When looking at the list of records for Track & Field in the Pascoe Pavillion, one might notice that most records fall between 2008-2023. That stretch of time marks Tyson Sacco’s original tenure as the head coach of the Track & Field program.
After briefly stepping away in the 2024 season, Sacco returns two seasons later to temporarily replace head coach Aundrae Williams, who is currently on parental leave. Sacco is joined by Sanoma Evans, who returns for her fifth year of coaching sprints, as well as two new coaches, Dan Nord and Loriel “Lo” Hennington.
Already, the team is seeing major improvements from last season. The roster is much larger—growing from 22 runners in 2025 to 32 in 2026, and each runner has already posted a personal best in either the first or second race of the season.
A major piece of Sacco’s coaching philosophy lies in building team culture and making sure each runner can enjoy the sport as much as possible.
“Running, whether you’re a sprinter or a distance runner, requires consistent effort over time,” says Sacco. “But I think all of that stems from a feeling of enjoyment, and I want the athletes to feel a fair amount of control over [their] situation.
“If you want to try a new event today, be my guest. If you want to push yourself harder in today’s workout, I’ll encourage that, but I’m not going to yell at you if you’re having a tough day out there or something.”
Sacco’s philosophy—to allow athletes to move between events—extends to new coach Nord, who has also encouraged runners to try out any event they’re interested in.
Nord ran track in high school and in college at the University of Pennsylvania. He specialized in the long jump, triple jump, and high hurdles, earning the third tallest high jump in UPenn history.
“I love track and field,” Nord says. “I spent three, four hours at the track every day [in college]. It’s some of my happiest times. And I love watching kids improve, especially beginners. You get a PR every time you go, and that is just a blast.”
His expertise and enthusiasm for the long jump and high jump is beginning to show up within the team. Several runners, many of whom are completely new to the sport, have tried out the long and high jumps at meets.
The other new coach for this season is Pom Squad coach Lo. She is well on her way to transforming Chadwick’s hurdles program, which has also been historically overlooked. As well as hurdles, Lo has worked on coaching the high jump.
Her goal for the year is to get as many people involved in field events (high jump or long jump) as possible. She’s already been successful in getting several rookies into the high jump.
“I’m excited by the progress that I’m seeing in every athlete, even though we’ve had such a short amount of time together,” says Lo.
“Some [runners] have had four days of practice. And [they’re] still coming out, competing with all their heart and all their might. I can see the dedication and drive in practice, so I love to see the improvement.”
With another month and a half of the season to go, coaches Nord, Lo, and Sacco are excited to watch the team gather more experience and training.
“Something really rewarding [about coaching] is watching an athlete who thought they might not be able to do it, whether it’s running the hurdles or finishing a mile, go through the arc of doubting themselves and then working at it,” says Sacco.
“And then we go to a meet and they actually succeed. Maybe they win or maybe they just finish well. The change in their confidence and the way they feel about themselves, not just as a runner, but as a person, I think is really rewarding to see.”
The track team headed to Occidental College for its first meet on March 3. Several athletes placed in their events: Sophie Zhang ’27 placed first in the Girls Varsity 1600m and 800m races; Christian Schumacher ’29 placed first in the Boys Varsity 300m hurdles race; and Winston Duong ’28 placed second in the Boys Varsity 1600m race.
At its second meet at Occidental on March 10, Zhang placed second in the Girls 1600m; Ezekiel Robel ’26 placed first in the Boys Varsity 300m hurdles; Sydney Maas ’28 placed second in the Girls 3200m, and Duong placed first in the Boys 3200m.
