Dave Thomas enters his fourth season in 2008-09 as head coach of the Philadelphia University Cross Country program. Under his direction, Coach Thomas has led seven men and nine women to All-CACC honors. He has coached one CACC Individual Champion- Josh Vanderveen in 2006 and one CACC Rookie of the Year- Sarah Simonetti in 2008.
Thomas' 2008 women's squad took the CACC Team title for the first time in school history, and Simonetti went on to become the first CACC runner ever to named NCAA All-Region placing 13th at the NCAA Regional Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, MA. Junior runner Shawn D'Andrea led the men to a CACC Championship third-place overall finish, setting new school records in both the 8K and 10K during the season.
A Philadelphia native, Thomas was a four-year letterwinner in track/cross-country at Temple University where he earned a degree in exercise science. Thomas has worked in the preventative health/sports conditioning field since 1980, and has been responsible for the physical conditioning of many professionals and amateur athletes in his career. This includes coaching over 1,500 runners while serving as head coach of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's TEAM IN TRAINING since 1992. Thomas is a Level I USATF Certified Coach and is president of the Philadelphia Athletic Charities Track Club.
As a runner, Thomas' top marathon performance was two hours and
28 mins and he has competed in 17 Boston Marathons. As a
ultra runner, Thomas was the top American performer in both the
1993 London to Brighton 56-mile run and the 2000 Comrades 56-mile
run in Durban, South Africa.
Erin Donohue enters her third season as an assistant cross country coach for Philadelphia University. She recently qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 1500m event, finishing second in her race.
Donohue is currently a professional runner sponsored by Nike and has competed alongside some of the world's most elite runners. In 2007 she finished third in the 1500m final (4:08.22) of the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, IN. Her bronze medal performance earned her a berth on the U.S. team at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
She also placed first at the Penn Relays Olympic Development mile in 2006 (4:35.99), first in the 800m at the 2006 Tuppeny Twilight (2:05.09) and third in the PAA Road to Eugene '08 (2:02.57).
As an accomplished collegiate runner, Donohue graduated from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill where she was a four-time NCAA All-American for the Tar Heels. As a sophomore she set an American record in the women's indoor distance medley relay (DMR) in 2003, capturing the NCAA Title. The Haddonfield, NJ native was also a four-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All-Conference performer as well as a four-time NCAA Academic All-American.
