Zoë Swenson is in her second season as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams. Her primary responsibilities include assisting with the Violets’ middle distance and long distance runners, as well as recruiting.
In her first year with the program, Swenson helped lead the women’s cross country team to one of the finest seasons in its history. The Violets posted a best-ever sixth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Championship, as two runners, senior Emily Cousens and sophomore Lily Corsaro, achieved All-America status. NYU equaled its best-ever finish at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship, coming in second, and for the first time in program history won the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship.
The success continued for the NYU women during the track & field season. During the indoor season, school records were broken in four events: the 500m (junior Caroline Spring, 1:17.46), the 3,000m (Cousens, 9:41.11), the pole vault (sophomore Ilana Brown, 3.30m) and the 4x800m relay (9:29.26). At the UAA Indoor Championships the team posted its best finish in 10 years – fourth place. Cousens won the mile for the second straight year, senior Hannah Borenstein won the 5,000m title and the foursome of Corsaro, Spring, Cousens, and senior Katie Calder won the distance medley relay.
The outdoor season produced similar highlights, led by Cousens’ qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the 1,500m. The squad also broke four more records: pole vault (Brown, 3.20m), 800m (sophomore Sarah Sisk, 2:14.48), the 4x400m relay (9:22.81), and sprint medley relay (4:11.53). The Violets also placed fourth at UAA Outdoor Championships, as Cousens captured the 1,500m title for the second consecutive year.
The men’s team also performed well throughout the entire season, highlighted by second-place finishes at the UAA Championship and the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship.
The Violets placed fifth at the UAA Indoor Championships, highlighted by middle distance runner, junior Zac Kish, who was a runner-up in the 800m. Kish also anchored the victorious 4x800m relay at Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Indoor championships,. That foursome of sophomore Max Avila, Kish, sophomore Gerald Gorman and freshman Curtis Mann also had a stellar outing at the prestigious Millrose Games, finishing sixth in a collegiate race with a season’s best of 7:45.17.
Outdoors, the Violets took fifth at the UAA’s, as Kish captured another second-place finish in the 800m. Graduate student Dylan Karten, who earned silver in the 1,500m a the UAA’s, set a school record of 14:09.17 in the 5,000m at the Penn Relays and qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, where he eventually finished 12th. s.
Consistent progress and depth of the NYU men’s team in the middle distances in 2014 will be marked in the record books with a school record in the 4x1,500m (15:57.91), set at the Raleigh Relays by senior team co-captain Ryan Gilmore, Karten, and juniors Dharan Kadiyala and Sebastian Oja.
Swenson came to NYU after spending the 2012-13 season as an assistant track & field coach at St. Thomas Aquinas College. There, she was responsible for the training and instruction of the middle distance and long distance runners on the women’s team. During her one-year tenure with the Spartans, Swenson helped lead the squad to an East Coast Conference ( ECC ) Championship in the distance medley relay, as well as five individual All- ECC showings and six team record-breaking performances.
Prior to her time at St. Thomas Aquinas, Swenson spent three years (2009-12) as the Head Coach of the cross country and track & field teams at the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School. There, she helped expand the school’s cross country and track & field program, instituting and directing the inaugural Sacred Heart Invitational at the New Balance Track & Field Center in 2012. In addition, Swenson coached five New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Champions and three New York State Federation Championship qualifiers.
A 2003 graduate of the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in human development, Swenson competed with the Maroons’ cross country and track & field teams. A cross country team captain, she was an All-Midwest Region performer and NCAA qualifier. She also earned First Team All-UAA honors and UAA All-Academic accolades in track & field.
Following her collegiate career, Swenson ran competitively with Central Park Track Club-New Balance for five years.
In addition to her track & field experience, Swenson also has extensive experience in theater. She studied at the New Actors Workshop from 2006-08 and has produced and performed in numerous productions. Since 2010, Swenson has also worked at the financial services firm Perella Weinberg Partners.
A native of Hamilton, MA, Swenson resides in New York, NY.
