Coaching Staff
Chris Popovici | Head Track & Field/Assistant Cross Country Coach
Chris Popovici ’06 enters the 2023-2024 year in his tenth season as head men’s and women’s track & field coach and assistant men's and women's cross-country coach at his alma mater, having already coached the Knights to 120 All-America certificates, including 13 Individual NCAA Champions and 37 top-3 individual finishers at the NCAAs Championships since 2015.
The 2021-2022 was highlighted by Kieran Sheridan winning the indoor NCAA Champonship at 400m (48.12s) while leading the men’s 4x400 to a 3rd and 4th place finishes respectiavely at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championships. The men’s time of 3:11.25 was a standout mark moving the school record over 5 seconds. Madison Mulder placed 3rd in the 400m indoors and 5th at the outdoor championships to add to her 9 All-American honor career. Her 54.57 personal best ranks her in the top-20 all time in DIII over the 400m distance. She lead the women’s 4x400 to a 2nd place finish at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championship. With a time of 3:47.63 ranks 7th in DIII history, while their 3:42.19 outdoor mark ranks 6th.
In 2021, the women’s program earned their first ever podium finish in Track and Field placing 3rd as a team the NCAA Outdoor Championship. Led by Emily Pomainville and Emily Lavarnway’s record setting weekend, the Knights earned 49 points. Pomainville would break the DIII record at 1500m with a 4:13.67 to win the NCAA Championship and would later lower that best to 4:13.45. Lavarnway would break the NCAA Championship Record in the Heptathlon with 5372 points while also leading the women’s 4x400 to an NCAA Championship in 3:43.19. She would also post a near record setting pentathlon performance of 3904 points, just shy of the all-time DIII mark of 3918.
Popovici's tenure has been highlighted by guiding Alexa Wandy '17 to three national championships during the 2016-2017 season, and Isaac Garcia-Cassani '18 to four national championships between 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Kyle Rollins | Geneseo | High Jump
The 4-time NCAA DIII Champion who holds the 2nd-best mark in DIII history at 7'3.5" in the high jump just came off his best season ever finishing 5th overall at the USATF Outdoor Championship.
Kyle joined the Geneseo staff this fall and brings his experiences as a former pentathlete turned high jumper to the collegiate coaching world.
Coach Rollins will spend time sharing the nuances of the approach in the high jump, with a focus on identifying issues and how to correct them both through drills and cues.
Dan Moore | Head Cross Country/Assistant Track & Field Coach
Dan Moore '06 enters his ninth season as head coach for the Knights' men's and women's cross country programs and as an assistant coach for the track & field teams in 2023-24.
Under Moore’s guidance, the Knights have solidified their reputation as one of the top distance programs in the country. The women made their 23rd-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance in 2022, while the men qualified for their 19th-straight to extend Division III’s longest streak for one institution sending both its squads to the national championship meet.
Moore led both teams to back-to-back podium finishes in his first two seasons as head coach. The men placed second in 2016 for their highest finish ever after a third-place effort the year before. The women finished second in 2015 for their best finish since winning the 2005 national championship before taking third in 2016. Moore guided the 2018 women to their fourth top-five finish in five years with a fifth-place outcome, while the men logged their seventh top-10 finish since 2008 with a 10th-place showing.
Moore mentored the most decorated male student-athlete in Geneseo history. Isaac Garcia-Cassani ’18 graduated a 13-time All-American, including four total national championships in track & field as well as three-straight top-10 NCAA Cross Country finishes. The 2017 and 2018 outdoor 1,500-meter national champion also won the indoor mile in 2017 before anchoring the Knights’ national champion distance medley relay a year later. He also posted the sixth-fastest 1,500 (3:42.66) in Division III history and nearly broke the four-minute mile plateau (4:01.35) during his senior campaign.
Christian Johnson | Geneseo | Throws
A former Division I thrower, Christian entered college as one of the top athletes in New York State during his senior year of high school. He'd go on to post impressive results in college before turning to a career as a coach.
Now in his 4th year at Geneseo, Christian has led his athletes to conference honors and program records.
Holding a CSCS and having interned as a strength coach for Syracuse football, the former exercise science student brings a great deal of knowledge of strength and power development in the throwing events. He'll speak about beginning the weight throw and advanced techniques for shotput while then leading a strength session.
Alexa Wandy | Nazareth | Horizontal Jumps
With personal bests of 43'3" in TJ and 20'0" in LJ, the 6-time USATF National Championship qualifier and Olympic Trials competitor in the triple jump, and 3-time NCAA Champion, has transitioned her own success to others.
Now in her 4th year coaching collegiately at Nazareth College, she brings a unique perspective to the jumps as a former multiple sport collegiate athlete turned coach.
With a philosophy rooted in development across multiple events, she will share basic, effective drills that helped her to this day and serve her athletes well.