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Spartan Cross Country and Track & Field Hosts Tribute Dinner Sunday

Spartan Cross Country and Track & Field Hosts Tribute Dinner Sunday
Posted: Feb 13, 2019
The St. Thomas Aquinas Cross Country and Track & Field teams will host their Annual Tribute Dinner at the beautiful Patriot Hills Golf Club in nearby Stony Point, NY. The event is scheduled for this Sunday, February 17th with a Cocktail Hour scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30pm, followed by dinner and the formal program. Typically the evening draws over 200 guests, including alumni, local coaches, college administrators, parents, families and friends of the program.
 
The Spartans will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to STAC Track Alum ('81) Ray Kondracki for his contributions to the Rockland County Cross Country and Track and Field Community. Kondracki, is currently a Science Teacher and the Boys Cross Country/Track & Field Head Coach at Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, NY. Ray also serves as the Summer Camp Director for Camp Venture.
 
In addition, Cross Country Alum ('84) Marianne Balogh-Sims will recieve the Spartan Alumni Achievement Award for her contributions as the first woman to join an all men's team, thus paving the way for the formation a formal women's program at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Balogh Sims is currently employed by the Archdiocese of New York as a Second Grade Teacher at St. Stephen/St. Edward School in Warwick, NY and has coached basketball, track and cross country at various levels.
 
Head Coach Lorne Marcus will introduce the 2018-2019 squad and make a very special presentation to sprinter St. Jacob Diodonet in honor of his achievements at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field National Championships last year.
 
For more information or to attend, please contact STAC Cross Country & Track & Field Alum Kevin Roth at kroth@stac.edu.
 

 

More About Ray Kondracki

Ray Kondracki began his coaching career at Clarkstown South High School in 1984. Over the past 35 years, his teams have won a total of 11 sectional championships and 14 league championships. In addition to these titles, he boasts 151 cross country league wins and 150 league wins in outdoor track, each making him the 3rd winningest coach in Section 1 history. These have earned him 13 Rockland County Coach of the Year awards. His coaching successes don't end in Section 1, as he's coached 11 New York State champions and 9 National champions as well as the 1998 Spring Track State Championship winning team.

Outside of coaching at South, Ray held volunteer coaching, officiating, and coordinating positions at the Rockland County Special Olympics from 1980-2000 and was the International Special Olympics Track Coach in both 1986 and 1990. He has served as Director of Camp Venture for children with and without special needs every summer since 1991.

Born and raised in Blauvelt, Ray graduated from Tappan Zee High School before attending STAC, graduating with a B.S. in Special Education in 1981. He then earned an M.S. from San Diego State University and began his tenure teaching and coaching at Clarkstown South High School. He currently resides in Pearl River, NY with his wife, Cathy, and three sons, Chris (25), Bryan (22), and Kyle (20). In 2010, Kondracki was inducted into the St. Thomas Aquinas Hall of Fame, ingraining himself in college history.

More About Marianne Balogh-Sims

Marianne Balogh-Sims was a member of the St. Thomas Aquinas College the cross country team. She was the first woman to join the all men's team and paved the way for a women's team to be formed. As a competitor she held several course records (King's Invitational 1980 and the District Meet at Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester 1980) . In 1983 she earned a trip to the NAIA Cross Country Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Marianne has been employed by the Archdiocese of New York as an elementary school teacher for 34 years. She originally taught second grade at Saint Joseph School in New Windsor, NY and presently at St. Stephen-St. Edward in Warwick, NY. While teaching she has also coached basketball, track and cross country at various levels. She has also inspired young women by coaching with "The Girls on the Run" program.

Her love for running continues today with her participation in local road races, and inspiring her young students to be fit and healthy.She fulfilled her dream of running a marathon in Lake Placid, NY in 2010 and The Hambletonian in Goshen, NY in 2013. She will continue to run and inspire the youth into the foreseeable future.

Marianne Balogh-Sims is resident of Walden, NY in Orange County where she lives with her husband Ed. It is also where she raised her son Zachary. She attended Valley Central High School. After graduating in 1980 she attended STAC pursuing a Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education. Upon graduating in 1984, Marianne furthered her education at SUNY New Paltz graduating in 1993 with a Masters in Elementary Education.