David Warth
Head Track/Cross Country Coach
David Warth
Head Track/Cross Country Coach
Bio
Dave Warth enters his 27th year as the head coach of the cross country and track & field programs in 2023-24.
Warth and his Tigers enjoyed tremendous success in 2018-19. The men’s cross country team earned a national ranking and competed at the NCAA Division III Championships for the second straight season, finishing 32nd overall. Harley Wilson earned All-American honors in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight season. Junior Jack Smith finished 10th at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, while sophomore Max Gloskey competed at both the 2019 Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
In 2016-17, the women’s track and field squad won its first Liberty League Championship during the indoor season, which was the first league title for any women’s team at the university. James Bailey and Emma Jones were All-Americans in cross country, while Otto Kingstedt garnered All-American honors in the 10,000-meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Warth and his staff was named the 2016-17 Liberty League Indoor Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year.
The women’s cross country program competed at the 2015 NCAA Championship for the first time in program history and were ranked as high as No. 16 in the USTFCCCA national poll. The men’s indoor track and field team won the Liberty League Championship for the third time in five seasons.
In 2014-15, Matt Giannino was a cross country All-American and RIT’s first NCAA Atlantic Region Champion since 1996, while the women’s cross country program earned a USTFCCCA national ranking for the first time. On the track side, Giannino was named the 2015 USTFCCCA Niagara Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and was a two-time All-American (3,000- and 5,000-meter indoor).
Warth’s teams excel in the classroom as well. The men’s track and field squad earned 2018-10 United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Honors for the 12th time in the last 13 years, while the women earned the same honor for the ninth straight season.
In 2011-12, the men became the first RIT squad to win a Liberty League Championship, winning the Indoor Track and Field title. In addition, the Tigers recorded a second place finish at the NYSCTC Outdoor Championships. Four Tigers earned berths to compete in the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Warth is a three-time Liberty League Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.
Warth coached Mike Dempsey, who was a four-time All-American and was the national runner-up in the pole vault at both the 2010 Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Championships. In addition, Matt Marion was a two-time All-American in the 400-meter hurdles (2010-2011), while Jen Adams qualified for the 2010 Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Championships in the long jump.
In 2009, Mike Hardbarger earned indoor All-American honors in the mile. Hardbarger also qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, along with Matt Joseph, and Matt Marion. In 2008, Stephen Burns became RIT’s second individual national champion, as he won the javelin throw at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. Hardbarger also took home All-American honors in the 1,500-meters, finishing fifth. Warth also coached LaKeisha Perez, who was named the 2008 RIT Senior Female Athlete of the Year and was also a 2008 Indoor Track and Field NCAA Participant. Several of Warth’s athletes earned Academic All-American honors as well. In all, nine different men’s records and four women’s track and field records were shattered in 2008.