Patrick Henner was named assistant coach for the Georgetown University men and women[apos]s track & field and cross country programs in July of 1999. He had an immediate impact on the Hoyas[apos] cross country and track and field teams. Henner works primarily with the men[apos]s distance runners and that work has paid off with the emergence of several top GU distance runners such has Rod Koborsi, Chris Lukezic and Fleet Hower. All had outstanding 2003-2004 seasons. Koborsi won the 10,000-meters at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, while Lukezic brought back the US Junior National Outdoor 1500m and BIG EAST Indoor Mile individual titles to the Hilltop in 2004. Lukezic also earned the 1,000-meter IC4A Indoor crown in 2003 and qualified for the Olympic Trials in 2004, where he placed fourth. Hower, who earned a spot on the US Junior National Cross Country Team, won the 10,000m at the US Junior Track & Field Championship in 2004.
The 2000 season marked the fourth year in a row that Henner coached an NCAA cross country regional champion team. Georgetown[apos]s 2000 men[apos]s cross country team tied for seventh place at the NCAA Championship, the best team finish for the Hoyas since the 1995 season when GU earned sixth place. In addition, Sanchez[apos] fifth-place finish was the best for a GU runner since Steve Holman[apos]s 10th-place showing in 1991. Georgetown also won the 2000 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship and earned runner-up honors at the 2000 BIG EAST Cross Country Championship. The 1999 GU cross country squad won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championship and went on to place 11th at the NCAA Cross Country Championship. For his efforts, Henner and Coach Emertius Frank [quote]Gags[quote] Gagliano earned 1999 District II Cross Country Coach of the Year awards.
Henner joined the Georgetown coaching staff from James Madison University where he has served as head men[apos]s and women[apos]s cross country coach, as well as assistant track & field coach for the Dukes from 1990-1999. His coaching achievements as head coach at JMU include being named the 1998 NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year as well as Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Cross Country Coach of the Year. He has coached 27 All-Americans, including Pete Weilenman, Olympic Trials Finalist in the 5,000-meters; Julie Speights Henner, 1996 Olympian in the 1,500m and the 1993 and 1995 World University Games[apos] Silver Medalist; Matt Holthaus, four-time All-American in the mile and 1,500m and 1999 World Championship Team member; and Russ Coleman, Bethany Eigel, and Jason Long, three-time All-Americans. Henner has produced over 20 All-East performers, three Academic All-Americans and 20 CAA All-Academic. In addition, Henner[apos]s 1998 men[apos]s cross country squad won the CAA and Southeast Region Championships and placed ninth at the NCAAs, while his 1998 women[apos]s team placed third at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Championships. School records fell in all events that Henner coached while at JMU.
Henner graduated in 1983 from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Arts degree in secondary education and social sciences. From 1983 until 1987, he taught seventh grade history and coached cross country and track & field at Blacksburg Middle School in Blacksburg, Virginia. His teams went undefeated in dual meet and AA State Cross Country competition for four years, and his girls[apos] and boys[apos] teams won the Cross Country State Championship crown four times (1983-87) under his direction. Henner[apos]s girls[apos] track & field teams were two-time State Champions.
After leaving Blacksburg, Henner moved on to James Madison University, where he served as the graduate and part-time men[apos]s cross country and track & field coach from 1987 until 1990. Henner[apos]s achievements during those three years included: a top-three finish at the CAA Cross Country Championships (1987, 1988, 1989); three individual cross country champions (1987, 1988, 1989), five indoor and three outdoor school records being broken; and JMU[apos]s best finishes ever at the NCAA District Cross Country Championships (1988 and 1989). Henner earned a Master of Science in physical education, with a minor in higher education, from James Madison in 1990, the same year he was promoted to head coach of the Dukes[apos] cross country program and assistant coach of the track & field teams.
Henner is married to fellow assistant coach Juli Speights Henner. The couple resides in Reston, Va.
