Head Coach - Phil Thompson
The 2026-27 season will be Phil Thompson's 12th season as the Head Coach for the men's and women's track and field programs. Before that, Thompson served as an assistant coach for three seasons under previous coach Brian Yowler. Thompson also serves as the Head Coach for the men's and women's cross country team, and the 2026 season will be his eighth year in charge.
Thompson has had incredible success since taking over the reins of Geneva track and field program. He led the men's and women's teams to to PAC titles in both the Indoor and Outdoor seasons in 2026, marking the first time in PAC history that one school had won the conference championships in men's and women's cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. For that accomplishment, Thompson was named the PAC Coach of the Year in all four seasons (two for the women, two for the men). He has now won 11 PAC Coach of the Year awards combined across his track and field coaching career.
Thompson led the Geneva men's track and field program to seven straight PAC titles in the late 2010s and early 2020s, starting with the PAC Outdoor Championship in 2017 (Geneva's first-ever PAC track title) and concluding with the 2021 PAC Outdoor Championship. In 2018, under Thompson's coaching, women's hurdler Nicole Bartoletta became Geneva's first ever NCAA National Champion when she won the indoor 60 meter hurdles at the NCAA Division III National Championships. Under Thompson's leadership, over 75 men's and women's school records have been broken during his tenure as Head Coach. He has also coached multiple student-athletes on to the NCAA Division III National Championship meet, most recently Abe Konneh and Daphne Alexander who advanced to the 200-meter dash and high jump events at the 2026 Outdoor NCAA Division III National Championships.
On the cross country side, Thompson led both of Geneva's cross country teams to the best finishes in program history in the fall of 2025, with both the women and men winning the PAC Championship. On the women's side, senior Carmen Medvit won the program's first-ever individual conference title, taking first place overall at the PAC Championship Meet, while senior Karter Reath finished second at the championship meet for the men. Both Medvit and senior Hailey Carroll qualified for the NCAA DIII Women's Cross Country Championships as well, with both athletes finishing in the top 80 nationwide. Thompson was named the PAC men's cross country Coach of the Year following his incredible season.
The men's program has finished in the top three in the PAC Championships four times in the past six years, and in 2023 Kevin Arseneaux captured the first individual PAC Championship for either the men or women since Geneva joined the PAC in 2011. In 2024, Arseneaux also became the first Geneva men's cross country runner to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championships. The women's program has also finished top three at the PAC Championships in six of the last seven seasons. In addition to her 2025 qualification, Medvit qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships in both 2022 and 2023, while Carroll qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships in 2023, marking the first time a Geneva cross country runner had made it to the national championship meet. Thompson has turned the Geneva cross country and track and field programs into one of the most successful in the PAC, with both the men and women competing for the PAC title year in and year out.
Thompson's simple but passionate vision has been built from a variety of experiences, all starting locally at New Castle's Shenango school district. It was there that Thompson started running cross country in 7th grade and over time set his sights on track and field. His track and field career took him to the state finals all four years in high school and has led him to be the most decorated distant runner in Robert Morris University history, including a first-place finish in the Mississippi half marathon.
Thompson is both a USATF and USTFCCCA Level 1 Certified Coach, including being USTFCCCA Level 2 Certified in throws, sprints, hurdles, and relays. He also has a Performance Enhancing Specialist Certificate.
Thompson lives in New Castle, PA, with his wife Sarah and his son Dash.
Coach Thompson can be contacted by email at prthomps@geneva.edu or by phone at 724-847-6761
