Lou Duesing
The Alan B. '53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Women's Track & Field and Cross Country Coach
Phone: 255-3475
Email:
ld22@cornell.edu
Louis J. Duesing, Jr. enters his 21st year at Cornell, and his eighth as The Alan B.’53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Coach of Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country.
Duesing’s 20th year as head coach was one where records continued to be broken. Under his leadership, Cornell track and cross country continues to flourish and distinguish itself as a consistently strong, consistently competitive program within the Ivy League, as well as regionally and nationally.
The 2009 cross country season saw the team emerge as a very competitive, albeit young, group. The fall started well and the team got better as the season progressed, saving their best race for the NCAA Regional meet, finishing a mere 13 points from third place. Doing a great job in a leadership role was top finisher and captain Stephanie Pancoast ’10. She was joined as an All Ivy and All-Region award-winner by newcomer Genna Hartung ’13. The top five included two other freshmen, Katie Kellner ‘13 and Kelsy Karys ‘13, and Meghan Brown ’12. Pancoast, once again, earned individual honors as an Academic All-American, a distinction achieved by the team as well.
On the track, the 2010 team followed the lead of the cross country team in steadily improving throughout the year, culminating in a team championship at the outdoor Heptagonals. The indoor season was a very successful one with several school records being set. Two women provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships; Pancoast (5000) and Kim Standridge ’11 (800). In addition, Melissa Hewitt ‘12 was honored as the indoor Heps “athlete of the meet” following her winning performances in the 60 and the long jump, as well as her third place finish in the 200. The team finished a very competitive third at the Indoor Heps, and followed that with an impressive fifth at the Indoor ECAC Championships.
In outdoor track, the team had a very successful spring trip to California, with a new school record in the javelin by Victoria Imbesi ’13 and many personal best performances. Despite horrible weather upon their return to Ithaca, the team trained and competed very well with several significant highlights: an outstanding win against Penn in the dual meet for the selection of those going to England, the sprint medley relay team (Hewitt, Mecha Santos ‘11, Jessica Weyman ‘10 and Standridge) finished second in the Championship of America race at the Penn Relays and they were the top ECAC team and won watches and a plaque for their efforts, the 4X400 (Kelsey Reimnitz ‘12, Megan Williams ‘10, Kate Backel ‘10 and Weyman) relay team won the Heptagonals race at the Penn Relays and finished fourth in the ECAC race two days later, an Ivy League record by the 4X100 relay (Santos, Hewitt, Williams and Backel), a tremendous team win at the outdoor Heptagonals with Melissa Hewitt winning the 100, the long jump, the 4X100 relays, and a second place finish in the 200 to again earn “athlete of the meet” honors while Victoria Imbesi, on her sixth throw, won the javelin. Contributions were made in all but three events (one of which we did not enter), and in many events we had more than one scorer. This success was followed by even more success at the ECAC Championships, including a win by the 4X400 relay, and personal best performances by Kerri Lyons ‘10 (1500), Karys (5000), Molly Glantz ‘12 (400H) and Standridge (800), as well as a seasonal best for Stephanie Pancoast (steeplechase). All were performances that ensured participation for these women at the NCAA First Round, where they were joined by Erin Roberts ‘10 (steeplechase), Victoria Imbesi (javelin) and Natalie Gengel (pole vault). Three of them, Standridge, Imbesi and Pancoast, qualified for the NCAA Final Round in Eugene, Oregon where Standridge earned All-America honors.
The competitive year ended with a very successful 15 day trip to the United Kingdom, following an initial stop in Bangor, Wales, with time spent in Birmingham, Cambridge and Oxford. We had three competitions, beginning with an intra-squad match in Wales, an invitational setting in Birmingham, capped off by a convincing win with the Penn team over the Oxford/Cambridge side at the historic Iffley Road track at Oxford.
Duesing’s 20 years at the helm of the Big Red women’ programs has been marked by more Heptagonal Championships than any other team in the league. This past year’s outdoor title brought the overall number to 25. That level of excellence has been characterized by very strong teams. In cross country, depth and consistent improvement has meant four championships and, also unprecedented in the league, three consecutive top-four finishes at the NCAA cross country championships. On the track, the teams have been deep in many events as well as competitive in virtually every event contested at the league championships. Very strong team spirit and sense of cooperation and support has been complemented by hard work and dedication, and a determined competitive drive to achieve excellence. The 2009-2010 team personified those values as well as any team we’ve had.
Duesing has coached 57 All-Americans in cross country and track and field (44 at Cornell), 207 Heptagonal Champions, three Penn Relays Champions, one NCAA Champion and has had five individuals place in the top 10 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Five of Duesing’s student-athletes have won NCAA postgraduate scholarships, six have earned Phi Beta Kappa recognition and 10 have been named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, most recently, Emily Bartlett ‘09. Ginny Ryan ’95 was a finalist for the Walter Byers Scholarship, was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and earned a full scholarship to medical school.
In 1998, Duesing was appointed to the prestigious NCAA Track and Field Committee for a four-year term. He was also honored by his peers in serving as the team leader and head coach for the USA women’s cross country team that competed in South Africa at the IAAF XXIV World Cross Country Championships in March of 1996. In 1989, Duesing was the head coach of the USA women’s cross country team, which won a bronze medal at the IAAF XVII World Championships in Stavanger, Norway. He has also been a coach at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
Duesing has a TAC Level II certificate and has served as an instructor for that program in the endurance events and was instrumental in developing its curriculum. He has been an instructor with the TAC Junior Elite Male and Female Development Clinic since 1983 and was one of the coordinators for the USA Track and Field men’s 5,000-meter development program.
A 1969 graduate of Lafayette College with a bachelor of arts degree in history, Duesing also received an M.A.T. degree (history) from the University of New Hampshire in 1974 and an M.S. degree (performance assessment) from Penn State University in 1984. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1969-72. Duesing attended Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, R.I.
He is married to Laura Toy and resides in Ithaca.
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