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Hofstra University Athletics

THE PRIDE OF LONG ISLAND
THE PRIDE OF LONG ISLAND
Vince Giambanco

Vincent Giambanco

  • Men's Outdoor Track and Field Division 1 AAA Team National Champions (2021)
  • 4 All-Americans
  • 1 Regional Cross Country Champion
  • 1 Regional Track and Field Champion
  • 2 All-Region Student-Athletes
  • 9 NCAA Qualifiers
  • 3 CAA Cross Country Champions, 2 CAA Track Champions
  • 1 All-USA U20 Performer
  • 23 All-CAA Award Winners
  • 4 CAA Team Academic Excellence Awards for the highest team GPA in the conference
Vincent Giambanco, director of cross country/track and field, completed his ninth season as the Hofstra Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach in 2022 and completed his fifth season as the Pride's Head Men's and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track Coach in 2022-23.

A native of Oyster Bay, New York, and a graduate of Oyster Bay (NY) High School, Giambanco has guided the Pride team to outstanding levels of excellence, both on the course and in the classroom. During his tenure, Hofstra has seen 21 Pride runners earn All-Colonial Athletic Association honors including Nile Love (2024 indoor track), Abraham Longosiwa (2022 cross country, 2023 indoor track, 2024 outdoor track), Zach Van Houten (2021 cross country, 2022 outdoor track, 2023 cross country), Alex Masai (2018 cross country, 2019 cross country, 2020 cross country, 2021 outdoor track), Paul Markovina (2020 cross country, 2021 outdoor track), Jordyn McDonnell (2020 cross country, 2021 outdoor track, 2023 outdoor track, 2024 outdoor track), Sophia Masciarelli (2020 cross country), Isa Suleiman (2019 cross country), Meshack Kipchirchir (2018 cross country), Alan Hetherington (2017 cross country), Douglas Dourado (2015 cross country) and Becky Celorio (2015 cross country).

Hofstra once again made program history with the men's program earning their highest all-time finish of 18th overall at the NCAA Cross Country North East Regional during the 2023-24 season. Zach Van Houten earned a third place finish in the men's 8K race at the Coastal Athletic Association Cross Country Championships. Van Houten and Abraham Longosiwa earned top-30 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country North East Regional, while Jordyn McDonnell placed 57th in the women's 6K race with a personal record time. Nile Love set a new program record for the Pride at the 2024 CAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with a personal best mark of 7.33m to finish second. Longosiwa and McDonnell both qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East First Round for the second year in a row. Longosiwa's 10,000m time of 28:47 at the Penn Relays qualified him, while McDonnell qualified with her 3,000m steeplechase time of 10:20 at the CAA Championships. At the conference championships, Longosiwa won the 10K championship by a minute, while breaking the CAA Championship record. McDonnell earned a silver medal for her third place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Outdoor CAA Championships. At the NCAA East First Round, Longosiwa finished the 10,000m race 13th. 

Hofstra made program history in 2022-23, as two outdoor track & field competitors qualified for an NCAA championship meet as Abraham Longosiwa (10,000m) and Jordyn McDonnell (3000m Steeplechase) qualified for the 2023 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East First Round. in addition, Longosiwa was named the CAA Cross Country Male Rookie of the Year, and he placed third in the 5000m at the 2023 CAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, while McDonnell picked up All-CAA honors with a third-place finish in the 3000m Steeplechase at the 2023 CAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The men's track & field team collected a CAA Team Academic Excellence Award for a cumulative GPA of 3.48.

In the 2021-22 season, Zach Van Houten received the CAA Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Year Award after placing fifth at the 2021 CAA Cross Country Championships, as the men's team placed fourth in the team competition. Van Houten also earned All-CAA honors during the outdoor track season, as he finished second in the 10,000m at the 2022 CAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The 2020-21 season of Hofstra Cross Country/Track was a special one as Alex Masai became the first All-American in cross country and outdoor track. Masai, who won his third straight CAA Cross Country title, finished 32nd at the 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships, before switching to outdoor track and earning All-America honors in the 5000m (10th) and the 10,000m (6th). Masai was also named the USTFCCCA Northeast Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year for winning the 10,000m and qualifying from the 5000m at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field  Championships – East Preliminary, and he was named USTFCCCA All-Academic for the cross country and outdoor track seasons. Paul Markovina and Jordyn McDonnell also earned All-CAA honors in cross country and outdoor track, while Sophia Masciarelli was named All-CAA in cross country and earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors. The Hofstra men's and women's received USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors for the 2021 outdoor track season.

Alex Masai became Hofstra's first CAA Cross Country champion and CAA Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2018 while posting a then-school record time of 24:00. One year later, Masai captured his second-straight CAA Championship and CAA Cross Country Runner of the Year honors when he bested his time from last year by six seconds (23.54.5) in the 8K race. Isa Suleiman became the second-straight Rookie of the Year for Hofstra when he earned a third-place finish in 2019 with a time of 24.40.6. With that time, Suleiman became the second-fastest 8k runner in program history, only behind Masai. Meshack Kipchirchir earned CAA Cross Country Rookie of the Year in 2018 after placing third in the conference championships just three seconds behind Masai. Becky Celorio, who holds the school 5K record (17:42) and is second on the 6K charts, and Douglas Dourado, who posted the sixth-best 8K time and the third-best 10K time in school history, achieved the accolade in 2015, and Alan Hetherington earned All-CAA honors in 2017.

After capturing his second-straight CAA championship in 2019, Masai put Hofstra Cross Country on the map when he was crowned the 2019 NCAA Division I Northeast Regional Champion with a program-record 10K time of 28:42.3 to earn an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championship. Pride freshman Isa Suleiman raced well at Regionals as well, posting a time of 29:09.7. Following regionals, Masai was named the USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year while both Masai and Suleiman were named to the All-Northeast Region team. On the women's side at the 2019 Northeast Regional Championship, freshman Jordyn McDonnel broke the Hofstra 6K record with a time of 21.08.6.

Earlier in the 2019 indoor track season, Masai broke the Hofstra 8K record at Lehigh's Paul Short Run, posting a time of 23:17. Masai also broke the Princeton course record with a time of 23:19. Masai's 5000m time of 13:28.55 at the BU Last Chance Meet qualified him for the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. He was later named a USTFCCCA All-American, the first in the modern era of Hofstra Cross Country/Track history.

The 2018 Cross Country season also particularly special as Masai and Kipchirchir grabbed five of the top seven places on Hofstra's 8K charts with Kipchirchir holding three. The Pride men's team recorded the program's best-finish in the CAA (3rd) as well as at the NCAA Northeast Region (21st).

Masai and Kipchirchir have brought the Pride program to new heights. Masai set the school outdoor track school record of 14:00 when he won the 5000m run at the 2017 Penn Relays. Last spring, Masai reset several school indoor record charts in the 3000m run in 7:59 at Boston University, the 5000m run in 13:53 at Boston University, and the 10000m run outdoor school mark of 29:39 at Bucknell to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Kipchirchir set the school record in the 10000m run in 30:07 at the 2017 Penn Relays and broke the school mark in the 8K twice at the Paul Short Run and the Wisconsin Pre-National Invitational.

On the women's side, the Pride women climbed to an all-time best sixth in the CAA and 28th in the NCAA Northeast Regionals in 2015. Four Pride women, Angelica Peck (10:02), Bella Richards (10:04), Becky Celorio (10:06) and Felicia Banda (10:13), have all cracked the 10:15 mark in the 3000m run.

Both teams have excelled in the classroom, with the women's team receiving the 2017 and 2018 CAA Team Academic Excellence Award while men's cross country runner Alan Hetherington earned Google Cloud Division I Track and Field/Cross Country Academic All-District honors from 2015 through 2017.

Giambanco came to Hofstra after serving as associate head coach for the cross country and track and field programs at LIU Post in Brookville, New York.. It was his second tenure at LIU Post after serving as an assistant cross country coach and helping lead the Pioneer men's and women's programs to conference championships from June 2011 through January 2012. His responsibilities during his most recent stint at LIU Post included overseeing all recruiting efforts, designing and administering the training program for both the men's and women's distance runners, and guiding the academic progress of his teams.

Since May 2011, Giambanco has served as founder, president and head coach of Citius New York, an elite development team to give runners the opportunity to continue to train and compete at a high level. He has been responsible for fundraising, recruiting, equipment, the team's web site and creating and hosting the annual Oyster Bay Turkey Trot. Some of the achievements of Citius members include qualifying for the 2012 Indoor World Championships and the 2012 USA Olympic Trials, winning the USA 50K Championships and winning the Long Island Marathon and half-marathon in 2013.

Giambanco served as assistant cross country and track and field coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, from January 2012 through January 2014. While there, he helped direct Gretchen Holoubeck to set Academy records 11 times and Tomas Sanchez and Dan Baxter to a combined five individual conference championships between the two.

He also served as a personal trainer at Evolution Fitness in Oyster Bay from July 2009 through July 2011, where he helped train Owen Skeete from Westbury (NY) High School to multiple Nassau County titles, All-New York State and All-America accolades.

A 2009 graduate of the University of Miami with a bachelor's degree in sports administration and exercise physiology, Giambanco was a member of the Hurricanes' track and field program for three years and the cross country team for two years where he was guided by head coach Amy Deem and distance coach Damon Griffiths. Giambanco went on to earn his masters degree in Mental Health Counseling at Long Island University where he was captain of the cross country team and lead the Pioneers to back-to-back conference championship titles. 

Giambanco holds a U.S. Track and Field Level 1 coaches certification, an American College of Sports Medicine personal trainer certification and an American Red Cross CPR/AED certification. Giambanco and his wife, Dr. Page Giambanco, D.D.S, as well as their three sons, Vince V, Noah, and Troy, reside on Long Island.