LISTEN TO COACH FRANK GAGLIANO SPEAK THIS WEDNESDAY

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, February 17, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013

Morris area runners who work in the area of New Brunswick and Highland Park may want to schedule their return home from work a little late this Wednesday, February 20^th.

Frank Gagliano, aka Coach “Gags”, will be speaking to runners at the Reformed Church of Highland Park on South 2^nd Avenue in Highland Park.

Google Gagliano and you will come up with a wealth of information about the famous coach that began at Roselle Catholic High School, moved to Rutgers as a coach and then became the  Director of Track and Field at Rutgers University before moving on. 

He’s coached athletes in USATF National finals, World Championship teams, Olympic Teams and Olympic finals.  The funny part of this success story that reads like a who’s who of track and field and racing, with names like Georgetown and the Reebok Enclave, Nike Farm Team, the Oregon Track Club, is that Gagliano just wanted to play football.

That’s right.  Reading from an article by New Jersey sports writer Elliott Denman, Gagliano played quarterback at his high school in New York and later played in the Canadian League.  When he was hired at Roselle Catholic he planned to coach football, but it never happened.  The school never developed a football program.  Gagliano put down his football and began his illustrious coaching career.

Gagliano left the west coast in 2009 and began yet another track club that is undoubtedly going to become the legend that the other clubs under Gagliano’s tutelage became.  The club is the aptly named New Jersey- New York Track Club since it is drawing on athletes from either side of the Hudson. 

Some of those he is coaching are New Jersey former high school stars like Erin Donahue of Haddonfield, Julie Culley of North Hunterdon,  Ashley Higginson of Colts Neck, and Danielle Tauro of Southern Regional.  Culley of course made the 2012 US Olympic team with her win at the national Olympic Trials in the 5,000 meters in a time of 15:13.77.

Gagliano is slated to speak to the Raritan Valley Road Runners after their weekly group run.  It begins at 6:30 p.m. from the church.  The group runs for about an hour so the best estimate is that the talk will begin around 7:45 p.m., maybe 8:00 p.m.  Visitors will be welcome to run with the group prior to the talk.

Gagliano will be sharing his knowledge and experience and will be taking questions from the audience said the press release given to the club. 

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.