Abbey D'Agostino (Dartmouth): 5:16y senior year of HS to 15:59 as a college frosh! Wow

that is a nice improvement. Dartmouth has had a few male standouts over the years, but few women. Sapienza, Kempainen, True, and well a few more I don't remember.

Few remember that in the late 1980s they were a national xc powerhouse - finished 2nd at NCAA D1 XC two years in a row.

She's great, lots of great improvements up there.

I think she was just under 5:00 as a jr in HS. The problem was that she had some club type coach trying to coach her on the side in HS and he totally messed up a good thing, which is very typical up here in Mass..

There are alot of guys hanging around here cherry picking the talent and then f'ing it up, some of them charge ridiculous fees for shit coaching.

was that part of that emerging elite group? they charge outrageous prices and hang around MA track meets handing out pamphlets constantly. honestly, it's really annoying to get those fliers on your car. if you EE people are reading this, please chill out on the handouts!

This story just got alot better. 15:40 for 3rd at Nationals. She had an ankle injury in the fall, was getting better throughout indoors, then ran 16:23 in her first outdoor race. From there she only got better, winning Heps against a tough field, qualifying out of the East with a school record 15:59, then shattering it again with a phenomenal race at nats. She is a class act and she deserves this. Her first year coach, Mark Coogan, also deserves a ton of credit for what he did with Abbey and the rest of the girls this year.

Watch out for Abbey and Dartmouth!!!

beyond impressive!

ramuntos wrote:

Watch out for Abbey and Dartmouth!!!

National A standard, Jordan Hasay scalp, fastest freshman in the country, and overall beast racing abilities.

No big deal.

Damn hopefully i can beat her in road race. i never beat her in track they count lap

She looks very healthy and normal - awesome on beating a minor legend (Hasay) as a freshman and finishing 3rd.

Us junior record?

I think Huddle still has it? 15:36...or it might have been broken since...

Huddle 15:36.95. Abbie looks to be #2 all time, ahead of Chetelat.

WOW. #2 all time??! And given the fact that Chetelat and Hasay could run her HS mile PR back to back in a 2 mile, that really is impressive.

Uh...those two could've run her mile PR pace for about 6-8K.

improvement story? wrote:

WOW. #2 all time??! And given the fact that Chetelat and Hasay could run her HS mile PR back to back in a 2 mile, that really is impressive.

Homunculus wrote:

Uh...those two could've run her mile PR pace for about 6-8K.

Not if D'Agostino indeed ran a 5:00 mile her junior year, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Looked her up. Seems she won the state mile in her division (2) as a frosh and did indeed go 5-flat either her soph or junior year (there is not a lot on her HS career.) Also was a member of a swim club for 5 years so she's definitely been getting in endurance. So she's had talent but great leap to another level. Looks like new coach Coogan (Olympian) has got them all steered in the right direction.

ramuntos wrote:

Her first year coach, Mark Coogan, also deserves a ton of credit for what he did with Abbey and the rest of the girls this year.

Watch out for Abbey and Dartmouth!!!

Is that the steeplechase runner, Mark Coogan? Wasn't he a low mileage runner? Does anyone know the type of training he did? Thanks. Very nice running by Abbey. I was wondering who she was.

Coogan was an Olympic Marathoner - Athens '96.

As for the Dartmouth program, the OP said it wasn't "historically been a track/XC powerhouse," but I believe the Dartmouth women dominated Heps in the 1990s and finished 5th and 4th as a team at the NCCA XC Championships in that decade.

Amazing run by this freshman. The Letsrun write-up said they had 13 girls under 5:00 this year?!?!? That is a program on the rise.

Abbey finished 2nd recently at Pre-National, so clearly is following up strongly after her third place in the 5000 last spring at Nationals.