Herricks cross-country coach Joe Caruso didn’t vote for himself in the post-season balloting for Nassau County cross-country coach of the year in division 2A.
But after his girls cross-country team won its division and his boys team finished sixth in the county this season, he drew enough votes from his peers to earn him the Don Scott Memorial Cross Country Coach of the Year anyway. The award is named in honor of Don Scott, former track and cross-country coach at Manhasset High School, who died of cancer last year.
“It was really gratifying,” Caruso said. “We finally won our championship.”
Commenting on Caruso winning the award, Herricks Athletic Director Jim Petricca said, “The award recipients exemplify and demonstrate responsible personal and social behavior including good sportsmanship, character, civility and citizenship. They are leaders, have a positive influence on their peers, demonstrate a healthy lifestyle and exhibit exceptional achievement and a high level of fitness in physical education class.”
The 31-year-old Caruso was already well-regarded among his fellow coaches, winning the John Kleinfeller Sportsmanship Award among county track coaches for the 2009-10 season, when his boys cross-country runners also won the team sportsmanship award. The boys team has been among the top teams in the county for the past three years.
Now in his seventh year of coaching cross country and track at Herricks, Caruso has built a program that comprised 15 runners in his first year and included 70 students running long distance last year. The recruitment opportunities he had as a physical education instructor at Herricks and the profile of the increasingly successful cross-country team were both factors in the team’s growth.
“The kids have a great attitude. They enjoy it so much for so many reasons,” he said. “We try to instill that running is something they can do the rest of their lives. And we appeal to their competitive nature.”
On the girls cross-county team at Herricks, co-captains Killana Lipowicz and Kristi Leicht “helped solidify the team,” Caruso said, and led their teammates to an undefeated regular season with the help of junior standout Kate Snider. They also left a promising legacy in their wake.
“We should he pretty good for the next couple of year on the girls side,” he said.
On the boys side, Herricks senior Aakaash Pillalamarri went to the state championships for the past three years and was selected as one of three runners from to compete in the New York Federal Meet following the state championship competition last year as one of the top 100 cross-country runners statewide.
The students who come out for cross country range from those who’ve had middle school experience in the sport to those who are just trying to improve their general fitness, Caruso said.
“We talk about what to eat or not to eat. And we talk about mental focus,” Caruso said.
He has also tried to instill a sense of team spirit in his runners, gathering them together to watch a biographical movie about the legendary U.S. distance runner Steve Prefontaine the night before they were to compete in the county championship races.
The following day produced an unanticipated impediment in the form of a late October snowfall.
The Herricks boys team finished fourth, enabling them to continue competing, but the girls team fell short on that bizarre October day.
“The course was a snowy, muddy mess,” Caruso said. “But they all had a sense of accomplishment. It’s one of those experiences you’ll remember for the rest of your life because of the adversity you had to overcome.”
The snow provided the girls with a good lesson of the obstacles that Caruso and assistant coach Dave Lorge tell them might intrude on one’s objectives.
Caruso had plenty of personal athletic experience overcoming such obstacles on his way to becoming a coach.
Caruso started running cross-country himself in junior high school, finishing second in a field of 67 runners in the first race he competed.
He ran cross county and was a miler and half-miler while he attended Roslyn High School. He then ran cross-country and track and wrestled during his undergraduate years at Springfield College in Massachusetts.
When he was graduated from Springfield in 2002, Caruso knew he wanted to be a track coach. But even in high school, he knew that running would be a lifetime hobby for him.
“I always finished in high school as one of the best, not the best. But as competitive as I was, I knew I was going to do it for life,” he said.
Caruso spent two years coaching track at Port Washington High School, and coached soccer in Roslyn and Manhasset during that time.
Caruso subsequently earned a masters degree in health education and physical education, both subjects he currently teaches at Herricks.
He said one of his proudest moments was watching 200 Herricks alumni and their parents running the Harry O’Neil 5K race sponsored by the Herricks Athletic Boosters last June.
“It’s great to see alumni coming back,” he said.
The Herricks cross-country teams will be losing some of their top performers next year, but Caruso said he thinks the future still looks bright for the future of the program.
“We’re losing a couple of good people. But we’re going to work hard and try to keep building on our success,” he said.
In his spare time, Caruso still likes to run with his wife, Talene, a former soccer player who prefers to keep pace with him by cycling.
“It’s fun to do it together,” he said. “It’s bonding time.
