From Princeton success to Penn progress for Dolan

This time last year, Steve Dolan was wearing orange and black on his way to becoming one of the most of famous Ivy League coaches in the history of Penn Relays.

Two Championships of America titles and almost a year later, Dolan is finally back at the most famous track meet on the east coast.

But, this time, he’ll be dressed in red and blue.

“I’ve been fortunate to be in this area for a long time and every year there is this excitement around Franklin Field and the campus,” Dolan said. “It was really a dream job and dream opportunity.”

Dolan, who was named the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country this past fall, is very familiar with the Relays. Since his first year as a graduate assistant at The College of New Jersey, Dolan has been at 21 straight Relays Carnivals, including the last eight with Princeton, where he found the most success.

In 2011, Dolan led the Tigers to their first Relays title since 1931. His group of distance runners — Mark Amirault, Chris Bendtsen, Kyle Soloff, and future Olympian Donn Cabral — ran 16:19.88 in the 4xMile relay to hold off Arkansas at the line.

“At Princeton, we’d have relays in those Championship of American events and always be in the top 4-6,” Dolan said. “To go against the schools that are traditional powers … it was just a dream come true.”

But Dolan and his squad weren’t finished quite yet.

Last year, Dolan followed up on his performance in the 2011 Championships with another win in the 4xmile and a victory in the distance medley relay, the Ivy League’s first win in the event since Yale took the race crown 1961.

“When he won one, I thought ‘This is good for the league,’” men’s head coach Robin Martin joked. “But when he won his second and third, I said ‘enough.’”

Although Dolan has won titles each of the last two years, he probably won’t see his team win another Relays title this year.

While Penn has a tremendous amount of young underclassmen talent in the 800 meters and 1500 meters between Mato Bekelja, Drew Magaha, Thomas Tallerico, Thomas Awad and Clark Shurtleff, winning in the team’s first attempt under Dolan may prove difficult.

“We are not loading up on any one relay,” Martin said. “We are about a year away from competing for a championship. We plan on running them fresh.”

Both Martin and Dolan have begun a process to move Penn back into elite status. They are using a strong recruiting class, a common mindset and a complimentary approach to help the Quakers become a consistent contender — like Princeton — in the distance relays.

But Dolan isn’t backing away from the challenge.

Rather, he is embracing the festive nature of the Penn Relays and his first time as a home coach in the historic event.

“We’re going to have fun here — every event, every age,” he said. “And that’s what they say, it’s a carnival. Everybody’s involved.”

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