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sports
New
distance coach hired
By Jo Appleton
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Geoff Masanet,
a five-time Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year at
the University of Missouri Kansas City, has been hired as
Long Beach State’s
cross-country and distance coach, according to an athletic
department press
release last week.
“We were looking for a coach who could take our distance program
to the next level,” said Andy Sythe in the release, LBSU’s
head track and field coach. “I’m excited to see how far Geoff
can push this program.”
Masanet, 32, who arrived on campus Monday from Kansas, Miss.,
was an assistant and head coach of UMKC’s distance and track
and field programs
from 1997 to 2002. While on staff there, he coached the school’s
first NCAA
Division I qualifier, first All-American, six conference athletes
of the year and six conference newcomers of the year.
He said the main reason for deciding to take the position
at LBSU was his desire to get back into working solely with
distance runners, rather than heading all track and field
athletes. Also, he said that LBSU is a unique place with lots
of potential.
“I see [the distance team] becoming one of the better, stronger
teams in the league in a few short years,” Masanet said. “And
you can’t say that about every school.”
In the release, the athletic department announced that the
distance program “made great strides last season.” The women’s
program achieved its highest conference finish and first all-conference
performer in nearly a decade, it reported.
Assistant track coach at UMKC, Tim Thompson, worked with Masanet
for two years in the university’s distance as well as track
and field programs and said only good things about the young,
high-achieving coach.
“He is an outstanding coach,” Thompson said. “He’s not one
who writes down an agenda and has everyone follow it. He really
gets to know each player and tailors the training to the individual
athlete.”
Sythe said in the release that the track and field program
was seeking “a coach who had proven himself in developing
his athletes, in recruiting and in working in an environment
similar to The Beach.” He added that Masanet’s enthusiasm,
knowledge and ability to develop athletes from all different
levels were his strongest assets.
Masanet’s immediate goals are to plan for the upcoming season,
which starts in a month, and mainly involves developing his
athletes’ potential, he said.
“The big thing for me right now is to get a better idea about
each person on the team, their background, running history
and expectations,” Masanet said.
These are factored into planning each athlete’s future and
how to best get them motivated, he added. Masanet worked in
the track and field program at UMKC for five and a half years
as head coach. Previously, he was their assistant track coach
and lead cross-country coach. He also served as the head track
and field and cross-country coach at Northeastern Illinois
University and was an assistant at UC Santa Barbara.
Masanet received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois
in 1992 and a master’s from the U.S. Sports Academy in 1995.
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Photo
courtesy /Sports Information
Geoff Masanet will take on the role of cross-country
and distance coach this fall at Long Beach State University.
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