Winning

thletics plays an important role at Penn State Scranton, offering an array of opportunities in varsity, team, club and intramural sports for both men and women. The campus is also a member of the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).

This past fall, two Penn State Scranton women earned top national honors at the 2022 USCAA Cross Country National Championship in Virginia Beach.

Assistant Director of Athletics, Intramurals and Recreation/Head Cross Country/Track and Field Coach Sara Rinkunas was named Men’s Coach of the Year, and nursing student Megan Lucey was named Female Student Athlete of the Year.

Rinkunas took over the cross country programs in 2019 with the goals of increasing numbers on campus while also raising awareness and interest throughout the PSUAC and USCAA conferences.

“I was able to serve on both PSUAC and USCAA Cross Country and Track and Field committees, which put me in a good spot for being able to advocate for runners and learn about other teams in the conferences, and build relationships with other coaches and learn and share ideas,” Rinkunas said.

One of the biggest hurdles she faced was not being able to have her teams participate in events year-round. However, a new campus Track and Field Club, which competed at the National USCAA in Spring 2022, made that possi- ble and increased the team’s visibility.

“That opportunity, and year-round conditioning and activity through that programming, mixed with recruiting locally, has helped our men's team achieve the numbers and put in the work to improve,” Rinkunas said.

She and her assistant coach, Robert Murphy, focused on making the team a cohesive, successful squad who pushed each other every day, with the goal of earning the PSUAC title and placing in the top five at the national championships. Her next goal is to bring the women's team back into the game, build their numbers and develop individual and squad focus, in order to have two successful campus cross country programs next fall — complimented by track and field in the spring.

“I was not expecting to get an award for this. However, I am honored; I put in a lot of work into not only trying to make our men's program better, but increasing interest, numbers and visibility for the entire conference cross country and track and field programs.”

A competitive runner since high school, Rinkunas continues to compete in local road races. Many times Penn State Scranton’s team join her. Some team members will be running with her in the Scranton HalfMarathon in April.

“I think still being a runner and engaging in practices and conditioning with them for race training puts me at an advantage to better understanding what they can handle and are going through both physically and mentally. My team motivates and helps me be a better person and runner every day. We coach each other over any hurdle,” Rinkunas said.

Megan Lucey – Female Athlete of the Year

Lucey, a captain for Penn State Scranton’s women’s cross country team, has not only medaled at many invitationals, finishing in the Top 10 of PSUAC runners for numerous seasons, but is also a standout student on campus, who is involved in everything from academic clubs and activities to making a difference in the health care field.

Lucey admits that she was never an athlete until joining the campus’ cross country team in 2019. “I decided to give it a try after meeting with Coach Rinkunas and talking to her about the sport. I let her know I wasn’t much of a runner, as I’d only run on a treadmill occasionally before joining the team, but she was very welcoming and said I could give it a try.”

Lucey has been on the team ever since, improving her skills as a runner so much that it led to her national award. “This award isn’t something I was planning to achieve, although I am very grateful to have earned it.”

When she first started running, one of her only goals was to be able to finish a 6k race without needing to stop and walk. “I did achieve that goal and improved so much to have even earned a few medals from being a top finisher,” Lucey said. “To me, this award shows how far I have come as a student athlete and that you can get better at something if you keep practicing consistently.”

Having an abundance of coursework as a nursing student, Lucey makes sure to balance her academic and extracurricular activities by planning her schedule in advance. “It helps so that I can get my academic work done efficiently and also have time for extracurriculars,” she said.

She credits the support and encouragement she received from her teammates and Rinkunas with getting her to where she is today. “I am forever grateful that my coach believed in me and helped me improve a little bit every day at practice. She helped me grow from someone who could not run a 6k without walking, to being a national student athlete of the year!” she exclaimed. “Without Coach Sara and my team, I wouldn’t be a runner at all.”

In addition to her most recent award, Lucey is also a two-time PSUAC John Fritz Sportsmanship Award recipient, three-time USCAA National All-Academic, and fourtime PSUAC Academic AllConference recipient.

“It is my favorite sport and I enjoy that it motivates me to try to do better with each race and beat my previous time,” she said. Post-graduation, Lucey plans to continue running, although not competitively. H