YSUsports.com - Track & Field: Assistant Track Coach Matt Folk Qualifies for Olympic Trials in Marathon

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Jan. 17, 2007

Assistant Track Coach Matt Folk Qualifies for Olympic Trials in Marathon

    Youngstown -- Youngstown State assistant track and field coach Matt Folk has qualified for the 2008 USA Olympic Trials in the marathon for the second time in his career.
    Folk, a native of Canfield, Ohio, was the 15th overall finisher at the Chevron Houston Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 20 minutes, 41 seconds to hit the men's qualifying time of 2:22:00. He will now compete on Nov. 3 in New York City for a spot on the USA Olympic team for the 2008 games in Beijing, China.
    Folk, who is in his eighth season as a YSU coach after a four-year stint as a student-athlete, placed ahead of 5,332 other runners in Houston on Jan.14. He was also fourth among men's runners aged 30 to 34.
    He also qualified for the Olympic Trials for the 2004 games after running a time of 2:21:10 at the Columbus Marathon on Oct. 19, 2003. He then placed 50th out of 86 runners at the trials race in Birmingham, Ala. on Feb. 7, 2004.
    This time, he'll be running through one of the largest cities in the world in front of a national television audience. The Olympic Trials course will begin outside of Rockefeller Center with the start being shown live on NBC's "Today Show" beginning at 7:35 a.m. The course will then go up the Avenue of Americas to Central Park where runners will complete one four-mile circuit followed by four identical five-mile circuits before finishing at the Tavern on the Green. The entire race will be streamed live on the Internet at www.NBCSports.com.
    During his time at Youngstown State, Folk has been a part of 11 conference championships as either a coach or a student-athlete. He qualified for the 1998 Division I Cross Country National Championship and was YSU's first male cross country runner to compete at the national level. He was a two-time Mid-Continent Conference Champion and was named The Vindicator Male Athlete of the Year in 1999.
    Folk, who will turn 31 in March, is originally from Oregon, Ohio, and graduated from Clay High. He earned a bachelor's degree from YSU in accounting in 1999 and received a master’s degree in business in August 2001.