Cougar Cross Country

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Head Coach John Tosato
Rutgers University '81
Seventh season

John Tosato begins his seventh year as the cross country coach at Caldwell College. He is the only coach the cross country team has had, having started the program in the fall of 2003. Some of the highlights of Tosato’s tenure include receiving three consecutive Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Team Sportsmanship Awards from 2004-2006, placing a program-best seventh at the 2005 CACC Meet, winning its on-campus invitational in 2006 and 2007, and competing in the 2006 NCAA East Regional in Slippery Rock, Penn.

“The first year was more of a learning process for me,” Tosato said. “I experimented more with different workouts that year while figuring out what it takes to be a competitive collegiate cross country program. Since then we’ve been able to use the experience and refine our approach to get better results.”

In addition to the success experienced on race day, Tosato’s teams have achieved at a high level in the classroom as well. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association recognized the Cougars as an All-Academic Team in both 2005 and 2006 for posting a combined cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Additionally, four of Tosato’s student-athletes have earned CACC All-Academic honors.

Although Tosato brought over 23 years of coaching experience to the Cougar program, recruiting student-athletes was something new to him. But he feels that Caldwell College is an easy sell to high school athletes. “Recruiting is a year-round process,” Tosato said. “But Caldwell is a good situation for cross country runners. The school has a lot to offer academically, plus there are some runners out there who are strictly interested in cross country and who do not want to compete on the track. The fact that we have only cross country is attractive to them.”

Tosato also cites the support he has received from the athletic department and the College, which has hosted a meet on campus in each of the last three years. “I couldn’t ask for any more support from the administration,” he said. “They really jumped on board the cross country program.”

A native of Newark, N.J., Tosato was Belleville High School’s cross country and track coach for 23 years. He started the indoor track program at Belleville in 1981, then was named the head cross country and outdoor track and field coach in 1982. Tosato built a successful cross country and track program at Belleville, where he put together five winning seasons over his final six years.

Tosato attended high school at Essex Catholic in Newark, N.J. He earned his Bachelors degree in Science from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. He later earned his Masters at Rutgers.

A resident of Lyndhurst, N.J., Tosato has taught physics and general science at Belleville for the past 27 years. He also serves as a track and field official at high school meets throughout New York and New Jersey.