Jim McClernand enters his fourth season at Penn State Abington as the men’s and women’s cross-country coach after being named to the position in August 2017.
Over his 6 NEAC Championships appearances McClernand has a best finish of 7th Place. McClernand has a total of 4 NEAC All-Conference runners, Ben Hoyer (4th place 26:42 8K) and Megan Hurst (6th place 26:17 6K) being his fastest runners.
McClernand has been an avid runner for the past 48 years, and joined the coaching ranks as the cross-country and track coach at Our Lady Help of Christians in Abington. During his 12-year tenure at the grade school level, McClernand coached multiple runners who went on to become PIAA State Champions. He later coached distance runners at Mount Saint Joseph Academy.
Over his career McClernand has developed successful cross country runners including former Abington standout Valerie Santangelo and Alexandra Ryan.
Talent runs deep in the McClernand family with all three of his children finding success running cross country at the collegiate level. His daughter ran for NCAA Division I Lehigh University and excelled as a two year captain for the program. His oldest son ran for l DIII Mid East Region powerhouse DeSales University. The youngest of the family competed for four years on the Penn State University club team and captained the program. McClernand’s wife has been a long time cross country coach in the area for Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown.
McClernand graduated from Father Judge as a captain for the cross country team. During his time there he ran under the legendary coach Joe Valley and continued his education at West Chester University where he also ran for the Golden Rams.
