Joanne Dow, who competed in the2008 Summer Olympics and most recently served as head men’sand women’s cross country coach at Siena College, was namedby Southern New Hampshire University on February 18, 2013 as itshead men’s and women’s cross country coach.
“I am very excited to becoming back home to New Hampshire and becoming part of the SouthernNew Hampshire University
family,” said Dow upon her hiring. “I lookforward to working with the current student-athletes and buildingthe Penmen cross country programs to take them to a new level inthe Northeast-10 Conference and the East Region.”
In her first season, both thePenmen women's and men's cross country teams showed markedimprovement. The women's squad earned its highest-ever finishat both the Northeast-10 Championship (5th) and NCAA East Regional(6th) while being ranked as high as No. 4 in the region. Three student-athletes earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors, a firstfor the program. Working with virtually a whole new roster onthe men's side, the Penmen showed improvement throughout theseason.
A 10-time U.S. national champion inracewalking, Dow a Manchester native, is a five-time US OlympicTrials qualifier and competed in the 2008 Summer Games inBeijing. Competing in the 20-kilometer race walk, Dow placed31st with a time of 1:34.15. She was a bronzemedalist at the 1998 Goodwill Games and the 2003 Pan-Am Games, andis the former American record holder in the 20K racewalk and thecurrent world master’s record holder in both the 20K and 3Kracewalk.
As head coach for both themen’s and women’s programs at Division I Siena in 2012,Dow guided the men’s squad to their highest finish(6th) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)Championship in eight seasons, as well as a fourth place finish atthe IC4A Cross Country Championship, a 10-place improvement from2011. The women’s squad posted its highest-ever finishat the ECAC Championship, and Saint runners posted the fastest 6K,8K and 10K times in program history on both the men’s andwomen’s teams.
Prior to her arrival inLoudonville, Dow was an assistant coach with the men’s andwomen’s cross country and track and field programs at theUniversity of New Hampshire from 2010-12. During her tenure,the women’s cross country team posted a pair of runner-upfinishes at the America East Championship, while in women’soutdoor track and field the Wildcats were New England champions in2011 and captured second place in 2012. UNH runners setprogram records in all events from 800m to 10,000m and the Wildcatshad five NCAA regional qualifiers.
Dow served as head coach of girls cross country and track andfield 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 Lchampionships and the boys to a Class L championship in 2010. She was a three-time Class L Coach of the Year with theCardinals. Dow began her coaching career at ManchesterCentral HS, where she served as head coach of boys cross countryand was an assistant coach for girls’ track and field from2004-2008.
A 1986 graduate of the Universityof New Hampshire, where she was a two-time NCAA qualifier inswimming in the 200-meter relay, Dow earned her master’s inKinesiology from UNH in 2012.
