Coach Ben English
Coach Ben English
Coach English is entering his 12th year with the Grove City Cross Country team. He was hired in the fall of 2007 to help work with the Jr High program preceeded by Coach Dave Blakely. Coach English worked with the Jr. High from 2007-2012 and joined the high school program in 2013. As coach of the junior high teams, English had a boys dual meet record of 41-0 and a girls dual meet record of 37-4. Since joining the high school team in 2013, the boys were Region 2 Champions 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 and also District 10 Champions in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The boys team was also 5th at AA states in 2013, runner up in 2014, 5th place in 2015, and 5th place in 2017. The girls were Region 2 Champions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 along with finishing 2nd at 2015 District 10 championships to earn there first state championship berth in program history.
Coach English comes to Grove City from Lakeview High school class of 2002. He was a four year letter winner in baseball which he persued in college. He graduated from California University of Pennsylvania with a bachelors degree in Technology Education in 2006. He was a student assistant coach for California University of Pennsylvania's baseball team where they were PSAC state champions in 2004 and PSAC west champs in 2006. His current teaching position is at Grove City Middle School where he teaches Technology and Engineering to 6th through 8th grade students.
When hired he started running and became "addicted" to the sport. Coaching was always something English wanted to do and has been a great fit. Since being hired in 2007 English has completed in over 25 marathons with a personal best of 2:40.06 at The Boston Marathon in 2015 and also won Harrisburg marathon in 2013. He has run many other race distances stating that he just wants to be able to train and keep up with "most" of his athletes. Prior to being hired he never ran in a race. He credits the cross country team for being his motivation for running and to persue his own limits.
In 2015 Coach English was hired as the Head Track and Field Coach for Grove City. Since 2015 English has an overall boys record of 21-3 and a girls record of 11-9. In 2018 English led the boys team to their first District 10 Team Championship since 1984.