Merrimack College Men's Track

Mark Connolly, who has provided guidance for the men’s and women’s track and field programs since their ascension to varsity status eight years ago, enters his eighth year at the helm of program in 2024-25 and 14th overall season with the track & field teams. He was promoted to head coach in August of 2018 after holding an interim tag for the 2017-18 season. Connolly, who helped build both programs from the ground up when he began his tenure as an assistant coach back in 2010, has played a major role in recruiting and coaching six All-Americans, a six-time national champion, and many more New England and Northeast-10 Conference champions over that span while leading both teams to tremendous success as part of a historic 2017-18 campaign. As the program's interim head coach during the 2017-18 season, Connolly helped usher in a new era for the program when Merrimack Stadium opened last fall, representing the program’s first home facility that gave the nearly 100 student-athletes between both teams the capability to train and compete on campus. Connolly scheduled and ran the first-ever home meet during the outdoor season, which saw many of the program’s alumni return to campus for a momentous occasion while supporting the current Warriors.  Several Warriors garnered significant individual accolades this past season, headlined by two All-Americans, 10 conference champions and a New England champion. Merrimack also enjoyed top-five team finishes at three out of the four conference championship meets it competed in over the course of the year, as well. Additionally, Connolly’s Warriors earned 11 all-region honors across 18 events during the indoor season, while 10 more did likewise across 13 events during the outdoor circuit. Rising senior Michaela Pernell was named the NE10 Female Track Athlete of the Year during the indoor season, while graduating senior John Braga '18 earned similar accolades as the NE10 Male Field Athlete of the Year for the outdoor season and also was named the USTFCCCA East Region Field Athlete of the Year after graduating as a four-time NE10 Decathlon champion.  Connolly has been part of the program since its inception in 2010, and since then has helped mold the team into an annual contender in both the NE10 and New England circuits. His ability to connect with student-athletes of all levels has helped develop Merrimack into one of the most well-rounded teams in the conference while also playing a key role in guiding some of the nation's elite athletes. He helped coach six-time national champion Carly Muscaro '17 into the most decorated student-athlete in school and league history, and her 2016-17 season that featured four national titles and the Honda Award for best overall female student-athlete in NCAA Division II will go down as one of the greatest ever by a student-athlete at Merrimack College. He did the same for Braga, who is the only male to qualify for the NCAA Championships in school history, as well as the 4x400-meter relay team in 2015-16 that was comprised of four All-Americans and qualified for the indoor national championships.  Prior to his arrival at Merrimack, Connolly brought coaching experience from Lynn English High School, where he focused on sprint and field events. He is a USATF Level 1 Certified coach who has served for six years as coach and clinic instructor in the summer youth program for Merrimack Valley Striders Running Club and Going the Distance. Connolly is a 1987 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where he majored in Economics. He holds an MBA from Boston College’s Carroll School of Business. Connolly was a captain of the 1987 Crusaders’ indoor and outdoor track teams and held the Holy Cross school record in the 500 meters for 21 years.  Prior to Holy Cross, Connolly graduated from Austin Prep where he captained the cross country, basketball and outdoor track teams. He was the recipient of the Austin Prep Scholar-Athlete award and was named track and field MVP of The Catholic Conference in 1983.  A native of Andover, Massachusetts, Connolly resides in nearby Wilmington with his wife, Becky, and their two children, Joseph and Fiona.

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.

Mendes begins her second season as head coach of the men's and women's track & field team in 2015-16. Her first full season at the helm of the program saw the Warriors post marked improvements at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships during the indoor and outdoor campaigns and a slew of school records fall week after week over the course of the season.  Also in 2014-15, Mendes helped guide rising junior Carly Muscaro to back-to-back runner-up finishes and All-America recognition in the 400-meter dash at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championship. Muscaro also ran the second-fastest 400-meter time in New England outdoor history in May of 2015, as Mendes and the coaching staff helped her train and compete at the 2015 USATF Indoor and Outdoor Championships.  The 2014-15 season also saw six Warriors earn USTFCCCA All-East Region recognition during the indoor season and nine more honorees in the outdoor campaign. Mendes also coached Muscaro to USTFCCCA East Region and Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honors, while freshman Kenny Clarke was named the Indoor Field Rookie of the Year, as well.  Mendes, a 2012 University of New Hampshire graduate and former captain of the Wildcats' indoor and outdoor track & field teams, will help oversee both the five-year-old men's and women's track & field programs.  In addition to her coaching duties, Mendes will assist and oversee budget management, recruiting, scheduling and administrative responsibilities. She also will be responsible for coaching jumps, hurdles and multi-event student-athletes. A 2012 graduate from UNH and four-year letterwinner on both the indoor and outdoor women's track & field program, Mendes most recently served as a graduate student women's track & field coach at Ithaca College while completing her Master's Degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences with a concentration in Sport Psychology in 2014. She assisted in recruiting, scheduling, compliance, and more, and she was the lead coach for javelin throwers, strength and conditioning and pole vault. Previously, Mendes enjoyed stints as a volunteer indoor coach at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine, from 2008-12, and a volunteer speed and agility clinic coach at UNH in 2012. She also spent nearly six years as a Volunteer Youth Coach in Saco, Maine, instructing athletes on the fundamentals of high jumping, hurdles and starts. A Dayton, Maine, native, Mendes currently resides in Methuen, Massachusetts.

Chris Cameron is in his 35th season as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country programs and his 14th as a member of the track & field coaching staff for the 2022-23 academic year. 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. Both teams have been as consistent as any other in both the Northeast-10 Conference and in the region over Cameron's tenure, and he has been at the helm for the only three league championships and the only three team NCAA Championship appearances in program history.  In 2025, Merrimack finished sixth in both the MAAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. Maci Chapman finished 11th and earned All-MAAC honors. In the first year in the MAAC, the Warriors finished fourth in the MAAC Men's Cross Country Championships and eighth in the Women's Cross Country Championships. Billy Coakley set an 8K school record and Ava Mahoney's school record 6K time of 21:05.2, which was good for 10th and All-MAAC honors. Cameron guided the Warriors to a runner-up in the 2023 Men's Cross Country Championships, and a sixth place finish in the Women's, led by individual NEC Champion Ava Mahoney. Mahoney, Ryan Dyer, Billy Coakley, Albert Ferraras and Michael Aleva each earned All-NEC honors.   Merrimack finished third in the 2022 Men's Cross Country NEC Championships and fourth in the Women'S NEC Championships, with four runners earning NEC All-Conference honors. Ava Mahoney, Billy Coakley, Ryan Dyer and Albert Ferreras each finished in the top-14. The Warriors came in third place in the conference meet 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.  After the COVID-19 pandemic moved the fall cross country season to the spring, Merrimack made a splash in the two events it competed in. Julia Dempsey was one of the top competitors in all of the NEC on the women's side, as she earned all-conference honors after she crossed the line in fourth to lift the team to a fourth place finish overall. She also earned a national accolade as a USTFCCCA All-Academic athlete thanks to her high GPA and championship finish. The men showed promise for the future when Colby Barnes and Chase were the top two finishers for the Warriors as freshmen at the NEC Championships. Both teams also earned USTFCCCA All-Academic team honors to showcase their versatility in the classroom as well. In the Warriors' first season at the Division I level, both the men and women were impressive with dueling fifth place finishes at the NEC Championships. Kate Fisher made a splash with a top-5 time for the women at the championship, while Corliss' mark was good enough for a top-10 finish. Cameron coached four NEC All-Conference honorees among the two sports, including Corliss, Fisher, Ella Affanato and Brisson. Both of the teams were also honored as USTFCCCA All-Academic teams at the end of the year.  Merrimack closed out its Division II cross country season on an incredible high note, as both the men's and women's teams made remarkable strides at the team and individual front in the fall of 2018. 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. There, rising senior Katherine Ferrara would become the program's first 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. Cameron also had an impact during the track & field circuit in 2018-19, guiding rising junior Julia 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. The 2017 cross country season was yet another example of the consistent level of success that Cameron has been able to guide the team to on a yearly basis. The men's program made history after it finished third at the NCAA East Regional meet to punch the team's first-ever trip to the national championship meet, which was held at Evansville, Indiana. 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. Cameron saw four of his runners -- two on each side -- earn USTFCCCA All-East Region accolades and seven total student-athletes garner USTFCCCA All-Academic honors for posting a 3.25 GPA or higher and finishing in the top-30 at the regional championship meet. The team also boasted one all-conference third team selection on both sides, as well. Finally, Keith Steinbrecher '18 took home CoSIDA/Google Cloud All-District honors while classmate Niall Coughlin and Ferrara were NE10 Academic All-Conference picks, as well. During the 2017-18 track campaigns, Cameron helped Steinbrecher win the 3000m Steeplechase at the NE10 Outdoor Championships, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the process. He also helped coach an all-region distance medley relay during the indoor season, as well.  In 2016, the men's team placed sixth at the NE10 Championships for the fourth consecutive season, while the women earned a fourth-place finish, marking the third time in four years that they were a top-four finisher at the league championship meet. Cameron saw two student-athletes earn all-region honors on the men's side, while in the classroom eight total student-athletes (four men/four women) were named USTFCCCA All-Academic Team selections, while both the men's and women's teams posted GPAs over 3.0 to earn similar accolades. The fall of 2015 was no different for Cameron as he guided the men to another sixth-place finish at the NE-10 Championships and the women to a fifth-place finish, while both teams and six individuals earned Academic All-American status. 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. One of the program's truly historic benchmarks came in 2013 after the women's team broke through 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, Washington, marking their first-ever appearance in the national championships over the program's 23-year history.  In the classroom, Cameron's squads have been excellent, earning 10 straight USTFCCCA National All-Academic Team awards (requiring a 3.0 team GPA or higher while scoring at a regional meet), while a number of individuals have earned spots on the national all-academic team in that span, including a school-record eight during the 2011 season. Cameron has been named the Northeast-10 Women’s 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 women’s 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, New Hampshire, with his wife Mary-Jo and their two children.

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.