Merrimack College Men's Cross Country

Cayla Pellegrini is entering her ninth season with the Merrimack College men's and women's cross country and track & field teams in 2022-23. She has been an assistant on the cross country coaching staff since the start of the 2017 season after arriving as a track and field assistant coach for distance in 2014.  Merrimack continued to impress in its third season as a Division I institution in 2021, as the men ran out to a third place finish at the NEC Championship, while the women ended in sixth. TJ Corliss had the top time on the men's side, as he was eighth individually with a time of 26:16.9 on the 8K course. He also earned a major award, as he was tabbed the NEC's Student-Athlete of the Year for men's cross country. Two others earned top-20 times on the men's side, as Ryan Dyer (14th) and Ben Chase (18th) paced the Warriors as well. Samantha LiPetri narrowly missed out on a top-10 time in the championship, as her 18:59.3 mark on the 5K course was 12th-best. The Warriors' depth shone throughout the season and in the final event, as Hannah Brisson (23rd), Olivia Beaudet (27th) and Ava Mahoney (30th) all had top-30 finishes as well.  The 2020 season was pushed back to the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Merrimack still took strides forward with Pellegrini. She helped Julia Dempsey complete her illustrious Warrior career with an all-conference honor at the NEC Championships, while she also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic athlete honors. The women's team also improved from the year before with a fourth place team finish and both the men and women were named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic team list.  Pellegrini helped the Warriors transition to Division I competition during 2019 as both the men and women claimed fifth place finishes at their first NEC Championships. They also garnered USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors.  She helped coach the cross country teams to an incredible 2018 campaign to close out the program's Division II era on a high note. Both teams posted their best finishes in recent memory at the conference championship race highlighted by a second-place finish from the women's side that represented the best ranking for the program since their league championship three-peat in the late 1990s. The men's fifth-place finish came with a relatively young squad and was their best placement in over a decade. The women would go on to finish third at the NCAA Regional Championship to earn the program's third overall qualification for the national championship race (and second for the women), marking the second straight year that either of the two teams would make an appearance at nationals. Rising senior Katherine Ferrara would become the program's first cross country All-American in school history to wrap up an incredible year full of individual accolades for both herself and her teammates. She was one of three all-region honorees and one of three all-conference selections, as well. Altogether, the men's and women's teams would combine for nine top-three team finishes over the course of the 2018 campaign. Merrimack also had five cross country performers earn USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades in addition to both teams earning similar honors, as well. During the track seasons, Pellegrini guided rising junior Dempsey to all-conference honors during the outdoor campaign in the 5,000-meter race. The men's team posted two of its best-ever finishes at the league championship meets, including a historic runner-up performance during the outdoor season. In 2017-18, Pellegrini helped guide the men's cross country program to a third-place finish at the NCAA East Regional meet to punch the team's first-ever trip to the national championship meet. That accomplishment highlighted a fantastic campaign that saw the team earn three straight second-place finishes to start the season before a sixth-place performance at the NE10 Championship meet in October. The women also had another impressive season with four top-three finishes among the six events they competed in. Their best team finish came with a second-place result at the Bowdoin Invitational in September, while their highlight of the postseason meets occurred at the league championship when they ran to their best finish in 18 years, placing third overall. The last time a women's team enjoyed more success at the NE10 Championship meet was during the team's run of three straight championships from 1997-99. Pellegrini helped coach four USTFCCCA All-East Region performers during the cross country season and a pair of all-conference selections. During the 2017-18 track campaigns, she helped coach Keith Steinbrecher to the 3000m Steeplechase at the NE10 Outdoor Championships, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the process. She also helped coach an all-region distance medley relay during the indoor season, as well.  Pellegrini joined the Warriors after a successful four-year career with the University of New Hampshire, where she was a member of the cross country team and the track & field team. A former scholarship athlete, Pellegrini spent three years on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), as well. While at UNH, Pellegrini helped lead the Wildcats to both an America East Conference Championship and a New England Championship title in 2013. She earned all-conference honors in the 10K, qualified for the ECAC Championships, and was an America East Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll selection. Pellegrini earned her Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in Physical Education Pedagogy in May of 2014. She resides in Derry, New Hampshire.

Healey enters his fifth year as Assistant Track & Field Coach in 2015-16, overseeing the instruction of middle-distance and distance runners. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Healey ran cross country and track for the Tribe. Since then, he has run competitively for the Atlanta Track Club and the Adidas New England Racing Team. He has participated in additional track activities as a volunteer with the Atlanta Track Club and the "Going The Distance" youth track program. Healey also has experience with academics for student-athletes, serving as an athletic department tutor, teaching assistant, and lecturer during his undergraduate and graduate school studies. He has received a BS in Mathematics from the College of William & Mary ('05) and a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech ('10). A native of Wayne, N.J., Healey was an all-county and all-conference performer in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track at Wayne Valley High School, while also lettering in soccer and swimming.

Cameron enter his 26th season as head coach of the mens and womens cross country in the fall of 2016, and also enters his seventh as an assistant track and field coach in 2015-16. Cameron has overseen Merrimack cross country since its inception, and has been a driving force behind the teams' success on the courses and in the classroom. 2015 was no different for Cameron as he guided the men to another sixth-place finish at the NE-10 Championships, while the women posted a fifth-place finish at the conference finals. Cameron would slot one runner from each side on to all-conference teams. He led the program to another stellar year in 2014, as the men placed sixth and the women fourth at the NE-10 Championships, matching their best marks in recent history, while both enjoyed success at the NCAA East Regional Championships, as well. But the truly historic benchmark in 2013 came in the form of the women's performance at the NCAA East Regionals. After placing third as a team in the race, the Warriors earned a berth in the NCAA National Championships held in Spokane, Wash., marking their first-ever appearance in the national championships over the program's 23-year history.  Cameron's team has also boasted individual success over the past few years, as Kerry Phelan was named the 2012 NE-10 Female Rookie of the Year that season. Recently, he coached three runners to All-East Region honors. In the classroom, Cameron's squads have been excellent, earning seven straight USTFCCCA National All-Academic Team awards, while eight individuals earned spots on the national all-academic team. In addition, six student-athletes for both the men's and women's cross country squads earned Academic All-American status in 2012 after a school record eight student-athletes from both teams did likewise following the 2011 campaign. Cameron has been named the Northeast-10 Womens Coach of the Year three times and has coached numerous Northeast-10 Conference Runners of the Year and Freshmen of the Year. He guided the womens cross country team to three-straight conference titles from 1997-1999. On several occasions, his teams have been selected by the NCAA Division II Cross Country Coaches Association as an Academic All-America, and many individual runners have garnered Academic All-America honors.  In 2005, such was the case with both the men's and women's team, as well as Alison O'Brien, who was named an All-American by the Coaches Association. A 1989 graduate of Clemson University where he earned cum laude status as a secondary education and history major, Cameron was a member of the three-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion Tiger cross country and track & field teams. In 1989, Clemson placed fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championship. Cameron is also a four-time ACC All-Academic Honor Roll member. A native of Methuen, he resides in Barrington, N.H. with his wife Mary-Jo and their two children.