MANCHESTER, N.H. – Joanne Dow, who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics and most recently served as head men's and women's cross country coach at Siena College, was named by Southern New Hampshire University Monday as its head men's and women's cross country coach.  Dow will begin her new duties immediately.

“I am very excited to be coming back home to New Hampshire and becoming part of the Southern New Hampshire University family,” said Dow.  “I look forward to working with the current student-athletes and building the Penmen cross country programs to take them to a new level in the Northeast-10 Conference and the East Region.”

A 10-time U.S. national champion in racewalking, Dow a Manchester native, is a five-time US Olympic Trials qualifier and competed in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.  Competing in the 20-kilometer race walk, Dow placed 31^st with a time of 1:34.15.  She was a bronze medalist at the 1998 Goodwill Games and the 2003 Pan-Am Games, and is the former American record holder in the 20K racewalk and the current world master's record holder in both the 20K and 3K racewalk.

As head coach for both the men's and women's programs at Division I Siena in 2012, Dow guided the men's squad to their highest finish (6^th) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship in eight seasons, as well as a fourth place finish at the IC4A Cross Country Championship, a 10-place improvement from 2011.  The women's squad posted its highest-ever finish at the ECAC Championship, and Saint runners posted the fastest 6K, 8K and 10K times in program history on both the men's and women's teams.

Prior to her arrival in Loudonville, Dow was an assistant coach with the men's and women's cross country and track and field programs at the University of New Hampshire from 2010-12.  During her tenure, the women's cross country team posted a pair of runner-up finishes at the America East Championship, while in women's outdoor track and field the Wildcats were New England champions in 2011 and captured second place in 2012.  UNH runners set program records in all events from 800m to 10,000m and the Wildcats had five NCAA regional qualifiers.

Dow served as head coach of girls cross country and track and field and boys track and field at Bishop Guertin HS (Nashua, N.H.) from 2008-2010, where she led the girls to a pair of Class L championships and the boys to a Class L championship in 2010.  She was a three-time Class L Coach of the Year with the Cardinals.  Dow began her coaching career at Manchester Central HS, where she served as head coach of boys cross country and was an assistant coach for girls track and field from 2004-2008.

A 1986 graduate of the University of New  Hampshire, where she was a two-time NCAA qualifier in swimming in the 200-meter relay, Dow earned her master's in Kinesiology from UNH in 2012.