Stephanie Reily enters her fourth season as the head coach of Bryant's cross country and track and field teams taking the team to new strides. In an interview with WomenTalkSports.com, Reilly said the future is bright for the Bulldogs cross country and track and field teams. “I love coaching and building these programs here at Bryant,” she said.

In just Bryant's third year in competing at the Division I level, Reilly and her staff engineered an unfaltering season that saw the improvement of multiple runners. A tactical mix of freshman and upperclassmen paved the way for Bryant XC to continue to elevate its level of competition, as the men's and women's side captured sixth and eighth place respectively in the conference.

In the 2009-10 season, Reilly guided first-year phenom Deirdre Doyle (Carlow, Ireland) to winning multiple conference titles including the 1500 meter in track, the 3,000 meter and the mile in indoor, and a seventh-place overall finish at the cross country NEC Championships in November 2009. In addition, at the New England Championships, Doyle broke the Bryant 1500 meter record.

On the men’s side, Reilly watched as Alex Engel and Thomas O’Connor both established season bests, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the 400 meters at the NEC Championships.

After serving as the interim head coach of Bryant’s cross country and track and field teams for the 2007-08 season, Reilly was appointed head coach in July 2008.

During her first year at Bryant, cross country standout Nicole Radzik ’08 won the Northeast-10 Conference Championships and finished first at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships.    

In November of 2008, Bryant’s men’s and women’s cross country squads made Bryant history when they became the first teams to compete for a conference championship at the Division I level. Both the men and women finished ninth out of 12 teams.

Born to be a runner

Reilly is from a track and field family. Growing up in Ireland, her mom founded an athletic club when Reilly was just a baby.

Reilly became a three-time Irish national champion in the 800 meters, 1,500 meters, and 3,000 meters in high and represented the Irish National team at the European Junior Championships.

A 2001 graduate of Providence College, Reilly was a member of two New England Championship teams in 1998 and 1999 and one Big East Conference Championship team in 1997. She began running the steeplechase two years ago.

Following graduation Reilly continues to race competitively locally, around New England  and Internationally, and currently holds best times of: 1000m - 2:48, Mile - 4:37, 3000m – 9:11, 3000m steeplechase – 9:48, 5000m – 15:46, 5 mile Road – 27:17, 4 mile road – 21:43.

Reilly recently competed at the European Track and Field Championships in Barcelona this summer. She was selected to the Irish National team for these championships after achieving the European Qualifying standard for the steeplechase by running a personal best time of 9:48, as well as placing second at the Irish National championships to book her place and ticket to Barcelona for the championships this past July. You can read all about Reilly’s experience at a major international track and field competition as she kept a blog - http://stephreillyrunning.wordpress.com/.

Reilly’s husband, Paul, is a fellow member of the Bulldog community. In addition to his responsibilities as associate director of undergraduate advising, Paul serves as an assistant coach for the cross country and track and field teams. Also, a Providence College standout, Reilly captained the cross country and track teams in 2001 and 2002. In 2001, the Ireland native competed for the Irish National team at the World Cross Country Championships.

The couple lives in Northbridge, MA, with their two sons, Marcus, 5, and Dylan, 4.