Hudson Valley Community College Men's Lacrosse

Johnson also is a graduate of Bethlehem High, where he earned the lacrosse league scoring title and All-American honors. He was twice selected Player of the Year there. At University at Albany, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice, Johnson was a four-year letterman on the lacrosse team and was selected as a nominee for the Tewaaraton Watch List in his final season. He also played box lacrosse for the Akwesasne Indians. Johnson resides in Delmar with his wife, Corinne, and their son, Caleb. Alex Jurczynski earned Conference Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive year as interim head coach at Hudson Valley Community College. Prior to Hudson Valley, Jurczynski served as an assistant coach at Oswego State University for one season. While at Oswego, Jurczynski undertook a variety of responsibilities, including working with catchers, hitters and outfielders. In addition, Jurczynski also has experience working as an instructor at several different baseball academies and camps, including Navy and Siena College. He is currently Assistant Director of Scouting and VP of Business Development for the Prep Baseball Report of New York. A native of Schenectady, Jurczynski spent his first two collegiate seasons playing at Mohawk Valley Community College where he helped lead his team to a Final Four berth and captained the team during his sophomore season. He then transferred to Oswego State where he made an immediate impact, catching in all but five games while earning SUNYAC All-Conference accolades. During his senior season, he led his team to a conference championship appearance along with a school record for wins. Mike Long begins his fourth season as head basketball coach after serving seven seasons as an assistant at the College of Saint Rose. Long is coming off his best finish last season where he earned Region 3 and Mountain Valley Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year honors, finishing the 2015-16 season with a 20-10 record. Long brings to Hudson Valley more than 40 years of coaching experience, starting with his head coaching career at Saint Rose from 1973-86, where he compiled a 164-156 record. Prior to this first head coaching appointment, Long was an assistant coach for the Ft. Sheridan Post Team and then later became the JV coach at his alma mater, Siena College, for a season. After his tenure at Saint Rose, Long became the head coach at Sage College of Albany from 1990 to 2003. He boasted an impressive 220-143 record in his 13 years, and was named Region III, Division II Coach of the Year by the National Junior College Athletic Association following the 2001-02 season when Sage finished 27-4. Long also spent time as an assistant coach at the Junior College of Albany from 1986 to 1990 and as the assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Christian Brothers Academy, prior to his return to Saint Rose in 2006. Long is a member of three different halls of fame: Saint Rose Hall of Fame (1992), Bishop Maginn Hall of Fame (2006) and the New York State Capital District Hall of Fame (2010). The Saint Rose basketball court is named "Mike Long Court," as he is considered "the father of Saint Rose basketball" after developing a program there that dominated the Northeastern Athletic Conference (NAC) from 1977-84, winning five NAC titles, and posting two consecutive undefeated seasons (1978-80) in conference play. Long was also the 2013 recipient of the Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame Sam Perkins Sportsmanship award. Mike Muehling enters his sixth season as head coach of the Hudson Valley Community College football program. In 2014, Muehling helped guide the Vikings to an 8-1 overall regular season record, earning a trip to the Salt City Bowl in Hutchinson, Kansas. He served as defensive quality control for two seasons as a member of Head Coach Doug Marrone's staff at Syracuse University before coming to the Vikings in 2011. Prior to his time at Syracuse, Muehling spent four seasons at Indiana University where he served as offensive quality Control, graduate assistant to the defensive line coach and assistant for strength and conditioning. He also spent one season in the AF2 (Arena Football) at the professional level as an assistant coach and coordinator. More than six years of experience working with student-athletes at the intercollegiate level has fully prepared him with the skill set necessary to be a successful athletic academic coordinator while simultaneously providing oversight and leadership to the football program. Muehling was part of the two coaching staffs that contributed to the revitalization of both Indiana University's and Syracuse University's football programs. He played intercollegiate football on an academic scholarship at Lindenwood University where he was an Academic All-American and received a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology/Athletic Training. He earned a master's degree in Kinesiology from Indiana University. Jay Pokines has served as head coach of the women's soccer team at Hudson Valley Community College since 2005. He has guided the Vikings to several successful seasons over the years, and continues to build the program. Pokines earned Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2014, after the woman made it to the Regional A Finals, finishing No. 9 in the Nation. He also earned Conference and Region 3 Coach of the Year honors in 2013. Pokines received his bachelor's degree from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse and currently works full time as a senior landscape architect for the State of New York State, Office of General Services Design and Construction. He lives in Scotia with his wife, Andrea and their three children. Sarah Popovics joined the Hudson Valley Community College cross country staff in 2011 and became head coach in 2014. A 2010 graduate of the University at Albany, Popovics competed on the Vikings cross country team in the fall of 2007 where she earned both All-Region and All-Conference honors. She was also a SUNY Chancellors award recipient during her time at Hudson Valley. Popovics ran a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:28 in October of 2012 at the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, and competed in the 2014 Boston Marathon. One of the premier bowling personalities in the Capital Region, Joe Prest has coached the Hudson Valley men's bowling team since 1987 and the women's bowling team since 1988. Prest's men's and women's bowling teams became the first in the region's history to sweep the team titles along with the singles and doubles events at the 2006 Region III Championships. They repeated the feat in 2008. In 2010, the men's team completed a perfect 30-0 season to go undefeated in the conference. The men also finished second in both the NJCAA championships and Region III Tournament, as well as finishing eighth in the Intercollegiate Sectionals. Prest led the Hudson Valley women's teams to a 1995 and 2010 NJCAA National Championship and consistently has both teams in the national rankings. He was voted the NJCAA women's bowling coach of the year following the 1995 season and the 2010 season. Prest was inducted into the NJCAA Bowling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the Troy Bowling Association's Hall of Fame in 2002. He has served as a coach and director of the Hilltop Bowl Junior League program for the past 32 years. George Rafferty, who has been coaching baseball and softball in the Capital District for more than 30 years, was named the college's head softball coach in the fall of 2016. Rafferty was an assistant baseball coach at the University at Albany in 1981 and coached for the South Troy Dodgers, including their Elite Connie Mack team, which was the second best team in the country in 2000. Rafferty has coached baseball and softball at Troy High School for the past ten years and his softball team has won three Big Ten titles, three Section 2 titles, three regional titles and made three state Final Four appearances. A former Viking student-athlete, Rafferty was named Outstanding Baseball Athlete of America in 1975 while playing for Hudson Valley Community College, and he was named to all-conference, all-state and all-district teams in 1978 while at SUNY Brockport, where his records for most hits in a season, most doubles and most triples stood for 22 years. Rafferty played semi-pro baseball for 15 years in the Albany Twilight League and was selected to their hall of fame in 1994. He was also selected to the Capital District Senior Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 and was recently nominated for induction into the SUNY Brockport Hall of Fame. Alyssa Ruggiero begins her first season as head women's golf coach at Hudson Valley Community College. A 2003 graduate of Shenendehowa, Ruggiero was a nationally-ranked junior golfer and competed as a five-year member of the boy's varsity golf team. She completed her high school golf career with a record of 63 wins, 12 losses and five ties. Her accomplishments on the golf course and in the classroom earned her an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina - Greensboro, where she studied athletic training and exercise and sports science. In 2004, Ruggiero transferred to the State University of New York at Cortland to pursue her passion to become a physical education teacher. In 2004-2005, she had one of the most prolific seasons in school history with three first place, two second place and two additional top-10 tournament finishes. Ruggiero also was named to the State of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Student Athletic Advisory Committee for the 2004-2005 school year and to the State of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Student Athlete AllAcademic Team in 2004 and 2005. Ruggiero graduated cum laude from SUNY Cortland in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in physical education. She received her master's degree in school health education from West Virginia University in 2013. She currently teaches physical education in the Schenectady City School District. Along with her teaching responsibilities, she is the girl's junior varsity soccer coach. She also has served as girl's junior varsity softball coach and as the boys and girls varsity crew coach.