Head Coach Nolan Swanson

Nolan Swanson is the Fredonia State Coach of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country, an appointment made during the spring of 2006.

A two-time All American distance runner at Wake Forest, he joined the Fredonia State coaching staff in August 2004. He made an immediate impact.

The 2006 women’s cross country season was the best season in program history –- second in the SUNYAC, fifth in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference, and fifth in the NCAA Atlantic Regional. The regional finish made the team eligible for the NCAA Championships, although the team did not receive a bid. Swanson was named 2006 Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in the SUNYAC. Swanson's 2004 women's cross country team finished second in the SUNYAC championship meet and fifth in the NCAA Atlantic Regional meet. Those were the best showings in the history of the women's program.

In addition, his 2004 men's team performed its best by the end of the season. Six of seven runners recorded personal-bests at the regional meet. After the program didn’t send a full squad to the NCAA Regional meet in 2003, the team has finished 20th in 2004, 10th in 2005 and 19th in an injury-plagued 2006.

Swanson ran cross country and track at Wake Forest, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in business. He won seven Atlantic Coast Conference individual titles. Swanson was named 1999 ACC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year after winning the 5,000-meter and the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finishing second in the 10,000 meters at the ACC championship meet. He also set -- and still holds -- the all-time ACC 10,000-meter record and the 3,000-meter ACC indoor meet record.

At the NCAA Championships that spring, Swanson finished fourth in the 10,000-meter run to earn his second All-American honor. His first came in cross country in 1998. Earlier that year, Swanson received the Arnold Palmer Award as Wake Forest’s top male athlete in 1997-98.

Swanson competed as a professional for five years with Nike and Asics. He qualified for the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships every year from 1998-2003. In February 2004, he finished sixth at the United States World Cross Country Trials Indianapolis, and earned the right to represent the U.S. at the world cross country championship meet held in Belgium. The Americans finished 11th in the world.

A native of Chautauqua County, he won the New York State Class C-D high school cross country title as a senior at Sherman Central School. He also won the 5,000 meters and the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1994 Empire State Games and the 1994 national high school 2,000-meter steeplechase while running for the Jamestown-based Chautauqua Striders.

He is married to the former Amy King, whose sister, Grace, is a 1997 Fredonia State graduate and a seven-time All-American in track and field for the Blue Devils. Grace (King) Odell was inducted into the Fredonia State Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Swanson and his wife have two sons, Darien and Carson.

At the time of his Fredonia State coaching appointment, Swanson was serving as a volunteer graduate assistant coach to women’s distance runners at the University of Oregon.

Assistant Coach Paul Csont

Paul Csont has returned to his former position as track and field assistant coach after two years as interim head coach of the Fredonia State men's team.

He was promoted to the position of interim men's head coach at the start of the fall 2004 semester after serving as an assistant coach in the program since 1989. Specializing in the sprints and jumps, he has coached 17 all-Americans, mostly while part of Jim Ulrich's coaching staff. The Blue Devils won numerous SUNYAC titles during those seasons.

His familarity with SUNYAC track and field dates back to his days as a SUNY Cortland student. Prior to his graduation in 1985, Csont set the Cortland 100-meter record, which was eventually broken by NCAA Division III national champion Stephen Mascoll. Csont also was part of a record-setting 4-by-100 meter relay team.

Following graduation, he served the Red Dragons as a volunteer assistant coach for one season. That was followed by coaching assignments at Depew High School (1986); St. Francis High School of Athol Springs (1987-88), where he started an indoor track program; and at Dunkirk High School (1988). He is a physical education instructor in the Dunkirk school district.

Prior to attending Cortland, Csont attended Williamsville South High School, where he set 16 school records --- one of which, the 55-meter dash indoors, still stands -- and won the Section VI 300-meter indoor title, and was runner-up in the 55 meters. Outdoors, he is a past Erie County Interscholastic 200-meter champion.

Csont has three children -- Brett, Jenna, and Brianna.

Assistant Coach Liz Aldrich

Liz Aldrich has returned for her second season as an assistant coach of the track and field program.

She spent six summers coaching the Chautauqua Striders summer club team. During this time, her throwers earned two national titles and 18 All-American Honors. She has also coached two high school teams with three state meet qualifiers and two state champions.

An outstanding local athlete, Aldrich was the 1995 New York State Public High School discus champion at Fredonia High School. She was an All-American discus thrower and competed in the SEC conference at the University of Alabama. While at Alabama, she was coached by U.S. Olympic Coach, Sandy Fowler, and trained with national champions and Olympians.

Her experience training with high-caliber international athletes provided Aldrich with a great wealth of throwing and training knowledge. In 2004, she completed her Masters' in exercise physiology, which furthered her knowledge of biomechanics and training techniques.

At Fredonia State during the previous winter season, she helped guide then sophomore Julia Hopson to a sixth-place finish -- and All-American status -- at the NCAA Division III indoor championships.

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