Head coach Justina Cassavell enters her seventh year as Head Coach of both the cross-country and track & field programs at Ramapo College. She took over the reins in 2014 after serving as the assistant coach for cross-country during the 2013 season.
Ramapo continues to be a contender on the national scene in both cross country and track & field. Most recently Jeremy Hernandez became the NCAA Indoor Champion in the men’s mile with a national record time of 3.59.01. He is the first NCAA Division III student-athlete to break a four-minute mile in the history of the sport. Under coach Cassavell, 14 individuals have qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships while she’s mentored nine to be a NCAA All-American. Eight individual women have qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships while four earned NCAA All-American honors. Amber Edwards became the 2018 NCAA Indoor National Champion in the triple jump with a mark of 12.52-meters (41’ 1.00”).
Entering the 2019-2020 season, the Roadrunners have earned 46 NJAC Track & Field Individual Champions while four men’s and women’s track & field teams have been named to the NCAA Division III All-Academic Team.
Cassavell was named the 2015 NJAC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year while 35 Roadrunners were named NJAC Cross Country All-Conference. Four individuals qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships while ten Roadrunners have been named NCAA All-Region. Hernandez once again places his name in the Roadrunner record books with back-to-back 2015-2016 NJAC crowns in the men’s cross country championship. Seven men’s and women’s cross country teams earned NCAA All-Academic Team.
Cassavell joined the Roadrunner coaching staff in 2013 after a highly successful coaching career in the high school ranks. She was the Head Coach of the Girls Cross Country/Track & Field Team at Voorhees High School from 1997 to 2012. She led the Voorhees Girls to three New Jersey State Meet of Champions Titles in 2007, 2008, and 2012, while they earned nine New Jersey State Group Championship Titles, and 13 New Jersey Sectional Championship Titles. In her 16 years at the helm, Cassavell won nine Skyland Conference Championship Titles, while the team qualified for the Meet of Champions every season, producing 14 top ten finishers, nine top five finishers, and six top three finishers. She led the team to an NXN Northeast Championship in 2010, while earning second place at the same championship in both 2007 and 2012. The Vikings also qualified three times for the Nike Team Nationals in 2007, 2010, and 2012, placing 13th overall in '07.
Besides her coaching the Voorhees Girls, Cassavell started a non-profit track and field club, Hunterdon Hawks Youth Track & Field Club, where she serves as President. She also serves as the camp director for Voorhees Summer Track and Field Camp.
She is a 1992 graduate of Rutgers University where she earned a degree in economics. She was a member of the Scarlet Knight cross country and track and field teams for four years. Cassavell was a NCAA provisional qualifier in 1991 for indoor track and field in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:09.86. She received track and field All-East honors in 1989, 1990, and 1991, while earning a championship crown at the indoor Metropolitan Championships in the 800-meter in '91. She was named Rutgers Most Improved Runner in track and field in 1990.
Cassavell and her husband, Robert have four children, Claudia, Nicole, Zoey and Robby.
2019-2020 Season
