Louis J. Duesing, Jr. enters his 26th year at Cornell in 2015-16, and his fifth as an assistant coach of the women’s cross country team after eight years as The Alan B.’53 and Elizabeth Heekin Harris Coach of Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country. He served as the head coach for both the men and women's track and cross country programs from 1990-1999 before leading the women's program as head coach from 1999-2011. As an assistant coach, Duesing works most closely with the Big Red women's middle distance group and helps coach the cross country team, which has won the two Heptagonal team titles in 2011 and 2012.
Duesing’s tenure as head coach set a precedent for League and national success for Cornell women's cross country and track. Duesing’s 21 years at the helm of the Big Red women’s programs were marked by 25 Heptagonal Championships; more than any other team in the League. In the years since Duesing moved into an assistant coaching role, four more Heptagonal titles (two in cross country and two in outdoor track) have been added to the Cornell legacy of success. This level of excellence has been characterized by very strong teams. In cross country, depth and consistent improvement has meant six championships and, also unprecedented in the league, three consecutive top-four finishes at the NCAA cross country championships from 1991-1993. On the track, Cornell's 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.
Duesing has coached 57 All-Americans in cross country and track and field (44 at Cornell), 209 Heptagonal Champions, four 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. 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.
*Updated 8/7/15
