On this day in 1980, Villanova's great middle distance runner John Marshall won the silver medal in the 800 meters at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Sudbury, Canada. The medal winners in that race were:
GOLD: Joachim Cruz (Brazil) 1:47.8
SILVER: John Marshall (USA) 1:48.4
BRONZE: Doug Wournell (Canada) 1:49.3
Marshall went on to bigger and better things, of course. He returned to the Pan Am Juniors in 1982 and won Gold. He then made the USA Olympic team in 1984 as a 20 year old. He came third in his first heat (1:47.99), but bowed out of the competition in the quarters, when he finished 5th in 1:47.18.
While at Villanova, Marshall won the 1983 NCAA indoor title over 880 yards. He left Villanova as the school record holder at 800 meters both indoors (1:47.84) and outdoors (1:43.92). He came back to coach at Villanova in 1990, serving as head coach of track & field from 1994 to 1998.
Hi BC,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to pass on a note from Cory Smith.
-Marc
Hello my name is Cory Smith and I ran cross country and track for Nova and graduated in 2001. I have been following your blog for awhile now and it’s a great website. I’ve noticed you’ve posted various Nova alumni race results. Myself and Jon Fasulo have started a running club called Villanova Elite. We have a good group of Nova alumni running and racing together. I was wondering if you could include club news in your blog posts?
Also, it would be a good way to get more exposure and help grow the club. If this is something you could help out in please email me at climbercory@hotmail.com.
Cory