Joanna Thompson was hired as Assistant Coach of the New York University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field teams in October 2021.
The 2024-25 season produced an outstanding set of results as NYU’s cross country and track & field teams reached new heights. The 2024 cross country campaigns resulted in top-five national finishes for both squads. The women posted a fourth-place finish, while the men took fifth, with the combined result being best among all Division III institutions.
There were many other highlights during the cross country seasons as the men won the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship and the NCAA Niagara Regional. The women also won the Niagara Regional, placed second at the UAA Championship and finished no worse than third place at any meet.
Individually, Janie Cooper (14th place) and Lucy Gott (39th) on the women’s side, and Ryan Tobin (26th) on the men’s, all earned USTFCCCA (U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) All-America honors with those performances at the NCAA Division III Championships.
For their efforts, NYU received UAA Men’s Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
On the track, a record nine individuals qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, with three (Tobin – 5k, Cooper – 5k, and Stella Kuttner – 1500m) earning USTFCCCA All-America honors. Indoors, Tobin won the UAA 3k and achieved All-America honors in both the 3k and 5k, while Katherine Cochrane was also a 5k All-American.
The 2023-24 campaign was historic in multiple ways, as NYU women’s cross country won its first UAA Championship with Grace Richardson claiming the individual title. NYU women’s cross country also finished as the National Runner-Up at the NCAA Championship for its highest finish in program history as Richardson, Viv Kane and Morgan Uhlhorn achieved All-America status while Uhlhorn was named the UAA Rookie of the Year.
Many Violets performed well during the track season too, as Richardson was named the Niagara Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, won the UAA 3k title and was a First Team All-American in both the 3k and 5k at Indoor Nationals and in both the 5k and 10k at Outdoor Nationals. Additionally, Katherine Cochran (5k & 3k) and Cooper (3k) were both Second Team All-Americans at Indoor Nationals for the women.
During the 2022-23 season, both the cross country and track & field teams produced many highlights. The women’s cross country team earned a berth in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2013. The Violets finished 26th nationally and Richardson earned All-America honors with her 37th-place finish. The women produced five top-three finishes during the season, including victories at the Vassar Season Starter and the University of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational. The men’s team was also victorious at both of those meets, with Tobin qualifying for the NCAA Championship as an individual.
On the track, Richardson qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5000 meters while Viv Kane was an outdoor qualifier in the 1500m. On the men’s side, Jon Diaz was the All-Atlantic Region Conference Indoor 800 Meter Champion and Aidin Hasan earned NCAA All-Niagara Region honors in the 5000m.
In Thompson’s first season, Tobin also qualified for the NCAA Championship after finishing 14th at the NCAA Niagara Regional and earning All-Region honors.
As a team, the men’s cross country finished fourth at the Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational, sixth at the Metropolitan Championship and seventh at the UAA Championship.
On the women’s side, Gabrielle Stankosh and Athina Zodl both earned All-Region honors, with Stankosh’s 17th-place finish leading the Violets at the Niagara Regional.
On the track, the men’s squads finished sixth at both the Indoor and Outdoor UAA Championships and 10th at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships. Individual highlights included Owen Mountford earning a bronze medal in the shot put at the Indoor UAA’s and taking silver in both the discus and shot put outdoors. Zion Glover captured the 100m at the Chester Quarry Classic, Kristian Zadlo won the same event at the Oscar Moore Invitational, and Mubeen Zainul claimed the 5,000m at the Chester Quarry Classic. Zadlo was also a winner in the pole vault indoors at the Ramapo Opener, while Tobin was victorious in the mile at the NYC DIII Invitational.
The women’s team posted a fifth-place finish outdoors at the Ramapo College Invitational, securing victories in the 1,500m (Katherin Cheng), 400m (Isre’al Conerly) and pole vault (Nathalie Shoji). Conerly captured a pair of events at the Chester Quarry Classic (200m, 400m), while she (100m), Shoji (pole vault) and Ezri Scott (high jump) were winners at the Oscar Moore Invite. Scott was also victorious in the high jump at the NYC DIII Invitational.
A 2015 cum laude graduate of North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology, Thompson was a three-year track & field and cross country team member and earned NCAA Division I All-America and All-ACC honors three times.
As a senior, Thompson served as an assistant coach for the Wolfpack.
Thompson began running for Zap Endurance in 2016, competing in over a dozen national and international races per year, including the United States ATF Championships and World Marathon majors.
In 2021, Thompson earned her Master of Arts degree in Science Journalism from NYU. Since 2019, she has worked as a freelance writer, with her works being published in North Carolina Runner’s Journal, RunBlogRun and Scientific American.
A native of Knoxville, TN, Thompson resides in Manhattan.
