Dartmouth track coach runs top program

Monday, October 20, 2003

By Rich Emert , Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Barry Harwick used to own the Dartmouth College record for the mile. He ran the event in four minutes, 9.1 seconds in 1977, his senior year at this Ivy League school.

Since then, his record has been eclipsed a number of times thanks to his coaching abilities. Harwick is the men's cross country and track coach at his alma mater.

"I think I'm down to about 10th or 11th on the all-time list," said Harwick, who is actually 12th on the Dartmouth mile list according to the school's Web Site. "What happens is guys see my name on there and try to beat it. I'm going to be even further down it because we have some guys on the team who are closing in."

A 1973 Mt. Lebanon High School graduate, Harwick is in his 12th year as Dartmouth's men's coach. His team will be going after its fourth consecutive Ivy League championship Oct. 31.

While in high school, Harwick ran cross country and track. He won the cross country title for Mt. Lebanon in the old Western Conference meet and was third in the mile run at the WPIAL championships his senior year. His best high school time in the mile was 4:23.

Harwick was the captain of the track team while an undergraduate at Dartmouth and earned All-Ivy League honors in cross country, participating in two NCAA championships. Coaching was something he always considered.

"I thought about getting into it, and after I graduated from Dartmouth I taught high school one year at Seneca Valley and eventually went to grad school at Pitt," he said.

"While I was going to Pitt, I was a graduate assistant for the track team there and that got me started."

After receiving his master's in education, Harwick landed the job of head coach for track and cross country at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

"They needed a coach and were willing to take a gamble on a young guy right out of grad school," Harwick said. "The fact I knew the New England area from being at Dartmouth helped."

He spent 10 years at Bentley and guided the school's cross country team to six Northeast-10 titles and was honored as the coach of the year by the Northeast-10, ECAC and NCAA Division I during his tenure. He also started the school's women's cross country and track programs.

When Dartmouth went looking for a coach for its men's cross country and track teams, Harwick was a natural.

A full-time coach, Harwick was the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 1994 for cross country, in 1994 and '95 for outdoor track and in 1996 for indoor track. In 1997, he was the United States coach for the world cross country championships in Turin, Italy.

He also continues to find time to run. When his schedule permits, he gets in 50-60 miles a week.

"It's tougher during the season," he said. "I went out and ran with the team the other day because we were at a meet and just doing a light workout. The year I turned 40, I was serious about running because that's when you become a master's runner and won the 5,000 in the [World Veterans Challenge] in Buffalo, N.Y."

He also has returned to Western Pennsylvania numerous times to compete in area road races.

Harwick enjoys coming back to the area to see family and friends, and to do some recruiting. He has had WPIAL athletes on his rosters in the past and enjoys the recruiting process.

"It's good when you can get an individual that you want to attend your school," he said. "The first part is easy ... to get an individual interested in Dartmouth is easy. But there's a lot more to it than that."

Harwick also is busy running after sons Ben, 13, and Christopher, 9. He and his wife Marcia Kelly have been married for 16 years and live in Hanover, N.H. She also works at Dartmouth in the Dean of the College office.

The boys are into athletics although not necessarily running.

"Ben is into soccer and Christopher likes hockey," Harwick said. "They've run in some races but I'm more interested in them being involved in something they like to do."

Have an idea for a Where are they Now? E-mail it to emert196@comcast.net.

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