple of really good girls … and I just said, ‘Do you want one more?’”
Stern did. Procaccio would only run her final season at Villanova, but what an impact she made, winning an NCAA Championship and helping set world records including the 4x800 meter relay in 1987, the year she became an All-American.
She also qualified for the finals in the 5,000 meter race of the 1985 World Track and Field Championships in Canberra, Australia, one of many international meets where she raced.
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“There was Oslo, Norway, [in] a little stadium,” Procaccio said.
“The races would be like 11:30 p.m., but it would be broad daylight. That to me was kind of fun. The other amazing place I ran in was Monaco, just a whole little town, seeing all these yachts, and that was that was pretty incredible.”
You can listen to Gina Procaccio talk about her coaching success by checking out the latest episode of “1-on-1 with Matt Leon.” Listen below, and subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.