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Mike Dager

Mike Dager took over the Gwynedd-Mercy College track and field program in the summer of 2007 and the cross country program in the fall of 2009.  Dager works primarily with the endurance events and oversees the training of all cross country athletes and runners competing in track events ranging from 800 to 10,000 meters.
 
In the spring of 2009, the Griffins moved in to their new home, a state-of-the-art facility in the new Outdoor Athletic Complex.  The track features an eight-lane ProTrak surface with the widest allowable layout as determined by the IAAF and NCAA.  The huge turns and short straight-aways make it one of the fastest facilities on the East Coast and a favorite spot for visiting sprinters and relay teams.
 
Over the past five seasons the Griffin Track & Field program has improved steadily.  The Griffins joined the Mason-Dixon Conference in 2008 and have been in contention for the team championship ever since.  The men have claimed the indoor conference title once and been runners-up three times (twice indoor and once outdoor).  The women finished in the runner up position during the 2010 indoor championships.  Griffin athletes have combined for more than 125 all-conference honors since 2008.  Dan Dunkleberger ’13 (twice indoor) and Matt VanDenHengel ’12 (indoor) have been named the Track Athlete of the Meet at the championships.
 
The Griffins have excelled at the ECAC Championships, sending over forty athletes to compete in the indoor and outdoor meets over the past five seasons.  Twenty-nine of those athletes have combined to earn sixty-eight All-ECAC honors (top 8).  Justin Turner ’13 has captured three consecutive indoor high jump championships, while Dunkleberger has garnered the most career top 8 finishes at ECACs to date (15).  The men have finished among the top ten teams in the ECAC Championship on five difference occasions.  Alycia Tranchitella ’10 has the most All-ECAC performances for the women with 5.
 
Gwynedd-Mercy has also been represented at the highest level with a total of five Griffins having qualified for the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships over the past four years.  Dunkleberger became the first qualifier and All-American in program history during his freshman campaign (2009) when he finished seventh at the Outdoor Championship at 400 meters (47.95).  A year later Turner became the second All-American claiming eighth at the Indoor Championship in the high jump.  During the 2010 Outdoor season three Griffins qualified for the meet and Dunkleberger finished second in the 400 meter dash (47.00) and third in the 200 meter dash (21.30).  Also qualifying for the meet were Tranchitella in the 1500 meter run (4:37.00) and Dan Geary ’10 in the 800 meter run (1:52.72).  The most recent athlete to qualify for the meet was Anthony Adams ’12 who qualified in 2011 with a 48.17 performance in the 400 meter dash.
 
The Griffins have also excelled in the classroom.  Currently the women’s team GPA is a 3.39 and the men’s cumulative average is 3.03.  Geary, Tranchitella, and Matt VanDenHengel ’12 have been named to the Academic All-America team by the National Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (NTFCCCA).  Tranchitella, Geary, John Watts ‘11, Katherine Klinges ‘12, and VanDenHengel have all been named the Gwynedd-Mercy College Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year during their senior years.  In 2012, the college named Matt VanDenHengel the Presidential Scholar, presented to the person with the highest academic achievement coupled with a commitment to values and mission of the college.
 
Prior to arriving in the Gwynedd Valley, Dager spent nine years at Elizabethtown College.  During that time he served as the assistant cross country coach for both men and women (1998-2001) and the head women’s cross country / assistant women’s track and field coach from 2002-2007.  During Dager’s tenure at Etown, the women’s cross country program captured the first Middle Atlantic Conference Championship in program history (2004) and Melissa St. Clair ’05 became the first female All-American.  During the 2004-2005 track and field season, Elizabethtown College female distance runners qualified for Nationals in the Distance Medley Relay, the 800 meter run, the 1500 meter run, the 5,000 meter run and the 10,000 meter run.  St. Clair graduated a five-time All-American which included a runner-up finish in the 10,000 meter run at the 2004 Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  In 2004 the women’s cross country team had the sixth highest GPA in the country with a 3.64 cumulative grade point average.
 
Dager lives in nearby Fort Washington, Pa. with his wife Pam who is a French Teacher in the Upper Dublin School District.